men
A for-men-only feature dealing with basic Christianity/by Lloyd Hamill
SPIN FISHING
were big and green and hard. And they were being cut and dropped from about 100 feet up a big yellow pine. When cones that size come hurtling down you have a tendency to scramble out of your sleeping bag in a hurry. At the lake my wife caught the first trout and by sunset we had landed 20 (she 11). They ranged in size up to a fat 12 / 2 inches. A trout that size, taken on a light spinning outfit, is a thrilling experience to bring in. It had been a long day and we were tired and somehow very happy. Twenty gleaming trout are a reward in themselves. Now that we’re having so much fun fishing we sometimes ask ourselves why we didn’t start sooner. Well, we can come up with a creelful of excuses but when we want to be brutally honest with ourselves we know the true answer: We didn’t do it sooner because we didn’t want to. Actually all of life is like this. If we really want to do something badly enough we can usually do it. It’s a matter of really wanting to. If you want to become an expert with a revolver you’ll buy the right equipment and then practice until you’re an expert. Nothing can keep you from becoming an expert shot if you really want to become one. This same basic principle is also true of man’s relationship to God. The Bible says, "If anyone wills to do His will he shall understand the teaching . . . .” First you have to be willing. That’s all. If you have no desire for a thing then there is no use in pursuing it. If you want to learn spin fishing you’ll buy a book and study it carefully. You’ll talk to successful spin fishermen. Then you’ll put into practice what you’ve learned. By the same reasoning if you have a desire to be absolutely certain of having a right relationship with God you’ll do everything in your power to get firsthand information on the Christian faith. You won’t just talk about it . . . you’ll do it. You’ll read the Gospel of John. And reread it. You’ll underline important portions of it. You may talk to a minister or a Christian friend. But mostly you’ll study the record firsthand. And once you’re willing to become right with God through simple faith in Jesus Christ you’ll discover the amazing truth of these words from the Bible: "But as many as re ceived him, [Jesus Christ] to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name."
My wife and I have just taken up spin fishing. I was raised in Idaho and did a fair amount of trout fishing as a youngster. But my bamboo rod and automatic reel have been stored for years. Since the war I’ve talked a lot about getting back to the streams and lakes. I even bought a five horse-power out board motor in 1951. But somehow the routine of city life here in Southern California always delayed my decision to do a little fishing. Then a few months ago we bought a book on spin fishing by Vlad Evanoff. Today that book is dirty and dog-eared from much study. We’ve read and reread it. We both decided if we were going into something new we’d better get some background knowledge before we tried it out. We found out that spin fishing got its start in England in 1905 when a chap by the name of Alfred Holden Illingworth produced a workable spinning reel. Soon the reel was in use all over Europe. Anglers found that casting with this new reel was almost fool-proof easy. In fact it was so easy and so effective that for a while it was banned in England. But in America the spinning reel didn’t get a good start until 1946. Today about 8 out of 10 fishermen use it. The advantages of the spinning reel are many. When you cast the reel remains stationary; the line just loops off. This means you can cast longer and more accurately with little practice. And because the spool doesn’t revolve there is no chance of getting a backlash. We wanted to fish for trout so we bought two very light hollow glass rods and 4 /2 02. reels. Our line is a transparent- thin, nylon monofilament in a 4-lb. test weight. After we bought the outfits we spent a good many hours in a nearby park practicing. We found that even a very light weight was fairly easy to cast 60 or 70 feet. Then we placed a 15- inch pan about 30 feet away and practiced casting into it. It didn’t take long before we were dropping our line into it fairly regularly. We were beginning to understand and enjoy our new sport. Then we headed for Big Bear Lake at the 7,000-foot level in the San Bernardino Mountains. We camped out under the tall pines. There was a full moon that was brilliantly beautiful. We were awakened the next morning by a tree squirrel who was dutifully harvesting pine cones. The cones
(Those desiring additional help or spiritual counsel may write to Mr. Hamill in care of The King’s Business, 558 So. Hope St., Los Angeles 17. A free copy of the Gospel of John [with simplified explanations ] will also be sent upon request.) The King's Business/September 1957 11
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