Fishing With Dad by Drew Kingery
Therefore, keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come. (Matthew 24:42)
I wonder how frogs breathe. How do those dragonflies land on the water and not sink? Oh my, look at all the little tadpoles! Then there is a voice that brings my mind to the task at hand. My dad is saying keep an eye on your bobber. I look at my bobber, but it isn’t doing anything.
I am perhaps eight or nine and I am fishing at my grandparent’s pond with my dad. It is kind of boring, the bobber doesn’t move, so my mind wanders. He walks over and takes my cane pole and takes the line out of the water. The hook of course is clean as can be. No worm, no fish. He smiles at me and puts another worm on the hook and puts the line back on the water. He hands me the pole and again says I need to pull the line out when the bobber goes under the water. He has given me these instructions many times today, but the fish are sneaky. This time I watch, the bobber goes under, and I pull the line out of the water as I am backing up. I have caught a gigantic fish! Not really, it was only about three to four inches but to a kid it was huge.
My dad was telling me to keep watch because I didn’t know when the fish would strike. So, too, Matthew is imploring us to keep watch because we don’t know when the Lord will come. The Son of Man will come when we least expect him. It could be while we are fishing, doing our job, celebrating a birthday. We just don’t know. So, as we go through this advent season keep watch for the signs of Jesus.