Fishing Around the World

"And Jesus said unto them, Come ye after me, and I will make you to become fishers of men."
Mark 1:17

From the brief research I have done recently there are over 20,000 different species of fish in this world and many new ones waiting to be discovered. I am really not a fish person though, I decide that a small aquarium might look nice in our home so I went out and bought a tank, fish food, and couple fish only to wake up the next morning to find dead fish floating on the top of the water in the tank. To tell you the truth the longest living fish I have ever had was a beautiful blue purple colored beta that my cousin gave to me for my birthday one year. That fish survived for one entire year! I was quite amazed! I had a large goldfish live for 3 months, which I thought was quite impressive!

And going fishing, well, that is another story.......
I enjoy fishing, but I never seem to catch any fish so sometimes I think fishing is a waste of time. I don't do it very often and I cannot even remember the last time I tried to catch a fish. It is a lot of fun hooking the worms to the hooks, but the fish always seem to grab my worms and stay off the hook. I think I end up fishing where all the smart fish live!

According the the U.S. and World Population clock (the US Cenus Burea) the number of people alive in the world as of today, June 16, 2008 are as follows:
In the U.S.- 304,354,840
In the World- 6,674,562,991

Now folks, that is a lot of people! As a matter of fact there are at least 3,000 Bibleless nations in the world who number over 380 million people.

8,000 Kumwenu people in Cote D'Ivoire, Africa

402,600 Tibetan Drukpa of Bhutan

300,000 Bella people of Burkina Faso

600 Gbadogo people of Burkina Faso

113,500 Jula (Dioula) people in Burkina Faso, Africa

8,000 Komono People of Burkina Faso

83,000 Malinke people in Burkina Faso

28,000 Tagba Senufo People of Burkina Faso

810,000 Amdo people of China

There are many, many more countries that I will not take the time to list you can read more about those Bibleless countries at: http://www.baptisttranslators.com/ and click on "The Need".

Jesus has called us to be fishers of men. To prepare ourselves for the our fishing experience we must be well supplied with bait and tackle (the Bible, tracts, your own personal testimony). As a Christian we can go out fishing in many different lakes, oceans, and even little creeks that are filled with fish swimming in one direction (the school of fish represents the people in the world and the lakes, oceans, and creeks are being used to represent the many countries of the world). These small little fish joined by the larger school of fish and were swept up in the direction of the current (things of this world). It is hard to swim against the current. Many times those fish are eager for bait and will nibble at the end of your line, but you aren't able to reel them in because they will not latch onto the hook. They will listen politely to what you have to say yet they don't feel strong enough to begin swimming against the current while their fellow fish continue in the other direction.

Sometimes the fish will completely ignore you! It makes you feel that it was a huge waste of your time to sit along side the water waiting for a fish to latch on. Don't give up -keep fishing! There are many people in this world and God is working on hearts and changing lives. And I'm sure everyone would agree that the best part of fishing is when you catch something!!! There will be fish that God will send along for you to reel in. Pray and ask the Lord to show where He wants you to fish - there are so many good fishing holes all over this world.

(I found this clipart art and thought it went so well with this post!)