An Amusing Lesson about Being Specific
Last Sunday I met a couple from Pennsylvania, John and Kristi, who had come to town on vacation. A quadriplegic friend of mine asked me to drive her to church so they could pray for her. It wasn’t long ago that Kristi herself was in a wheelchair, unable to walk. She believes God healed her. She’s now able to walk and function as normal.
We spent a total of 10 hours at the church. John mentioned that he was going to rent a pontoon boat and spend the next day on Shasta Lake. He invited me to come along.
A day on Shasta Lake will raise the mood of even the grumpiest sourpuss. We launched the boat at 8:30am. John wanted to head directly to the nearest resort to purchase a fishing license. The lady who’d rented the boat to him included two decent poles and a tackle box filled with enough lures to keep a person busy for weeks.
After a quick stop at Bridge Bay Resort we headed out for the fertile fishing grounds I assured John he would easily find on the world’s greatest lake. He jokingly said a prayer to God to help him catch fish, a prayer God would soon answer.
I told John my favorite way of fishing was to let the line out, get it down 20-40 feet, and troll along slowly. This way the boat did the fishing and I was free to relax and drink a good beer or two or six. John thought the idea sounded great, minus the beer. His drink of preference was Dr. Pepper.
Not long after saying the prayer, John reeled in his line to discover he’d caught this beauty (click to see it). That turned out to be the only catch he made all day.
Later in the afternoon, after sleeping in until 1pm, Belinda called to tell me she’d accept my invitation to spend some time on the boat with us as long as we promised not to preach at her too much. We picked her up at Bridge Bay. She ended up with the biggest catch of the day: a 20-foot pontoon boat!
John’s lesson of the day was to learn to be more specific when praying for fish.
When I am not arguing about bible translations (lol), drinking beer and fishing are two of my favoriter things to do! I am a little envious.
awwww fishing…
awwww beer…
awwww Dr. Pepper…
Hey Donny, have you ever been to Dublin, Texas? The original Dr. Pepper factory? It is awesome.
I hear David Crowder owns the a house built in 1886 by Wade Morrison, the man who made Dr. Pepper…
Texans love their DP.
-Ron
Donny, I will just say that I am a bit disappointed that we only had 2 comments to this heart felt life lesson. I thought the spoils of our day would have at least brought a dozen comments. LOL. Thanks for going international with our day on the lake. I hope to see you again in Redding soon, my brother. Maybe this time we can bust out the veggie tales on your boat.
P.S. It is cold in PA and raining . . . we’re moving!
John Ritrovato
As a side note, the caption on that picture should say, “objects are smaller than they appear.”
John Ritrovato
“As a side note, the caption on that picture should say, “objects are smaller than they appear.”
LOL!
Donny,
I agree with your comment about Lake Shasta…undoubtedly the best lake out there. The worst day on Shasta is better than the best day anywhere else…well…except maybe Maui!
Keep up the good work and keep making the good choices. I am a Christian man who has struggled his entire life with porn and since finding your blog (and a couple other recent events) I have been porn-free for one week. No big deal right? Trust me…big deal!!
Except for our chosen professions I relate to you as a parent, as somebody who loves boating and I also used to live in Chico…so I’m trying to take that as God telling me to clean up my act too.
Keep fighting the good fight. God is faithful. The money situation will work itself out. I will continue to pray for you.
God bless…
Wow. This is the strangest thing I have heard of in quite some time. I was in the United States Marine Corps with John Ritrovato.