God's Amazing, Yet Strange Ways

The Fourth Fisherman, by Joe Kissack

I’ve been reading in 1 Chronicles how David inquired of the Lord and then did exactly as the Lord told him, even when the instructions were strange and weird.  You could say the same thing about Joe Kissack’s story and journey in his book “The Fourth Fisherman”.  Kissack tells his story of finding life in Christ and interweaves his own story with his drive to find three Mexican fisherman who were lost a sea for nine months.  This is an intriguing story to say the least and will capture your interest.

 
Kissack is not the best writer in my book but gives us a book easy to read and tells an honest story.  With his own story and those of the fisherman, I think there is a lot unsaid.  He is telling his own story in a limited way exposing only some of the pain from an abusive father, the need to noticed and be loved by him.  A classic story of great success and drive where the world gives Kissack everything, but it doesn’t satisfy him.  His own story could have easily been one book, the fisherman another; yet I love how God weaves its together.  When God wants to connect His people, there is nothing that can keep those people apart regardless of where they live. 

 God knew the truth had to told about these fisherman; and used Kissack to tell it.  Kissack gives everything to tell it.  He chooses to follow the Lord and not the world; unlike the rich ruler in the gospels.  We meet Kissack’s wife through his eyes; but I’d love a book by her; a rare woman who stayed with her husband, committed through thick and thin.

For those who wrote a bad review I quote my favorite lines from the book:  “Deep down inside the tough exteriors that are worn like armor, each man has a heart that is tender, that knows the truth.  For many, the fisherman’s experience is beyond any realm of understanding, and because it doesn’t fit into a compartment we can fathom, we question what is true. When you haven’t experienced the miraculous, it’s hard to get your arms around it. We are pretty wired to the ordinary. That’s sad, because it leads us to dismiss the remarkable, the triumphant, the extraordinary, the supernatural. Those are compartments many of us don’t have.  As a result, we deprive ourselves of these dimensions to life.”
 
I received a copy of this book from WaterBrook Multnomah in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

Quotes & A Song

Just sharing some of my favorite quotes  of the week and a favorite worship song.

Abstain from all thinking about other people’s faults, unless your duties as a teacher or parent make it necessary to think about them.  Whenever the thoughts come unnecessarily into one’s mind, why not simply shove them away? And think of one’s own faults instead? For there, with God’s help, one can do something. Of all the awkward people in your house or job there is only one whom you can improve very much. That is the practical end of which to begin. And really, we’d better. The job has to be tackled some day: and every day we put it off will make it harder to begin.   (C.S. Lewis)

God’s love for an educated but spiritually deprived generation is a powerful force against the carnal comforts of prosperity and secularism – powerful enough to transform the identity of a nation and continent.  (Alina Sayre)

God calls us to lay down our lives for the people behind the issues we support.  Heroism is an extraordinary feat of the flesh, and campaigns are occasionally won that way.  But not people. Holiness is the only power that not only defeats darkness but changes our lives, including the lives of those behind the issue we oppose.  Fighting and winning campaign may bring one personal glory, but fighting for souls in prayer and winning them to Christ brings glory to God.  (Joni Erickson Tada)

A private relationship of worshiping God is the greatest essential element of spiritual fitness.  (Oswald Chambers)

We did not give in to them for a moment, so that the truth of the gospel might remain.  (Paul, Galations 2:5)

 

22 Little Feet

22    little feet:

Ø  Ran excitedly all over the farm this summer  & scurried to the attic to find the toys.  Organization seized, extreme creativy and spontaneousness took over.

 

22 little feet:

Ø  Trampled the grass at our farm, destroying sonar lights, & dislodging rocks, running in and out of the screen door until there was no longer a screen

22 little feet:

Ø  With enthusiasm pedaled the John Deere tricycle begrudgingly giving their siblings a turn, ignoring the little old red tricycle that squeaks and is harder to pedal

22 little feet:

Ø  Jumped into the swimming pool, some cautious other thinking they were an Olympian, and others learning to swim or conquer fears

22 little feet:

Ø  Covered many acres searching for clues and treasurers on the annual clue hunt, some joining for the first time; the old pros wanting longer clue and more difficult hiding places
 

 

22 little hands:

Ø  Hugged our necks bringing indescribable joy

Ø  Left fingerprints everywhere and held on to Grandpa Jerry as he gave them 4-wheeler rides - a tiny one year old finger pointing to the window to say (if he could talk) "please take me outside and give me another ride".

 

22 little hands:

Ø  Designed the house with racetracks, dollhouses, or Lego creations, leaving a maze to walk through carefully

Ø  Picked the fruits or veggies in season & ate pancakes at local cafe

22 little hands:

Ø  Folded their hands to pray at mealtime and bedtime and others times in between some with little voices whispering or shouting up prayers from little hearts.

11 little hearts:

Ø  Are attached to ours and we are rich beyond measure