Happy Among Crappie

CBN.com -- Recently I had the privilege of spending some time on the beautiful Lake of the Ozarks in Missouri. It is a massive body of water, created when the Osage River was obstructed by Bagnell Dam. My wife and I honeymooned there just 47 years ago this week.

The lake is filled with crappie -- maybe the best-tasting fish God ever created. There are places where they might be a bit bigger, but no place where they are more plentiful. One local told me the other day that he had caught over 40 of them just that morning.

Many fishermen use live minnows as bait, while others jig for them with doll flies. Ah, I have caught many crappie from those blue-gray waters. I would love to fish for them every day, but unfortunately, there aren't any of those "specs" (as they are called) in my back yard! I have to go where they are.

Jesus told us that He would make us "fishers of men." Apparently, some believers and some churches think that the fish are coming to us. They are not. We must go to them. The church must infiltrate its community and the world.

Remember Jesus' story of the Good Samaritan who found the beaten man dying beside the road? Jesus said that the Good Samaritan went to where the man was. We are just not going to catch many fish for Jesus from our pews. We have to go where they are.

How can we reach people we do not know? Whom we do not understand? This requires effort on our part. I tell you, though, a good day of fishing is well worth all of the effort expended.

Jesus expects it from us.

Used with permission by author, Dan Betzer. Previously published on ByLine OnLine, copyright © 2005 Media Ministries of the Assemblies of God.