My friend Scott and I just returned from my first fly fishing trip. He has been fly fishing since the 80's and is a pro at this. Our trip took us to an area of Arizona that I have never been before. The town of Chino Valley and we fished in the Verde River about 20 miles north of Chino Valley. It was a trip to go fishing but also to spend sometime in fellowship with God. For me it was a sacrifice and suffering to do this because I am afraid of heights and we had to go down this ridge to get down to the river. Well we got down to the bottom of the ridge but not before each of us falling down and with minor scratches. Once we walked to the river it was beautiful, peaceful and with a wonderful smell of wild mint. The sound of the water as it flows and the signing of the frogs were the only things that were making noise in area. I was surprised by the beauty of this part of the river, and I never imaged it was going to be this beautiful.
As soon as we got there we started to fish. I looked at the way he did things and I started myself. It was not pretty but as the minutes turn into hours I got better. I was glad that my rod was the Volkswagen while Scott had a Cadillac in his hands, because that rod I had took some punishment from me and the environment. The hours we spend there to me were like a fraction of a minute. As I got good (well so so) at fly fishing my mind clear from all the business of my life and my focus were on fishing and learning. My mind also started to think about the time my father and I fished together, and I thanked God for those time. It got so quiet at time that I had to yelled to my friend to see if he was still around the area. Well you are probably asking did you guys catch some fish? and the answers is "No" but we had a great time in this trip. We fished, we ate, we played card (another first for me to pay gin), watched "the bucket list" and stopped at Cabela's too. As we were in our way back I was thinking why did we did this trip until the end? We had all this time and we could have done it at least once a year. Scott has been a great teacher of my spiritual walk, of the finner things in life and of telling me the truth in every situation. I thank God that He has put the kind man in my life like Scott to help me on my walk. I will miss Scott terribly, but I only can say to him "ALBANIA".
Well coming down to the river was half the sacrifice and suffering the other half was going up "Oh Boy" but we made it. My friend Scott is about to understand what it is to sacrifice and suffer as he will participate with Christ in His ministry. He will understand what Peter said in 1 Peter 4:12-19. Scott will be like Peter he will stop fishing for fish and start fishing for men. My questions to all of us are how much are we willing to suffer for Christ and how is our fishing for men?One more thing " HAPPY BIRTHDAY, DAD. I LOVE YOU AND MISS A LOT!!!!!
