Friday Freelance: FISHING

Fishing can be big business, and dangerous business. Consider this true story.

Jack got into the fishing business, and was a phenomenal success. He was a natural around water, and had a God-given gift for knowing what the fish would bite on and bringing them in.

Jack helped his younger cousin Josh break into the business, and Josh did even better at it than Jack—though both bachelors poured everything back into the business and lived little better than vagrants. Jack was an orphan and Josh was somewhat of a family outcast. Although the two didn't spend a great deal of time together, a strong bond existed between them. In matters of the soul, they had only each other.

Jack's competition didn't take kindly to a little guy showing them up, and their friend Conlan happened to be a judge connected to organized crime that had infiltrated the local officials. It somehow became known to Conlan that Jack made some unflattering remarks about him. Jack soon found himself arrested on false charges, and wound up getting killed while he was in jail.

The death devastated Josh. He took a day off work when he heard about Jack, but his successful business wouldn't wait for his grief so he found himself called back on the job before the day was out—his grief pushed aside.

Josh's coworkers were the only friends he had, and they didn't share Josh's knowledge that the same mob people involved in Jack's death had also taken a strong dislike to Josh. He soon found himself dodging the local officials. When he tried to explain the situation to his closest coworkers, they didn't understand the seriousness of the situation, not even when they saw Josh narrowly sidestep attempted hits on his life.

In the end, the mob got to Josh by paying off one of the men he considered a friend. When the mob came after him, Josh protected his coworkers by surrendering, alone, without a fight. He didn't die quickly like Jack had, but was tortured by the mob pretty gruesomely before they finally killed him.

Jack and Josh both lived hard lives, alone, and both died alone. But before they left this world, they both managed to inspire the men they worked with to excel as fishermen—or fishers of men.

Of course, Jack was better known as John, as in John the Baptist. And Josh is known as either Yeshua or Jesus in the 21st century. Conlan means "hero," as does the name Herod. He was indeed a hero of the rich and powerful, who to this day oppose Josh and His fishing business.

Whether or not one makes fishing for men a full time occupation, life can be incredibly dangerous, lonely, or fraught with distress. Jesus understands our hardships, because He experienced them, on a magnitude we'll never know.

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