Passion

I meet some interesting people as I go about my work. I met a guy the other day who was very keen to tell about his passion. It was, interestingly, a passion that I once had. I don’t share it now, but at one time it captured me and as it now captures him (well, probably not quite as much to be honest). I used to get up at ridiculous hours of the morning (and, bearing in mind I’ve never really been a morning person, I’m talking frighteningly early) to follow this passion. I would read books, look up facts and I even once went on a course to learn more about it (mainly because my mum made me, but that’s beside the point). I’d never met this man before, but within a few minutes of striking up a conversation, we were deeply into a conversation about fishing. Fishing! It turned out this man was passionate about fishing. I’m not kidding. He told me that he goes all over the world to go fishing. He told about the biggest catch he’d ever caught: he once caught a Hammerhead Shark weighing a staggering 750 pounds! That’s massive. Absolutely massive. He wasn’t a big bloke but he somehow managed to reel the shark in. The boat he was fishing from ended up two and a half miles from the place he hooked the shark - that’s how strong it was, pulling the boat that far. He told me he’d fished in Canada, Florida and Panama as well as many places in Europe and the UK. His next trip will be to France. He spends all his money on fishing trips! He’s always planning the next fishing trip. We spoke about fish (and sharks), lures, bait, rods, boats and the best paces to catch a particular fish. He told me that fishing as a sport is now highly regulated - you can’t even take the fish out of the water before you have to let it go. Hooks are now made without barbs, specially designed to “fall out” once the tension of the line is broken. (My best catch ever, it turns out, was my friend Marc Collins, who I managed to hook while we were fishing together one day. It would have been helpful it that hook didn’t have a barb - it would have saved a trip to the hospital!) We talked about night fishing and all the gear you need for cold night by the lake. I knew enough about fishing to sound like I knew what I was talking about (no, really I did). I was able to talk about when to strike and when not to strike! Just saying! He would have talked for the rest of the day. And as I walked away, it made me wonder about what I am passionate about. Perhaps one way to answer that is to ask what do I spend my money on? R.T. Kendall (I think) said that what we spend our money on is the story of our life! Which might be another way of saying we spend our money on what we are passionate about. Another way of answering that question about passion might be to say it’s whatever I organise my life around. This guy was always planning his next fishing trip. What am I always pursing? Then I wondered if anyone would describe me as passionate about my faith. Or church. Or God. What would someone say? I was once passionate about fishing. I’m not now. So, I’m wondering about my passion. And where it is directed. And what that tells me…about me. The Bible tells me that God is passionate about me. After all, he left one world to come to another…for me! I love the thought that God has a great big photo album with pictures of all his children in and that he gets it out and shows them to the angles saying something like: “Look this is Ian. I’m passionate about Ian. He is precious to me. So precious. I went to the cross for Ian. Don’t you think he’s great? I do. I do. I love him because I love him because I love him. Ian brings me great joy just because of who he is!” I’m wondering about my passion and what it tells me about me. What I can be certain of, is God’s passion, for me.