We met with the doctor at Emory yesterday, signed consents, and got our schedules. Friday, July 17, preliminary procedures begin. Monday, July 20, the rough stuff starts. I’ll be admitted to the hospital that day and will be in a couple of weeks. We appreciate all your prayers and words of encouragement.
A friend, who seems a little closer in age now than when I first met him, loves to invite Taylor and me to his neighborhood lake, a haven for large mouth bass. I first came to know David when I was a first-year teacher and coach. He was in the seventh grade and was one of my basketball guys. I guess we were only eight years apart then, which now in our forties does not seem too big a difference. David does not offer a place to fish without expectations. He calls for updates and asks us to make frequent contacts to report fish activity, catches, weights, and misses. We had been fishing about two hours one afternoon in the sweltering heat and things were not going well. I had caught two, which was pretty good for me, but Taylor had only caught two and had missed about six big fish. David called and listened to our sad report. It is not like Taylor to miss so many fish and I made a comment that maybe this fishing expedition was about “more than catching fish.” David laughed and said to call him later. I asked, “Do you want us to call even if we have no good news?” David gave a classic fisherman’s answer: “Of course! Good fishermen love to hear the frustrations of others!”
“So, Dad, what did you mean when you said this day may be about more than catching fish?” “Well, Taylor, maybe it is simply about a father spending time with his son… and maybe it’s about a son spending time with his dad.” Years ago Taylor would have been a little confused by such words, but he was in full agreement. “You’re right… just being together is most important.” Funny thing… within four minutes of David’s phone call and our forty-five second conversation, we caught three fish. The bass started biting and I ended up having to put my rod down because I was getting sore from all the action. Taylor must have caught twenty-five bass and one blue gill in the next hour. I felt like I was watching ‘the fishing channel’ up close and personal. I called David with an excellent report and he gladly came to meet us at the shore to hear the details. I still think the day was about “more than fish.”
Here’s what God treasures: Fellowship. Jesus loved fellowship as he walked the earth. He enjoyed a meal at Simon the Leper’s house and was just as comfortable as a friend could be. I’ll bet Jesus invited himself to the house of Zacchaeus with the biggest smile on his face. I picture him taking a nap on Mary and Martha’s sofa after a filling dinner. I think he loved simple conversation and I think he wants us to know that fellowship with him and God’s children is one of the things we ought to cherish most on this earth.
“I have eagerly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer.” We know Jesus said this before the Last Supper, but why did he eagerly await this meal? He knew he was going to enter a horrible time of suffering and he wanted to spend time with those with whom he shared life. Jesus loved those guys. He loved to eat with them, laugh with them, sing with them, talk about important things with them, and to simply rest with them… fellowship.
God loves having fellowship with us… peaceful, restful, Father-child fellowship. Taylor and I did not solve all the world’s problems as we sat fishless and sweating on a boat. We did laugh. We did talk about God’s faithfulness. We did talk about goals for the future. We did talk about faith. But all of this was unplanned… it was the natural conversation of a father and son. If we simply enter a place of fellowship with our Father in Heaven, I think we receive similar blessings. We may laugh. We may recount the many times God has rescued us. We’ll thank him for who he is and for all he has accomplished for us. We may pray about the future and conclude it would be best if God’s will be done. We may ask important questions and get some important answers. We may receive correction and discipline… all rooted in love. We won’t understand all things, but we can determine to continue to walk by faith. And at the end of the time of fellowship we may say to God what He constantly says to us: “I love you.”
“Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world. Righteous Father, though the world does not know you, I know you, and they know that you have sent me. I have made you known to them, and will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them.” John 17:24-26
“And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. We write this to make our joy complete. This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. If we claim to have fellowship with him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.” I John 1:3-7