OF A FISH AND A CROSS

OF A FISH AND A CROSS        Back before Christmas I penned an article about personal evidences that God really exists and that He actually gets involved with our every day lives.. I cited a number of times where, asked, He helped me find lost items, untangle major fishing backlashes, and even assist in turning my deer hunts from arduous ordeals into memorable almost miraculous easy successes.. In this piece I'd like to cite a few other times when the Holy spirit “our Helper) took a hand in helping one of His children,(me), out:        I recall a Sunday Morning down at our lodge on Hartford Beach when a most uncanny thing happened. This particular Sunday Morning I resisted the strong urge I felt inside that I should spend time with my Bible—to “keep the Sabbath holy” as the book says. Instead I yielded to my usual lakeside temptation, grabbed my fishing rod and a box full of lures and headed down to the bathing beach where the spring creek runs in. I had hopes of tying into a big pike. So sunrise found me up to my knees in ice cold water slinging my favorite #4 fire-tiger colored Mepps spinner out into the the lake as far as it could go. Wham! Good Strike! So I reared back to set the hook and Blaaast! My line broke right at the rod tip. So my fish, my Mepps. and 40 yards of line were all out there somewhere with me standing there embarrassed and a little ashamed. I wasn't so sure that that break-off was an accident.        So I put on another lure, a heavy Castmaster and slang it way out. It had only come back a little ways when again I thought I had a bump; so I set the hook and this time I felt a weird dead weight as I reeled in. Weeds, I thought. But no, it wasn't weeds; as I lifted my lure out of the water, I saw that I had a fishing line that I was bringing in. I put down my rod, picked up that line and dragged it in, hand over hand. Glory be! It was a pike of about four pounds and there in its jaw, was my Mepps and beside it another nice plug, a Rapala. But the fish hardly fought at all, and it was in the worst condition of any fish I'd ever seen come out of Bigstone, a lake famous for the fine condition of all its fish. That fish was tattered and fungus covered—really beat up.. I unhooked it and turned it loose, coiled up that forty lards of line it was towing around and watched it swim slowly back into the lake.        The message came through to me as loud and clear as a “still, small voice” can shout. “You traded hanging out with Me to do your usual thing. I hope you enjoyed your catch.” Of course He forgave me, but what a valuable lesson. “Seek first the Kingdom of Heaven and all these things will be added to you.'        Another time back in Oregon I got up at three in the morning of an early spring day so I could study the stars. I was just getting enthusiastic about astronomy at the time, and wanted to learn some of the summer constellations. I had a pair of 7 power binoculars, and was really enjoying the beautiful star fields they were showing me. Then I recognized the northern cross, Cygnus was its name, and focusing on the star at the center of the cross where Jesus' heart would have been had He been hanging there, I was amazed to see a circlet of seventh-magnitude stars in the shape of a heart enhancing that beautiful center star. It's usually the first thing I look for now, 60 years later when I look at Cygnus. On the way back to our house on the edge of Peterson's Butte, and inhaling the beautiful scent of roses growing along the trail I looked up to where a crescent moon was just above the peak and suddenly a Glorious fire-ball of a meteor perfectly circumscribed the peak. Seeing it made me gasp, but I got the message loud and clear: “You rose up early in the morning to appreciate my Heavens; that shooting star was for you.”        I've had many,many assurances, Cool Hand Luke, that He's up there, and likely you are too. Gene Pinkney 1/16/ 20 For The Daily News     This piece in a slightly different form appeared in Wahpeton The Daily News html edit 8-12-2021