I had a friend recently tell me that people love to go fishing with him. He just had a fish fry with the fish he and some of his friends had caught, and fed 24 men as much fish as they could eat. I was one of the 24 privileged men at the fish fry and I can tell you that it was great. My friend was frying fish for the better part of an hour and by the time he finished there were about four or five serving pans of fish devoured.

He told me that people always want to fish with him and eat the fish once he fries them, but he had a hard time getting people to help clean them. It was a truly exciting sporting event to get out on the lake and slay all of those fish. It was really great to participate in the feast as 24 of us ate a meal to remember. But why was it so hard for my friend to get help in cleaning the fish that were so fun to catch and enjoyable to eat? We all know that it would not be enjoyable to eat those fish before they were cleaned. Cleaning the fish is something that must happen before we could have had that fish fry.

Is there a parallel between the lack of desire to clean fish and other things in our life? Do we want to enjoy the rewards in life without doing what it takes to get them? How often do we start something with excitement, but when we reach a point that we must roll up our sleeves and do the hard part necessary to make it a reality, we quit? Could it be that we have given up when the reward was just around the corner?

These and other life questions will be addressed Sunday morning as “The Gathering Place Family” meets in the Washington Junior High School Library for Bible Study at 9:30 and in the lobby at 10 a.m. for our Pre-Service Connection where we enjoy coffee, juice and donuts. Our Worship Service and Children’s Church then begins at 10:30 in the gymnasium. Come at 7 p.m. and be part of our Wednesday night Bible Study and Children’s Ministry on the third floor above Trends at 120 W. Court St. in Washington Court House.