The Great Fish Tale...by Susan Paradise

 

One Friday afternoon my ladies prayer group met at our lake house. After dinner we walked down to the water to watch the beautiful sunset unfold. As we went down the stairs to the dock, a horrendous stench assaulted our noses. We quickly discovered its origin. A dead 25-pound, fly-ridden catfish lay belly-up next to our bank! It had not been there 2 hours earlier.

 

I tried to ignore the terrible smell as we sat at the end of the dock for the sunset show, but it was impossible. I could not stop thinking of that rotting corpse and how much worse it would be the next day when we planned to play in the lake. I interrupted the others' chatter.

 

"If I get a shovel, do you think we can pick up the fish and bury it?" Since I am the most girly Southern Belle imaginable, they sat stunned at the words that had just come from my mouth. Finally, Reko said we would need a large fishing net. As I took off for the house, they returned to their chatter, never dreaming I was serious.

 

I had no trouble finding the shovel. But when I opened our 6-foot wide double doors to the store room to hunt for the fishing net, I was met with a giant 8-foot wide fully inflated towable float taking up the entire store room! Time was ticking. Soon it would be dark. I wrestled with the float, trying to "walk it" out. Finally, I squeezed the float by the doors. Grabbing the net, I raced back to the dock with my shovel in tow. As the ladies saw that I was determined, they got up to help.

 

I had seen my husband dig holes a million times and figured, "How hard can it be?" So I put my pedicured, white-sandaled foot on the shovel and pressed down. Turns out it's harder than I thought! We decided to look for softer ground. Suddenly, Renee yelled, "There's a hole!"

 

Fifteen feet away was a hole filled with small tangled roots. Renee, being the youngest and the one in sturdy shoes, grabbed my shovel and headed for the hole. I followed. The hole was not nearly big enough for the 2-foot long fish. But as Renee chopped up the roots, the dirt settled and the hole became deeper without any digging required.

 

Meanwhile Reko contemplated how to scoop up the fish without falling into the water. Wrestling against rocks snagging the fish, she finally netted it and, with great effort, lifted the heavy weight out of the lake. She had to stop every five feet as she carried the stinking corpse to the hole.

 

Working together with the shovel and net, Reko and Renee maneuvered the fish into the hole. Judy and Lynda suggested they dump it head first and flop its body over. Then Renee scraped enough dirt from the edges of the hole to cover the fish. As we finished the burial, twilight was upon us.

 

Later that evening God revealed the meaning of our dead fish adventure. During our prayer session, we prayed for those among us with prodigal children. Lynda especially prayed certain phrases that stood out to me---"lay the axe to the root cause" and "rid them of the garbage in their lives". Suddenly I understood.

 

When the stinking, rotting sin of our lives is exposed in the Son-light, we must discover the root of the sin, destroy it, and quickly bury it. satan can put enormous obstacles in our path, but God will show us how to conquer them. He gives us the tools to destroy and bury that sin. He will even supply the hole if we are too weak to dig it ourselves.

 

What about you? Is there sin in your life that needs to be buried? Repent and watch God help you!