Second Church Steps

Grandkids fishing in Tennessee My father taught me to fish left handed; I did not discover this for 55 years.   It was only after he was gone, and I went fishing with someone else, that I realized everyone doesn’t fish his way. He was of the generation when a left handed person was required to learn to write with his right hand. He  grew up one of three sons  and became a father of three right-handed daughters .  Therefore, although he wrote right handed, he was ambidextrous in many ways. Now, that my father is gone and I fish alone, several things have changed. I no longer have fishing rods rigged by him. I no longer stand at his right hand…right next to him on the river bank or in a canoe casting, reeling, and waiting. Some things remain the same, though. You see, I learned to fish standing next to my father.   Mimicking his every move, I tried to cast as far and deftly as he did.   That is how I learned to fish and to serve.   I learned by “being with” and “doing with