Chris,

I found this Fisherman's Prayer for you. It is one of many, but I thought this was cute.

Fisherman's Prayer

God grant that I may live to fish

For another shining day,

But when my final cast is made

I then most humbly pray,

When nestled in your landing net

As I lay peacefully asleep,

You'll smile at me and judge

That I'm "good enough to keep."

------------------------------------------------------- God give me strength to catch a fish, So big that even I, When telling of it afterwards, Have no need to lie.

MaryLu :)

-- MaryLu (mlc327@juno.com), May 20, 2002

Answers

Mary Lu,

That was really cute! I am forwarding the ending to my son and hubby, so that they won't feel the need to exaggerate their catch!!

God Bless,

-- Kathy (sorry@nomail.com), May 20, 2002.

ha,ha,ha, glad you liked it Kathy. Humor is a gift from God and He wants us to laugh now and then too...in fact, He tells us to. I have to look up the passage in my God Calling about laughter.

We are dealing with so much seriousness and heavy-duty stuff in our world today - the church, the Middle East...plus, whatever problems we may have in our own lives, it is nice to laugh - it feels good! :) MaryLu

-- MaryLu (mlc327@juno.com), May 20, 2002.

MaryLu,
Now that is a sweet prayer.
I kind of hate to admit this but going fishing is more an excuse to put myself in beautiful spots, usually with a person I care very deeply for and just watching the beauty, than it is catching a fish.
I don't like admitting it because that's what I think old guys do.
I took up salt water fly fishing last year partly because there is a lot more sport in it. Kind of like hunting with a bow rather than a rifle. And I am a lot less likely to hook one.
When you grow to an attitude like that you get to spend a lot more time admiring God's majestic grandure. Sort of like a prayer in motion.

-- Chris Coose (ccoose@maine.rr.com), May 20, 2002.

Chris,

Why would you hate admitting something so beautiful as that?

Appreciating God's beauty is never something to be ashamed of and has no 'age requirements.' You sound like a very special young man who has been blessed with wisdom.

When my kids were little we used to go down to the beach when we knew a hurricane was approaching (usually passed us by), but there was something so magical and mystique about watching an angry ocean and the water coming all the way up to the boardwalk. I always took pictures.

I have the most beautiful pictures of the clouds, taken right from my own backyard. How many people never appreciate the beauty and formation of clouds, especially when a storm is approaching. People think I'm nuts, but I don't care.

That special person you take with you is very lucky, indeed. MaryLu :)

-- MaryLu (mlc327@juno.com), May 21, 2002.

Has anyone seen my liberal friend, Mr. Coose the fisherman?

-- David (David@excite.com), July 13, 2002.

David I recall he said he was leaving the forum.

-- kiwi (csisherwood@hotmail.com), July 13, 2002.

When I was a kid, my soul was saved by a man who'd been called to be a fisher of souls.
My physical and spiritual self was altered in such a way that despite my best efforts to destroy myself in later years, Dan's humble and loving message prevailed. This man was living proof that Christ's simple path could be traveled by any of us. Dan seemed to be born with this loving nature. He was incredibly charitable - never an unkind word left his lips. He devoted his life to scouting and boys who needed the worldly experiences that would prove God's existance outside of the church and the classroom. Dan bridged a huge gap for many of us Catholic boys (when I was a scout there were about 50 active parish boys in the troop)who'd become incredibly rebellious. Despite the fact that we found very remote places to camp, Dan always made sure we found Sunday Mass. He never married. He attended Mass daily. He cared for his mother until she died. The only time I remember special attention from Dan was the morning my father died and he just held me.
Anyways, Dan just wanted us to live well, using what we'd been taught and he showed in his actions just exactly how that could be done.
As simple as Dan laid it out for us, I've found that walking his path is the most challenging thing I do in my life. I don't need it any more complicated. Seeing that he was the most devout Catholic that I have ever met and I never witnessed an act of his that was sinful, I decided a while ago that I'd return to what has been working well for me in the past.
So, you'll be likely to find me, knee deep in the Atlantic casting for my own soul and doing my best to serve others.
May God shower you all with the Grace that fell on my friend Dan.

-- Chris Coose (ccoose@maine.rr.com), July 19, 2002.

Hi Everyone: Missed you guys while the server was down. What did you do with your spare time? Well, I took my kiddos to a nearby crystal-clear running creek. We walked and walked in the creek, swam, talked about what we saw in the clouds. What blessed fun!

Chris, what a sweet testimony about the fellow who drew you to Christ.

Once I heard about a very godly fellow, who, on his tombstone, it read, "Samuel Wilkins never had an unkind thing to say about anyone." I thought what a testimony! Wish I could attain to that one!

Then I read about a woman named Mabel Brown who was so unkind, gossipy, slandering, viscious by the words of her mouth. She used her tongue like a flaming brandish, setting aflame forests in its past. Her tombstone read, "Here lies Mabel Brown. On May 1, 1847, Mabel finally learned to hold her tongue!" OHhhhh, what an indictment!!! I'm afraid my mother-in-law .... well she .... Nevermind, I'll be good!

Love,

Gail

-- Gail (rothfarms@socket.net), July 19, 2002.

Thanks for posting, Mr. Coose. We never agreed about much, but I know you are a heck of a man, and a good Daddy to! :-)

David

PS; We need more Dan's in the world.

-- David (David@excite.com), July 19, 2002.

Chris,

About Dan.

Sometimes we can forget who we laughed with, but we never forget who we cried with.

God bless Dan.

David

-- David (David@excite.com), July 20, 2002.