A little over two years ago, my friend Peter took me fly fishing for the very first time. I had never even touched a fly rod before. I had worn waders once but it turns out that this is not really a fly fishing skill.
There is so much to learn in the world of fly fishing. There are rods, reels, fly lines, leaders, tippet, flies, and knots. You've got to know about trout, streams, trout lies, trout food, casting techniques, how to brag about your record-breaking fish (the one that always slips back into the river just as you're about to take a picture)... I could go on. The amount of information a person needs to know to fish the "right" way is overwhelming to say the least.
Peter didn't fill my head with information. Instead, we practiced casting on the seminary lawn for maybe a half hour. I watched him, learned to keep my elbow in and the rod tip between 10 and 2, and casted for a bit.
When the day came to haul in my first trout, Peter drove me to a creek in a mountain canyon, gave me a rod, put on the right fly and told me where to cast it. The moment that first brook trout struck my line I became a fly fisherman.
Tonight, my friend Brad, who is a pastor and a professor, quoted from a book called "Chasing Francis" (which I am putting on my list of books to read). To paraphrase, the author writes, "Our tendency is usually to attempt to understand the Bible and then apply it to life. Instead, we ought to apply the Bible to our lives in order to truly understand it."
After thinking about this quote, I came to a conclusion. Jesus did not teach his disciples to the point where they had a complete grasp of a concept and then apply that concept to their lives. In Luke 10, he sent out 72 of his followers with minimal instructions to proclaim that the kingdom of God has come near. The 72 returned completely fired up because they were beginning to understand (through their experiences) the kingdom of God. Jesus had his followers live out his teachings and it was in their experiences that the teachings dawned on them and became a part of them.
I have lots of fly fishing gear now. I can buy flies at the fly shop without looking stupid (usually). I think I even know what tippet is. So why have I invested money in this sport? Why do I know the boring details of fly fishing? Why am I a fly fisherman? Because Peter didn't ask me to read books about fly fishing until I felt I could do it the "right" way. Because he didn't care that I would lose about 10 of his flies in poorly-placed bushes and low hanging tree branches (sorry, Peter).
In order for me to truly understand it, he just took me fishing.
There is so much to learn in the world of fly fishing. There are rods, reels, fly lines, leaders, tippet, flies, and knots. You've got to know about trout, streams, trout lies, trout food, casting techniques, how to brag about your record-breaking fish (the one that always slips back into the river just as you're about to take a picture)... I could go on. The amount of information a person needs to know to fish the "right" way is overwhelming to say the least.
Peter didn't fill my head with information. Instead, we practiced casting on the seminary lawn for maybe a half hour. I watched him, learned to keep my elbow in and the rod tip between 10 and 2, and casted for a bit.
When the day came to haul in my first trout, Peter drove me to a creek in a mountain canyon, gave me a rod, put on the right fly and told me where to cast it. The moment that first brook trout struck my line I became a fly fisherman.
Tonight, my friend Brad, who is a pastor and a professor, quoted from a book called "Chasing Francis" (which I am putting on my list of books to read). To paraphrase, the author writes, "Our tendency is usually to attempt to understand the Bible and then apply it to life. Instead, we ought to apply the Bible to our lives in order to truly understand it."
After thinking about this quote, I came to a conclusion. Jesus did not teach his disciples to the point where they had a complete grasp of a concept and then apply that concept to their lives. In Luke 10, he sent out 72 of his followers with minimal instructions to proclaim that the kingdom of God has come near. The 72 returned completely fired up because they were beginning to understand (through their experiences) the kingdom of God. Jesus had his followers live out his teachings and it was in their experiences that the teachings dawned on them and became a part of them.
I have lots of fly fishing gear now. I can buy flies at the fly shop without looking stupid (usually). I think I even know what tippet is. So why have I invested money in this sport? Why do I know the boring details of fly fishing? Why am I a fly fisherman? Because Peter didn't ask me to read books about fly fishing until I felt I could do it the "right" way. Because he didn't care that I would lose about 10 of his flies in poorly-placed bushes and low hanging tree branches (sorry, Peter).
In order for me to truly understand it, he just took me fishing.
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