A woman in her fifties was volunteering in Texas at a summer camp for disabled children. She was assigned to one little boy who had cerebral palsy. Each day before dinner everyone was able to go fishing. By the end of the week, all of the children had caught a fish except for the little boy to which she was assigned.
On the last day of the camp as the dinner bell was ringing, they both decided to make one more cast toward the center of the pond. As the little boy was reeling in his line for the final time, the woman bowed her head and prayed, “Dear Lord Jesus, please help this little boy catch a fish. It does not have to be a big fish Lord. Just help him catch a little fish.”
As she told me her story, she said, “Before I could even say, ‘Amen’ after I prayed, the little boy’s bobber went underwater indicating that he had caught a fish.”
He was so excited he was having trouble reeling it in on his own so the woman reached around the boy with both arms to help him. The woman cried tears of joy as she praised God for the catch.
When the line finally made it shore, they could both see a little fish. “Thank you Jesus!” she proclaimed. Catching that little fish has made the boy’s week.
As they walked up the hill, the woman told me she had a strange conviction come over her as if the Lord was saying, “Why did you pray for the little fish and not the big fish? Am I not the same God who can deliver the big fish just as easily as the little fish?”
Call that story whatever you want, but the Bible does make it clear that our God is the God of the impossible. In Luke 18:27 Jesus says, “What is impossible with men is possible with God.” So often we only pray for the little fish in life because we don’t think God is big enough to provide the “big fish”. Stop praying for the little fish and start praying for the big fish and wait and watch to see what God does.
Not a sermon, just a thought.
Charlie Colgan, Sr. Pastor
FCCnac.org
Th.M., Dallas Theological Seminary, ’05