A Fish Story
Christmas Day, 2004
Greetings from the ever darker Dark Continent,
Christmas just never seems very Christmassy over here. The rare skinny black Santas and the two lightly decorated malls in town just aren't enough to really set the mood. This year with all that's going on here it just seems even worse than ever.
So now that I've burdened your hearts with a melancholic heaviness and gloom, and your faces have turned long and demure, let me tell you a story. A fish story.
Not too long ago Jonathan inherited a little fish from our neighbors when they returned to the States. The fish's name is Hannah. She's gray with traces of red on her underside, tail and dorsal fins. She lives in a little round fish bowl decorated with a few little rocks and shells that rests on a counter in the kitchen. Not a very exciting life it would seem, but Hannah is always along the edge of her bowl looking out at what's going on around her. If you run your hand or fingers around the bowl she'll follow you around. Occasionally I stick my finger in the bowl and she'll just hold her position and let me touch her. She's a sweet little fish.
Jonathan loves his little Hannah. He feeds her every afternoon, and changes the water in the bowl every third or fourth day. Sometimes he'll stare at the bowl and talk to her just like she was one of the dogs. (I do that too actually!)
One evening we came home and Hannah was floating on her side looking very much like she was about to flip over. She kept swimming down cork-screwing like a drill trying to get to the bottom of the tank and turn upright, but every time she would float back up sideways. Jonathan asked, "What's happening?" I told him it looked like her time had come.
Jonathan started to cry. He asked if we could pray for Hannah. So we did, and we asked the Lord to spare her life. I didn't think much of it. It was just a fish and it was about to die. No big deal. But to Jonathan it was a big deal. He kept checking on her the entire evening and after he went to bed he kept asking me to check on her. When I told him nothing had changed the tears came again until he finally cried himself to sleep.
By this time my heart was breaking for my son. I went down to the kitchen and looked at the poor little fish and prayed again. "Lord, this fish doesn't mean anything to me, but it's breaking Jonathan's heart. Jonathan has prayed and asked You for Hannah's life. He's a young boy and needs to know that You care and that You answer prayer. For his sake, answer his prayer so that his faith will grow and he'll learn to trust You."
In the morning we found Hannah the fish upright and swimming around normally as if nothing had ever happened. That was five weeks ago, and Hannah is still happily swimming around her bowl today.
Can you imagine God the Creator sitting on the rim of a universe so immense that we can't even begin to comprehend it, yet as a loving Father caring so deeply for a little boy that He would heal a tiny fish in answer to a simple prayer and mend that boy's breaking heart?
He is the same God that so loved the world that He gave His Son, Jesus, some 2,000 years ago to be born in a manger. And He is the same God that knows and cares about our tax situation here in Kenya. He has a plan, He has all the details worked out, and He has everything under control. And He is the same God that knows your problems and has an answer for you as well.
I'm reminded of a hymn called Come, Come Ye Saints. It's a Mormon hymn about their pilgrimage to find their Promised Land in Utah, and as such is not real familiar in most Christian churches. It is a beautiful hymn, however, and if you can detach it from its history and purpose, there is a verse in that hymn with a very encouraging message. I'm probably not quoting it exactly correct, but it goes something like this:
We'll find the place that God for us prepares
In the Lord's final rest.
Where none can harm, or hurt, or make a prey,
There the Saints will be blessed.
We'll make the air with music ring,
Sing praises to our God and King.
Above all else the music swell,
Christ is all, all is well.
From the heart of Africa we send our love to all of you,
Have a very Merry Christmas.
Lance,Leah,Jonathan Patterson
