Share the joy if you want more of it

Last night Amy was cool with me fishing. So I took off wading, not kayak fishing, which would allow me a quicker getaway if I got "The Call."

So I called up one of my new fishing buddies (a guy visiting the church AND starting up a new lure company-I'm supposed to be getting some inventory soon!) and we headed out about 6:15 pm.

I got one decent snook, and two "snooklets" before the bite slowed. Then I got a monster snook, about 30 inches in length. The fight was awesome. But even greater was the fact that someone else was there to share it with me. And of course take the picture. As a side note, I've held many more fish than babies in my life. So I do need to be careful I don't have one hand in "Little T's" mouth and try to hold him far away from my body to make him look bigger (as I do with snook and redfish).

Sometimes I like fishing by myself. There's some freedom in it. I can go this way or that, and chase after fish. Yet if I look back on my fishing, I've realized that I have a far greater time when I'm fishing with someone else. Someone else can share my joy.

Now this picture is up on the kayak website, and many folks are posting stuff like "Nice snook" and other really deep things of that nature. But the more posts, the more joy for me, and for them (provided they're not jealous like I am sometimes).

A joy that is not shared doesn't last very long. It really doesn't. Just another of my gazillion encouragements to be active in sharing this joy in some sort of relationship. Our joy will really run dry if we shut ourselves off from others, or if we shut our mouths and refuse to speak of the joy we have in Christ. The more it's shared, whether it be through fellowship or relational evangelism, the more evident and consuming our joy shall become.