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A story of Grace!  Part 1

I am a fisherman.   I am a fisherman.  I am a fisher of men!   One of my favorite verses in the Bible comes from when Jesus calls some of his disciples along the shoreline in Matthew 4:19 and says: "Come, follow me, and I will make you fishers of men."
 

Have you ever caught a big fish before? If you have, in my humble opinion, you have just experienced an act of God’s grace!  As an experienced fisherman, I enjoy the challenges of putting the best presentation of bait before my prey, but all the while, I genuinely recognize that I am at the mercy of God and His elements during every fishing adventure.   I’ve fished in the midst of nasty storms  with pelting rain and sand as well as in sunny, warm, and serene ocean tides.  I’ve caught fish in both conditions and am genuinely aware that though I do my best, God is Lord over the beasts of the air and the fish of the sea.  

As you might have just figured out, I am pretty passionate about fishing!  In fact, during a passionate fishing frenzy over 10 years ago, me and my brother SP went on an adventure after Friday night fellowship at RCCC  ( youth group for me, YAF for SP) around midnight but we could not find a bait shop that was open in the wee hours of the morning.  We got duped by one bait shop that advertised in the Fisherman magazine that they were open 24 hours over the weekend.  We ended up sleeping in my Honda Civic overnight waiting for another bait shop to open at 5am in order to fish!  In the morning, we read Psalm 8 and claimed a promise of God’s blessing over us as we went out to conquer the Atlantic ocean from the surf of New Jersey.  I honestly don’t think we caught anything that day, but SP is still my brother from another mother even though he hails from a state 3,000 miles away from NJ!

Matthew 22:37-39 (New International Version)

³⁷Jesus replied:  "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind."^{[a] 38}This is the first and greatest commandment. ³⁹And the second is like it: "Love your neighbor as yourself."

I suppose there are two major things that I enjoy about fishing that I believe relates to this passage.

First, the encounters with God and His presence through  the sound of  crashing waves and sprays of sea salt mist.   It is a place where my soul readily connects with God.   Deep soul searching conversations with God seem easiest on the beach for me.  Pouring out emotions, feelings, perceptions, to the One who has said that the descendants of Abraham would be like the sand on the shores of the sea!   During some of my early morning fishing adventures, seeing the sun rise above the horizon is an event that has brought joy and refreshment to my soul.  A sunrise reminds me that God’s mercies are new every morning!  During my  night time fishing adventures, seeing the moon and stars in the sky reminds me how small I am, yet how awesome and loving God is!  Honestly, I believe that we all need to find out ways in which we connect deeply with our Creator.  Just like many people search for strong signals for free wireless connections or cell phone reception, we need to seek out places where our souls readily connect with God.   We need to make space in our lives to love God with all of our heart, mind, soul and strength.     How do you connect with God most readily?

Second, I enjoy the kind of love and fellowship that I can share with those with whom I fish.  There is something about fishing that forms our character.  A bond of friendship that is strengthened.   On a recent fishing trip while fishing on a beach in Belmar, NJ, I received some powerful encouragement.  I had arrived on the beach with two of my friends, Yuri and Ken at around 7:00pm.  We spent over 3 hours in conversation with God and one another.   Often, my conversations with people at the beach while fishing are life transforming.    The wind, waves, and sand keep good secrets.

But it is not just about the fishing.  It is also about the journey of life.  On a recent drive back, I experienced a powerful prayer time in the car ride back home with my house mate Ken! In a way, fishing enables me to love my neighbor as myself especially when I catch a big one and can share the goodness of God with my friends and family!

Back to the story!  Well, we were fishing almost 3 hours and the only thing we had caught were two ugly skate fish which kinda look like small sting rays.  Ken and Yuri had the blessing of catching these nasty fish whose wings are sometimes amputated and sold in Chinese food markets for $2.00 a pound!

So in frustration, as the shameful member of the no fish caught club, I took a whole fish, called a bunker and chopped it into three pieces!  I hurled two pieces into the surf as "chum" and then took a hook and placed it thru the mouth and upper lip of the fish going thru its nose.  I cast it into the sea with little faith, much unbelief, and a hint of cynicism.  I then went over to tell my friend Ken, that we should begin to pack it up in a few minutes.  He told me he had one last piece of clam bait and that he wanted to use before we left.  I proceeded to walk over to my rod and then bam!  The rod doubled over and line started screaming off the reel.  I walked  to the left and moved closer to the surf to try and control the fish and prevent it from taking off into some wooden pilings to the right of me.  I could tell it was a big fish by the amount of power and stress it was putting on my rod and reel.  I knew that fish this size know how to throw hooks out of their mouths and swim toward sharp barnacle infested pilings that can cut through almost any fishing line.  Line continued to scream off the reel but I knew the fish would be getting tired soon if I could just keep the line pressure on the fish.   After a more few minutes of fighting the fish, I was able to take in line on the reel and the fish was getting closer and closer to the shore line. I gave the pole to my friend Ken so that he could keep the line tight.  The fish was thrown onto the angled surf with a wave and I then ran over and grabbed the 40 pound test flourocarbon leader line that held the chemically sharpened hook in the fish’s mouth.   I was able to drag the fish up the incline onto the level portion of the beach.

Then Ken’s alarm went off at 10:02pm as I reached into the fish’s mouth to remove the hook embedded in the side of fish’s mouth. At that moment of grace, a sense of great joy filled my spirit as I was reminded of God’s goodness and provision in my life.  The 37 inch wild Striped Bass that I landed helped to feed some of my friends lunch and dinner a few times over!!!  Everyday at 10:02am and 10:02pm, for the last three years, I pray with likeminded kingdom workers to the Lord, for Him to send out workers into the harvest because the harvest is ripe and the laborers are few.  I was acutely reminded of God’s faithfulness and prayed to the Lord of the Harvest to send  out workers!!

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Failing Forward!

I HATE failing!  I hate feeling like a loser.  Failing and losing are often very close siblings.    Sometimes there is no difference between the two.  I remember several times being very rude and unloving to students in my youth group when I was losing in a basketball game back in the early 90’s when I was in my prime athletic years.

The competitive fire in my heart would tend to get the best of me!  Honestly, the basketball court has been a court of ‘discipleship’ in my life.   Other sports like softball, baseball, and even tennis have been affected  by my desire to win as well.  I’ve seen some of the most ‘fleshly and sinful’ parts of my personality come out during the ‘heat of battle.’  Expletives, elbows, and explosive tirades were par for the course!  I guess I could call those days, ‘bad hair and youth pastor days’, since I had more hair back then to be bad!  Only the grace of God moving me forward to be more like Jesus kept me from becoming a member of the ‘brood of vipers.’    And as I lose more hair each year, I think I am moving closer and closer to Jesus!  Btw, I remember Paul Yao, a distinguished member of my youth counselor Hall of Fame saying: ‘Mike, why does it matter to you so much?  Why do you have to win all of the time?’  Words of wisdom, brother Paul.  No wonder, you’ve always had less hair than I’ve had!  Haha! Is Jesus bald, sometimes I wonder, jokingly?  All the pictures I’ve seen of him show him with long hair.

Anyways, not playing sports was not an option when I was young.  However, I do remember taking a year off from playing basketball in order to not be tempted to get angry. 

Likewise, participating in the Great Commission is also not an option, even though a sabbatical year for ministers is fairly well respected.

Here’s the revelation, I recognize the way God made me over time.  Sometimes, my Korean friends joke about Korean men have something called K-rage.  I guess, being ethnically Chinese, I’ve had C-rage?  But many times, since I was born in America, I’ve felt more American than Chinese.   So maybe I have A-rage.  Or, ABC-rage?  Well, whatever you call it, God has given me a lot of passion for Jesus.  And you know what, I believe that IF I can channel my ‘rage’ or better put ‘explosive energy’ toward the things of God- powerful things will happen!  

Here is an application of my focused desire for  the kingdom that occurs daily.  Everyday, I pray a Luke 10:2b like prayer:

‘Lord, the harvest is ripe, and the laborers are few!  Send out workers!  Send out Henry, Diamond, Nicky, Cat, to the lost communities of Rutgers University!  God send out David to St. John’s to represent who YOU are to legalized drug dealers! (Pharmageeks rule!) God send out ______ to ______ with the power of your Holy Spirit!   Lord, help me and my family to be an answer to this prayer!’

After setting my alarm for 10:02 am and 10:02 pm  and praying this prayer for almost 3 years, I believe that God is answering my prayers!  Students around the nation are following Jesus on their campuses and fulfilling the Great Commission.  Students are gathering for prayer in order to seek the Presence of God.  With a prayer furnace background, many are baptizing students, serving one another communion, loving one another, giving to each other’s needs as they arise, and expressing the power and love of Jesus on or around their campuses!  Genuine expressions of the church ala Acts 2:42-47 are being seen around our nation’s university campuses. Praise God!  Or ‘Slava Bogu’ as my best Russian brother in New Brunswick, Yuri, would say!  

I have a dream, that one day, every knee will bow, every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father!

Taking the risk to succeed often requires the willingness to ‘fail’.  For many of us who are following Christ, I believe the best terminology for these events in our Christian life is ‘failing forward.’ ¹

One of my friends Erik Fish said that if we aren’t experiencing failure, we probably aren’t being fruitful!

May we all choose to follow Jesus to the lost communities around us!  May we be emboldened by His spirit to live powerful, forceful, prayerful and vibrant lives so that Jesus is made Lord in the hearts of many!  May we relish the honor and privilege of seeing many people bend their knees and confess Jesus as Lord, repent of their sins, be baptized, and be filled with God’s Spirit!  

  ¹ I think this term was coined by Christian leadership guru John Maxwell.