We spent this last weekend celebrating Father’s Day. It was a wonderful weekend and we didn’t want it to be over so fast. We are thankful for the hard work Dad does to care for the needs of our family. So our efforts to celebrate him this past weekend seems to pale in comparison.
We have another Father to celebrate too. Our Father God is also a GOOD FATHER! He spends our entire lifetime caring for our needs. He knows what we need even before we ask him. He meets our needs over and over and our cup overflows with his goodness and blessings. He is amazing! He can do anything! Don’t forget to thank him. Don’t forget to celebrate him. He is good and his mercy endures forever.
One of our favorite songs is “Good Good Father”. If you haven’t heard this before, I would encourage you to take a minute and listen to this video:
Be sure to check out our Father’s Day Weekend story about all the fun times we had with Daddy on Saturday and Sunday. In the story I am writing today, I wanted to share with you our wonderful Father’s Day Miracle that happened on Sunday.
On Sunday afternoon, we drove to a place along the river and took a drive around the adjoining lake. We tried to find a quiet place along the shore with access to fish and with shady cover. Most areas are privately owned and there are many houses all around the water’s edge. We ended up returning to a little cove we had fished at six months ago. Though it was a quiet spot in December, it was jam packed in June for Father’s Day.
We eventually found a small piece of shoreline with a few trees that we could use. It was just what we needed. One of our boys got out his binoculars and did some bird watching. Another one of my sons put up his hammock in the shade of the trees. The rest of us set up our fishing poles and got busy casting them out into the water as far as we could.
Then after about an hour, some people next to us ended their Father’s Day get-together and after they left we were able to spread out more and have a larger area of shoreline to fish, and now more trees for shade, and we acquired the use of the picnic table too.
I love fishing. It is one of my favorite activities. This is something I did with my dad growing up. He loved to fish too. He died many years ago. But I have fond memories and think a lot about him on a day like today, especially because it is Father’s Day and we are fishing.
I am so glad my husband and kids like fishing too. It was a hot day to be out fishing. We spent about four hours in the heat, casting our lines. One casting reel of one of the fishing poles broke when it fell on some rocks. We also got some gear caught on a log out in the water, etc. As usual, we kept Dad busy fixing things. Despite the heat, we kept faithfully casting our lines even though we only had a few nibbles.
The younger kids got bored and eventually fished by hand for minnows with small hand held nets. They actually caught a few.
During this time of fishing with my family, I prayed and sang to Father God quietly. I felt so full of joy. Even though it was hot, and even though I had not caught a single fish. I was still filled with joy over the blessings Father God has given me. I noticed as I sang, what appeared to be 100 small minnow size fish would show up very close to me in the water. It was strange because when I didn’t sing and I just walked along the shore, the kids and I would notice maybe five to ten little fish nearby. But when I would sing, nearly 100 would suddenly appear and stay until I stopped singing. I have never seen fish do this before.
One of the prayers I prayed was to ask Father God to send fish to bless my husband for Father’s Day. I wanted him to have a good experience fishing today. I wanted him to catch a fish. I wanted him to go home with some good memories and good sized fish to eat.
I asked Father God for a crazy request, and I knew that nothing is impossible with God and if it happened then no one could say it was their skills or their fishing gear that led to the outcome. When my prayer would be answered, all you would be able to say is that “Father God made it happen”. I prayed He would send a whole school of fish all at once for us to catch so that no one could deny that He had blessed us. For several hours I believed without a doubt that He would send the fish.
My youngest son also started telling me about how he believed Father God was going to send fish, because He said he knew that “Father God could do anything”. He was so happy when he said that. I agreed with him.
I told him the story about the men in the boat on the lake who had fished all day and all night and hadn’t caught anything. Then Jesus of Nazareth, Yahusha HaMeshiac, called out to them from the shore and told them to cast their nets on the other side. They were so discouraged and basically said what is the use? But then they obeyed and trusted him. Next thing they did was haul in so much fish the load almost sank their boat. They had to call for help and have more men bring their boat to help them too. That was a miracle!
“Simon Peter told them, “I’m going fishing.”
They said, “We’ll go with you.” They set out in a boat, but throughout the night they caught nothing. Early in the morning, Jesus stood on the shore, but the disciples didn’t realize it was Jesus. Jesus called to them, “Children, have you caught anything to eat?” They answered him, “No.” He said, “Cast your net on the right side of the boat and you will find some.” So they did, and there were so many fish that they couldn’t haul in the net. Then the disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, “It’s the Lord!” When Simon Peter heard it was the Lord, he wrapped his coat around himself (for he was naked) and jumped into the water. The other disciples followed in the boat, dragging the net full of fish, for they weren’t far from shore, only about one hundred yards. When they landed, they saw a fire there, with fish on it, and some bread. Jesus said to them, “Bring some of the fish that you’ve just caught.” Simon Peter got up and pulled the net to shore. It was full of large fish, one hundred fifty-three of them. Yet the net hadn’t torn, even with so many fish. Jesus said to them, “Come and have breakfast.” None of the disciples could bring themselves to ask him, “Who are you?” They knew it was the Lord. Jesus came, took the bread, and gave it to them. He did the same with the fish.” John 21:3-13
Then my son said “Mom, did you know the son of God can feed millions with bread and fish?” I agreed with his wisdom and faith at such a young age of only six years old. Then he continued to tell me the story about how Jesus of Nazareth, Yahusha HaMeshiac, fed 5,000 men plus women and children with 5 fish and 2 loaves of bread. After he prayed and blessed the fish and bread, he divided it and fed all the people. Then his followers collected 12 baskets full of leftovers. My son knows the truth and he knows Father God and His Son will feed you when you are hungry, and he can feed you in a special way that is bigger than anything you can imagine.
“When Jesus arrived and saw a large crowd, he had compassion for them and healed those who were sick. That evening his disciples came and said to him, “This is an isolated place and it’s getting late. Send the crowds away so they can go into the villages and buy food for themselves.” But Jesus said to them, “There’s no need to send them away. You give them something to eat.” They replied, “We have nothing here except five loaves of bread and two fish.” He said, “Bring them here to me.” He ordered the crowds to sit down on the grass. He took the five loaves of bread and the two fish, looked up to heaven, blessed them and broke the loaves apart and gave them to his disciples. Then the disciples gave them to the crowds. Everyone ate until they were full, and they filled twelve baskets with the leftovers. About five thousand men plus women and children had eaten.” Matthew 14:14-21
So we continued to trust Father God for our bounty of fish, even though it got later and later and the sun was starting to go down.
While the younger kids enjoyed trying to catch minnows in their little nets, the older boys enjoyed other activities to pass the time. One of the boys whittled sticks. He found several buoyant very hard sticks to whittle and play with that must have spent a long time in the water before they washed ashore .
Another one of the boys just enjoyed watching the water and wildlife from his hammock and enjoyed relaxing. Another one of the big boys had brought binoculars and enjoyed bird watching. There were geese, a variety of ducks, herrings, etc. to see. Before long, a huge four foot tall snowy egret with a huge wingspan flew in and landed very close to us. He was so thrilled.
About 7:30pm, a boat pulled up to our fishing spot. I was a little irritated that they pulled up right in the middle of us fishing. The boat was carrying three men. One of the men jumped off the boat at the shore and walked up the hill to retrieve his truck and trailer. As he passed by our fishing poles, folding chairs, and picnic table, as he kept walking hurriedly, he quietly asked do we need any fish and he kept walking up the hill. He never stopped, but just spoke as he went. I thought at first he was being friendly and saying “Hows the fishing?” Which seemed a little insulting after pulling a boat right through the middle of our fishing poles. But then as I thought about it, I was sure he didn’t say that, but instead said ” Do you want any fish?” He kept walking at a fast pace, so it was hard to hear exactly what he said.
He walked to the back of the parking lot to his vehicle. Then he backed his trailer down to the boat dock to pull the boat from the water. We were not fishing at the boat dock, the dock was around the corner in deeper water. So the boat entering our shallow water fishing spot was really out of the ordinary and is enough to scare any and all fish away.
I felt disappointed. All of my family felt it too. They all looked back at me and then at the boat several times as if they didn’t know how to feel. I felt that if Father God had brought the fish in to take our fishing lines, surely this boat had just ruined our only hope of catching anything. However, I was making a big mistake, because that very disappointment showed that I was at risk of forgetting how big and amazing my Father God is. I swallowed my discouragement, and put on a smile, and eventually I mustered up a friendly wave to the other two men in the boat as they drove their boat away. We are told to forgive, pray for and bless others, no matter how they treat us. So I let the dissapointment go. I now waved at them with a genuine blessing of peace and kindness.
Internally, I thought to myself “Where was my faith?” I had just trusted Father God to bring us a school of fish, and I know He is God and if I put my complete trust in him, then why would I doubt his ability to overcome a boat that might disrupt his answer to my prayer?
God is AMAZING!
Before we knew it, the three men we had just seen come to shore in a boat, were now in the parking lot above us. Their boat was securely on their trailer and they were doing the last steps of putting their gear away before leaving. They asked us if we had “something to put some fish in?” I said “we have a cooler”. They said “is it cold?” and I said it had a little ice left from chilling water bottles earlier and that we would stop and get more ice on the way home.
Next thing I knew, there was fish being pulled out of the belly of their boat. I wouldn’t have believed what I was seeing had I not said the prayer and trusted Father God to answer my prayer earlier. I knew without a doubt Father God had worked a miracle for me. He proved it was him.
It wasn’t a special fishing pole, or special gear, or the right spot along the shore, or anything that I could have done to “bring in the school of fish all at once”. No, instead Father God answered my prayer His way, by sending three men on the water enjoying Father’s Day together. They were lead to show up in the middle of our fishing trip in the middle of our fishing poles and stir the water and bless our family with their school of fish they had caught. It was truly a miracle that only Father God could have done.
This Grandfather, Son, and Grandson trio of fishermen just kept pulling out more and more fish from the boat.
I told the men what had happened. I told them all of it. I told them how I trusted Father God for a whole school of fish that would arrive all at once. I told them how my youngest son believed fish were on the way too. I could see their shock and amazement on their faces. I told them that I knew Father God had sent them. I shared with them about the prayer I had prayed and how I had trusted Father God to answer my prayer.
Then the oldest Father in the group said “never doubt what Father God can do, he can do anything!”
YES! Father God is amazing! He is a good Father! He can do anything!
“Stay united with me, as I will with you — for just as the branch can’t put forth fruit by itself apart from the vine, so you can’t bear fruit apart from me. I am the vine and you are the branches. Those who stay united with me, and I with them, are the ones who bear much fruit; because apart from me you can’t do a thing. Unless a person remains united with me, he is thrown away like a branch and dries up. Such branches are gathered and thrown into the fire, where they are burned up. If you remain united with me, and my words with you, then ask whatever you want, and it will happen for you. This is how my Father is glorified — in your bearing much fruit; this is how you will prove to be my disciples (talmidim – student teachers – followers). Just as my Father has loved me, I too have loved you; so stay in my love. If you keep my commands, you will stay in my love — just as I have kept my Father’s commands and stay in his love. I have said this to you so that my joy may be in you, and your joy be complete. This is my command: that you keep on loving each other just as I have loved you. No one has greater love than a person who lays down his life for his friends. You are my friends, if you do what I command you. I no longer call you slaves, because a slave doesn’t know what his master is about; but I have called you friends, because everything I have heard from my Father I have made known to you. You did not choose me, I chose you; and I have commissioned you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last; so that whatever you ask from the Father in my name he may give you.” John 15:4-16
