More thoughts on Crankbaits

I have been hanging problems writing blogs lately.  Maybe it’s the fact that I have not been on the water lately.  I have not had that time alone with God in his creation.  I have to say I am feeling it.  I miss my time with God being on the water.

I was reading 2 Corinthians 5 the other day.  It is a great chapter of scripture.  It is in my opinion one of Paul’s greatest writings.  To be honest I have read it over and over trying to understand what Paul is really trying to say.  I would love to read it in Greek so I can see all of the things that don’t translate into English that we miss, but I am not there yet in my Greek understanding. 

What really stuck out to me was 2 Corinthians 5:17, which says: “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!”  When I read this I immediately thought of a blog I wrote months ago about custom painted crankbaits. 

The point of the blog was that when we become a Christian we are like a crankbait that is custom painted after you buy it.  The paint is stripped and made into a new creation.  We are the same; we are stripped of your old ways and made new when we allow Christ into our lives.

2 Corinthians 5:17 tells us just that, the old is gone!  Just like the old paint on the crankbait is gone our old self is gone.  The “New” is here in the case of a crankbait it’s that new paint job put on by the artist creating it.  In the case of a Christian it’s the new life we gain in the artist of Christ.

I love the analogy of the crankbait receiving a custom paint job and how we as Christians get one as well.  I hope that you have received a custom paint job in your life.  I hope that God has brought the “New” into your life and the old is gone.  If not maybe it’s time that you stop and listen to the words of God and allow the transformation.

The Crankbait has Returned

I was out fishing the river today using a Strike King Series 3 crankbait in chartreuse with a blue back.  I was fishing a bank that goes from rock to trees.  I have fished the spot a few times, and have had some luck in the past.  The last time I was out I was fishing the same color lure in the same model when I hung it in a tree.

I had forgotten the tree was there, and I hung my lure up again.  I tried a couple of the tricks I know for getting it loose.  As I was working on pulling the crankbait free up pop what looked like my crankbait.  I thought it was until I realized that mine was still hung up.  I finally worked it free and there in the water was two identical crankbaits.

I snagged the one that came up out of the water.  I knew right away that it was mine because I mark the depths my crankbaits run on the bill of every crankbait with a Sharpie.  As I got the crankbait out of the water I was reminded of the story of the Prodical Son from the book of Luke.  The crankbait returned to me just like the son in the parable, it was also grimy and dirty just like in the story I heard as a child in Sunday school class.

Luke 15:11-32:

“Jesus continued: “There was a man who had two sons.  The younger one said to his father, ‘Father, give me my share of the estate.’ So he divided his property between them.

 “Not long after that, the younger son got together all he had, set off for a distant country and there squandered his wealth in wild living.  After he had spent everything, there was a severe famine in that whole country, and he began to be in need.  So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed pigs.  He longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything.

 “When he came to his senses, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have food to spare, and here I am starving to death!  I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you.  I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired servants.’  So he got up and went to his father.

“But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him.

“The son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’

“But the father said to his servants, ‘Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet.  Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let’s have a feast and celebrate.  For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ So they began to celebrate.

“Meanwhile, the older son was in the field. When he came near the house, he heard music and dancing.  So he called one of the servants and asked him what was going on.  ‘Your brother has come,’ he replied, ‘and your father has killed the fattened calf because he has him back safe and sound.’

    “The older brother became angry and refused to go in. So his father went out and pleaded with him.  But he answered his father, ‘Look! All these years I’ve been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends.  But when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him!’

 “‘My son,’ the father said, ‘you are always with me, and everything I have is yours.  But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’””

I lost a crankbait and yet it was returned to me.  It was dirt the hooks and split ring were rusty but with some cleaning and replacing the parts that had rusted it would be as good as new.  This parable is not just about a son (or in my case a crankbait) it’s about those who come to God (the father) and ask to come home.  It is a parable about the fact that those who don’t have a relationship with God can come into a relationship with him not matter how dirty with sin we are.

Don’t forget that no matter how bad we think we have been or what we have done in our lives the Lord still loves us and will be there for us when we come to him.