On our first date, my husband told me that he loves to fish.
That may go down as the biggest understatement that he (or anyone in the history of the world) has ever said.
Eight years after that first date, I would argue he doesn’t just love fishing…he’s obsessed with it.
I’d also contend that he’s really, really, really smart about fishing. He knows all sorts of nuances about line strength, reading water, colors of lures, how to make replica eggs for bait, predicting fish behavior, and how to tie flies.
He works for a fishing related company. He owns a fishing related business. He owns multiple boats for different aspects of fishing…freshwater, saltwater, lake, river, pond, or brush pile building. There is a ginormous barn/shop on our property dedicated to the art of fishing. Not a week goes by where there aren’t at least 3-4 nights that fishing consumes the dinner table chatter.
He fishes morning, noon, or night (*Well, not technically noon…if you are the wife of a fisherman, you know high noon and mid-afternoon are not good times to go fishing). He can fish with a fly rod…fish with bait…fish with lures..fish with custom rods…fish with a center pin reel…and the list goes on and on.
I’ll go with him occasionally, but I’m more obsessed with reading, hiking, or hanging with friends. In the last few months, I’ve been trying to increase my memorization skills for Bible verses. For most of my life I’ve struggled with memorization of anything, but especially scripture. I’m now employing some new techniques in memorization and attempting to master an entire chapter of Bible.
A few days ago, I read an article about the importance of scripture memorization. A notation at the middle of the article captured my attention. In my own words, it said something to the effect of we memorize or remember what we make most important to us. If you can memorize lines from a movie, or sing along with your favorite song, then you don’t struggle with memorization. You struggle with what is a priority for your memorization.
Talk about getting my toes stepped on. Ouch. That’s me. I can insert movie lines or the chorus of all kinds of songs into just about any conversation. And yet, I’m telling myself that I’ve got this block about memorizing verses.
That gut punch reminded me that I need to make Bible verse memorization a priority. I need it to be the most (or at least one of the most) important things to me…so that I can be successful at placing those verses in my heart.
I essentially want to take my husband’s approach to fishing and apply it to my own understanding of scripture.
I want to be a subject matter expert. I want to know it inside and out. I want to recall information instantaneously. And I want to have confidence in my own abilities to appropriately handle the Gospel and scripture.
I love that my husband has a fishing obsession. I want to have a scripture obsession.
Come to the porch this week and let us know how you are making the scripture a priority in your life.
~Emily
“Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you, with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God.” Colossians 3:16 (NIV)
Iron Porch 
Enjoyed your article. In 1974 I was hired by Bass Anglers Sportsman Society in Montgomery to take on the role of “Mama BASS.” I was the Chapter Department representative, responsible for new BASS chapter startups around the world. I met some very famous sports fishermen, attended big tournaments and lugged home as many “freebie” diving baits, jelly worms, fly rods and spinner baits as I could carry. I had grown up loving to fish, but my citified husband never quite had the patience for it. Sure, he had drown worms on a creek bank a couple of times as a child, but had never had the feel of the wind in his face while gliding through water in a fancy, well equipped Ranger Bass Boat. If you look only at the end result—spending time outdoors—it really doesn’t matter if you have the latest or greatest equipment. What matters is if you are in a place to be silent and still enough to become one with nature. To feel the sun on your back and inhale deeply the fresh air means everything to me now. At the age of 68, permitting myself to be still and “know that He is God” I now often find myself gently humming old favorite hymns from my childhood. The other day I ran across some very old scripture cards from my Vacation Bible School Days and I chuckled at the memory of standing at attention in evening church for Bible drills and scripture memory contests. I would get so nervous I would often make myself sick. I don’t try to memorize anything these days as I do good to remember why I went in the next room. But as I go there, I often catch myself humming a familiar tune. “Deep and wide. Deep and wide, there’s a fountain flowing deep and wide.” And that memory sustains me until I realize I went in there to turn off the light. LOL Thank you for challenging me to return to the basics of Bible study in days where “creek bank” patience seems to be missing from lives lived in a hurry. I am grateful for the opportunity to pick up my Bible and refresh my memory and my spiritual angling skills. As a fishing enthusiast, I never claimed to catch all the lunkers on each fishing expedition, but I can say I tried. When it comes time for the great tournament weigh-in in Heaven, I hope I won’t be judged for how few verses I remembered or how few fish I caught, but that I am able to celebrate the fact that I returned “home” knowing I did my best as a “fisher of men.”
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