Can a Passion for Fishing be a Ministry?

Nice 12-inch Cold Creek rainbow on 6-foot fly rod

I fished Cold Creek Pond this morning. Set alarm for 5:30 am so I could get ninety minutes or so of fishing with my little six foot fly rod and still make it home before Emily woke up (she knows my days off and always calls for me to get her out of bed on those mornings). The weather was amazing and the short visit scratched my itch, as they say. The fishing was slow despite having the pond all to myself. I practiced double-haul casts, which were amazingly efficient with that little fly rod. There was a Great Heron that flew away upon my arrival but left telltale tracks all around in the shallows, and for the first time ever I saw a little Kingfisher working the pond, even witnessed it diving and catching one of those little goldfish that ignorant people keep dumping into the pond.

It has been seven weeks since I last wet a line to test my new eight-footer on the same water (read March 2013 blog). This has been a tough spring for me to get away, so much so that even a few hours in the earliest part of a Friday morning can make me feel guilty because my personal and work agenda are fairly full this spring. The Nevada biennium legislative session has a lot to do with it. Not so much because it requires a lot of time but because when you’re needed you have to respond quickly. Calls to discuss and revise bill language and assess committee hearings can come at anytime, and up until the first house passage deadline there was a string of Friday mornings at the Sawyer State Building to testify on bills of interest to our city.

Desert Globemallow was blooming in force

I know I missed the best of the spring fishing at Wayne Kirch. There were Nevada Department of Wildlife reports of large trout being caught at Dacey Reservoir, water I’ve never fished before. By the time I get to Kirch this year there will be enough weed growth to impede the fishing somewhat. It’s difficult to stay put in Las Vegas when you know the trout fishing at Kirch is pretty hot right now.

I have written before that I sometimes wonder if my predilection for fishing distracts me from other important tasks. Time on earth is the one thing you cannot get more of, and when you know your purpose on earth it can be a challenge to balance hobbies in the mix of family, work, and ministry. Comparably speaking, I don’t think I spend too much time on my fishing hobby. A glance at my blog postings from 2010 forward reveals 10.5 fishing posts per year, although only four of them were overnight adventures. Is one day fishing each month too much? I’m not sure.

Our church small group is working through Rick Warren’s What on Earth Am I Here For. He uses the acrostic SHAPE to help us remember how wonderfully complex God has made us (Spiritual gifts, Heart, Abilities, Personality, and Experience). In discussing “heart” Warren says another word for it is passion. He asserts that the things you have a passion for are God given. God had a purpose in mind for you when he gave you those inborn interests. The trick is to listen for those inner promptings for signs on how to serve God through them. Not wanting to justify a hobby, I do find some consolation that at the very least my passion for fly fishing serves as a ministry for Him, even if in a very small way.

Happy angler, wearing Battle Born fleece vest from Nevada Legislature’s gift shop

Author: FisherDad

I am a Christian who has been married to my wife for over four decades, with six children and four grandchildren so far. I have retired from a string of successful occupations as a certified public accountant, a chief financial officer, and a registered municipal advisor. I have been a fly angler for almost five decades. My one and only article submission was published by Southwest Fly Fishing magazine (now American Fly Fishing). You can learn more about me by clicking on “About” on the top of my blog page.

5 thoughts on “Can a Passion for Fishing be a Ministry?”

  1. It is amazing to see how the Holy Spirit moves through each of us to accomplish God's purposes, if we would only be still, listen, and be obedient.

  2. Yes indeed, Texas. Well, God also tests our character, faith, obedience, love, integrity, and loyalty through trials, temptations, refining, and testing. So I’d say you are passing His test in Texas.

  3. I stumbled upon your blog a couple months back when looking for places to fish around Nevada (specifically Las Vegas)

    I Just wanted to say that I enjoy reading your blog and your take on fishing and how it relates to life, God, etc…

    I also learned about a few spots around her that I never knew about from reading some of your past posts.

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