By Auke Bijlsma
God loves to talk to little boys while they’re fishing. That’s what a song says.  I don’t know if that is true, because I never could muster the much-needed patience for that ‘sport’.  What I do know is that yesterday when I was on my way to work which takes me about 45-50 minutes, if the traffic gods do me a favor, I was thinking of the following.
My mind wandered off, and music was playing, don’t know what song was on when I first started to think about what people would think/say about me when I got sick and died. Thought how a lot of folks would say ‘well he smoked a whole lot of cigarettes in his lifetime’, followed by someone who’d say ‘I’m not surprised really!!!’  One would probably mention how much I liked to laugh, and how sharp my cynical sense of humor sometimes was. And because of that special kind of humor I hurt some folks, or at least offended one or three (hundred). I thought by myself ‘that ain’t too bad, I’ve seen worse‘.
Then I thought of specific people who I had hurt by sarcastic remarks, people I disappointed, people I took advantage off, and loved ones I betrayed. Little things that had happened kinda zipped by, big things came rolling in like thunder. Then certainly I heard the next song, a wonderful Sherman Andrus feature, recorded during his stint with Andrus, Blackwood & Co. Or A.B.C. in short. A song entitled ‘So Many Questions‘, that exactly talked about what I was thinking of.
What would people say about me when I’m out of the picture? Would they even remember my name? Would they forget me all the same? Would I have left a trace of Jesus somewhere? Would I have been a light in dark places? Would I have been someone who did his share for the Kingdom?
To be honest, I think I know the answers to all of these….and the answer is, ‘probably not’. I have a lot of regrets, a lot of stuff I’m not too proud of. The last couple of months this head-knowledge is becoming a heart-knowledge. Yet right there in those turbulent and violent waters, floats the buoy of salvation. The unmistakable beacon of redemption, that bright light, the golden bell on top that tolls ‘You’re forgiven‘. The rougher the sea of life, the harder it tolls.
Well I may not know about God talking to little boys while they’re fishin’, but I do know that God certainly talked to this boy while he was drivin’.
Listen to this wonderful, wonderful song by A.B.C.
Listen and watch here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q4R2kzT9rPg
From Andrus Blackwood and Company – Questions (Album ‘Grand Opening’ 1977)
Auke
http://vintage1966.wordpress.com/2013/07/02/so-many-questions/
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