After many years of knowing God, I have a dirty little secret. I’m nowhere near the fisherman I thought I’d be by this time.
I’m a guy who loves to catch fish, but I’m not like a friend of mine who has mastered the art of landing a fly on the water in such a way that fish long to strike it. I’m not very good at fishing at all.
Jesus calls you and me to be fishers of men. I often see professors and students I’d love to introduce to the Savior, but I don’t know where to start. I see pain and brokenness in people’s lives—people I work with and care about—but I watch spiritual conversation opportunities pass me by, not knowing what to say.
I feel like I want to jump in the water, but I know I’d only scare away the fish as well as get very wet.
I'm Learning
You have got to fish where the fish are, and the academy is a great place to fish. I’m convinced of this each time I hear from a professor about his failing marriage or about her child’s suffering serious illness. Brokenness abounds in the academy and everywhere else.
Just as I’m getting better at casting and placing that fly on the water in the most attractive way, so also I am growing more alert to the presence of troubled people. Every day you and I are in conversations that brush up against the broken and painful places in peoples’ lives and you and I know the One who redeems the broken.
Speech that Raises Questions
Pete was a doctoral candidate. His parents recently divorced, and his father remarried. Pete wondered aloud over coffee how holidays would change now that his parents had divorced:
“Hey John. What about our family traditions? Were those now lost? Divorce is so unfair.”
“It sure is,” I answered. “So many marriages struggle. Have you thought much about why marriage can be so hard?”
“Some,” Pete replied. “Seems like, over time people go in different directions and don’t love each other the way they did at first.”
“Pete, do you think it’s possible to love someone in a way that puts her needs and well-being first – even ahead of your own?”
Asking questions can be like casting a fly on the water. Like a fish nosing the well-presented fly, Pete began to explore some of the brokenness that touched his family. When I said, “Pete, I think God has loved you and me in just this way–putting our needs and well-being first. Would you like to hear more about that?” Pete was interested.
Good Fishing Includes:
- Good questions, like whether or not it’s possible to put others’ needs and well-being first,
- Words that invite others to engage with what’s broken in their lives or in the world around us,
- Words that look for opportunities to share Christ in the power of the Holy Spirit, leaving the results to God.
I hope you and I will be better fishermen tomorrow than we are today. Hurting and broken people desperately need the Lord, and we can show them the way.
John Peterson
Faculty Commons Staff