Here is a mystery, a riddle so to speak, for you to figure out.

(Step 1) I caught a bluegill on the fly attached to my fly rod.

(Step 2) But I landed the largest Bass ever on this same fly rod. How did I catch one, but land the other?

Here is the answer……

(Step 3) The Bass gets eaten (by me), but the bluegill is released to begin a new life after being saved from the near death experience with the Jaws of Death.

1 Corinthians 15:51-53 Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed- in a flash, in a twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed.

I’m not much of one to explain the end times. It’s difficult for me to explain how our souls live forever. I have to rely on my faith and trust as I walk this Christian journey.

But I know what I know. And that is this. God (picture Him using a fly rod) sent his Son Jesus to this world. Jesus, (picture the fly at the end of the line to God), Jesus lets us choose if we want Him in our lives. When we accept Jesus, and His forgiveness, His love, His way of life, (picture the Bluegill getting hooked by the fly) we have a strong connection to God. (via the fly line and fishing rod)

The devil (in this case the Bass!), comes along to consume us. He wants to kill us, to devour us. Yet this connection I have to God is so strong, that even though I’m trapped in the Jaws of Death, He steps in to “SAVE” me!

He restores my soul. He revives me. (Just like I did the bluegill). He leads me beside the still waters. Yea though I walk/swim through the valley of the shadow of death/the Bass, I will fear no evil.

Thy rod (fishing rod) and thy staff, they comfort me. Surely goodness and Mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the Lord FOREVER! (Taken from the 23rd Psalm)

So in the simple ways of the wilderness preacher, there you have it. My definition of being “SAVED”!

Theologians, clergy, scholars, philosophers, and maybe even religious know it alls can debate, argue, and give opinions as to what it means to be saved as a Christian. Me? I’d rather be fishing. I see what I need to see from God on each cast that is made. The main reason I love to fish? Well, it’s not about catching fish.

See Ya! Dan Ainsworth wilderness preacher, ” whoa, I got another one!”