T H E K I N G ' S B U S I N E S S
253
July, 1937
the same way on that night that he denied Him, didn’t he?” “Yes, he did, Danny. But see, Sister is fast asleep. I must take her in with Baby. You had better undress, too, little Son.” But when Mother had gone from the room, Danny did not undress at once. In stead he watched the pictures in the fire. Funny, the coals all looked like fish to night. As Danny watched them, suddenly he remembered Father, and he wasn’t sorry any longer that he was not on the fishing barge. He was glad that he was here beside the warm fire. Perhaps he shouldn’t have liked the dying fish, either. Perhaps he wouldn’t learn to fish that way after all. He was glad his mother had told him about Peter. When he began to preach, he hoped that he would be a great fisher man, too, and maybe catch three thousand. But even if he caught one, he knew it would be better than the other kind of fish ing. For didn’t the Bible say that there was rejoicing in heaven over even one soul that repented? * * * * When Mother came back, Danny was fast asleep on the rug. Memory Work fo r July July is a vacation month and is the month in which many of our J unior K ing ’ s B usiness readers will be taking trips. For this reason our memory work for July will be to memorize Psalm 121, which often is called “The Traveler’s JPsalm.” As you memorize this portion of Scripture, boys and girls, can you think of why this Psalm has been given this special name ? New K . Y . B . C. Members The following have read through the Gospel ac cording to John and are now members of the Know Your Bible Club: Chatsworth, Calif.: Bessie j Rollins and Marie Sanderson (Mrs. G. R. Genet, leader). Comstock, Mich.: Joyce Hayward; Natalie and Zelma Rose, and Barbara and Geraldine Snow (Mrs. Dorothy Gates Rose, leader). Democrat, Ky.: Elizabeth Adams; Jeanette Col- lins; Emma Lou and Ethel Sergent, and Anna Lee 1 Tolliver (Mildred Furbush, teacher). Denver, Colo.: Samuel Hayes; Melvin Kauff man, and Herbert and Louise Rogalla (Helen A. Fick, leader). Diamond Springs, Calif.: Donna Rue Bray; Jim Cody; Eva^ and Katie Krein; Tommy Lawson, and Virginia Lee (Derfelt-Eby Evangelistic Party, leaders). Grand Junction , Colo.: Geraldine Akey; Pa tricia Barker; Marie Booker; Leota Brown; Thel ma Dobbs; Dorothy Farmer; Patricia Gawf; Bev erly Knight; Albert Lindsay; #Peggy Metheny; Ruthena Mills; Joe Pollard; Bill Stine; Evelyn Stocker; Beverly Teper, and Shirley Williams (Min nie Brown; Mrs. C. Croley; Hazel Hatch; and Frances Nevins, teachers). Herbert, Sask., Can.: Benjamin Dell; Abe Derk- sefi; Davy Dyck; Edyth Henning; Clifford Hanun; Richard Houghins; James Imrie; Peter Nickel; Elvin Schellenberg; Helmuth Stickel; John Ter- brandt, and Elmer Unger (Mrs. F. J. Martens, leader). Hemet, Calif.: Maxwell Warner. Hooker, Okla.: Edna Enns; Rosa and Viola Fast; Lela Grace, Marie, and Martha Friesen; Betty Lou and Mildred Hamm; Berniece Klassen; Vera Ann Reiswig; Dorothy and Louise Schroeder, and Martha Wiens (Mrs. J. F. Balzer, teacher). La Verne, Calif.: Elmer Atkins; Eugene Baker; Bobby Bixler; Marvin Carlisle; Junior Foote; Byron Lord; Johnny Merrill; Bobby Severe; El more Travis, and Richard Wood (Mrs. Cora Park er, leader). Thelma^Boskill; Myrna Carlisle Alice Downs; Barbara Miller; Pearl Nielson, and Jean Sabol (Sarah R. Charles, leader). [Continued on page 285]
of things he hadn’t yet seen nor known. This morning Peter had a ‘longing’ on. Not a little boy’s longing—the kind that could be filled by going fishing with his father. Not the kind that could be filled even by catching a fish, though sometimes Peter had thought that being permitted to catch a fish would be the climax of all a little boy’s dreams. But this ‘longing’ was something that went beyond fish. It was for something he had never had but some thing he felt he needed. He couldn’t have told what it was, but this morning the need of it was so strong upon him that it blotted out all the beauty of the day and left only a huge emptiness in his heart. As he pondered upon his great ‘longing’ a shadow fell upon the sand, and his father spoke to him: “ ‘Tomorrow, thou shalt go with me, Peter, and draw in the net thyself. Thou art no longer a child but a lad. It is time thou didst learn to fish. Aye, lad, I will make a good fisherman of thee. Thou art a likely lad in spite of thy boasting ways.’ “Peter jumped to his feet with a cry of delight. The day to which he had been looking forward had come at last! Just now he could think of nothing else to wish for. “But when the morrow came and Peter drew in the net he had cast and looked with pride upon his first catch, the joy he had expected to feel was strangely lack ing. For the first time he watched the fish flounder on the deck, gasp, stare, and settle down with a final flop. as the life went out. Peter’s heart did a few flops, too, and the life seemed to go out of it. So this was fishing! Somehow when he had longed to catch fish for himself, he hadn’t reckoned on watching things die. Somehow he hadn’t realized it would be like this. His face grew pale as he tugged at the net to release the dead bodies; and as he did so, he knew in his heart that never, never would he get used to it. He would not tell his father-—he would not even tell Andrew. They would laugh at him. All^Jiis life he would carry this secret alone: he who had longed to be a fisherman shrank from a dying fish. And yet he would be a fisherman! He felt somehow that he was meant to be a fisher man in spite of all this that troubled him. “The years sped by and the child Peter grew to youth and to manhood. Many were the fish he caught from the blue waters of Galilee. Many were the dreams he dreamed on the shores of that lovely sea. Many were the hopes and the long ings he found fulfilled in his carefree fish erman’s life. But always there was the one strange longing that nothing seemed to fill and that left so great an emptiness in King's Business By MARTHA S. HOOKER
BOY'S F ISH ING SO N G
By HELEN FRAZEE-BOWER
Across the blue, blue water I cast my shining fly, And, if I'm very lucky, A Speckled trout will die.
Now I am just like Peter When he was small: I wish For boys' fun. Are boys' wishes— I wonder— just dead fish? When I am big, like Peter, I'll leave my line and rod To boys, and find a man's wish To catch live fish for God.
his heart. And always there was his in ward shrinking from the dead fish. These two things troubled Peter, until, one day as he and his brother Andrew were cast ing their nets into the sea, they saw a Stranger coming toward them. Peter had never seen Him before, but there was something in His face that Peter had always been looking for, and, when He spoke, His voice held the answer to all Peter’s longing. Suddenly the empty place in his heart was empty no longer. And Jesus (for the Stranger was none other than the Lord Jesus, Himself) said to them, 'Follow me, and 1 will make you fishers of men. And they straightway left their nets, and followed him . . . There was a sudden excite,d cry from Danny. “That part of it is real, Mother. That part of it is real! I have read it in the Bible.” “Yes, Danny, that part of it is real. When a man meets his Saviour, that part of it is always real—the realest thing in all the world. And you know the rest of it, Danny, how the Lord Jesus taught Peter and he became that great fisher of men.” “I’ll say •Peter did, Mother. Why once he caught three thousand fish in one net, didn’t he?” i “Yes, Danny, he did and I like to think of the man, Peter, as he led his first soul to Christ, and I wonder just what his thoughts were.”
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“Why, I think I know, Mother,” said Danny. “I think he looked at that soul and remembered that first fish he had watched die. And I think he said to himself, ‘Now this is more like it. I always kn.ew I was meant to be a fisherman, but I needed to learn something about
fishing. Fishing should bring life and not death. I’ve been fishing for the wrong thing.’ ” Mother smiled fondly at the little boy. “I shouldn’t wonder if you are right, Danny.” “And I shouldn’t wonder if you are right, Mother, about the rest of the story. Peter probably was a little boy just like you said, for he boasted to the Lord Jesus
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