My Little Fishing Book – Forgiveness Remembered
Here Brad reminisces about his old fishing book. Find out how it’s rediscovery led him on a path of forgivness remembered.
My Old Fishing Book
I was looking for some papers in the back of one of my dresser drawers, and stumbled upon, once again….my old “fishing book”. Like a lot of things we stuff into the recesses of our nightstands and dresser drawers, we become reacquainted with them while searching for something totally unrelated.
“My Little Fishing Book”. It was a gift from son, more than 20 years ago. It was one of those presents (previously owned items) he picked out for me from a Christmas market held in his elementary school.
A Sentimental Journey
I remember how happy he was when I opened it that Christmas morning, and said “Now when we go fishing dad, we can write down the fish we catch”. I remember tearing up, and I still do as I flip through its pages. I was a dad that spent a lot of time with my kids, doing as many special things as I could drum up. Ironically, fishing wasn’t one of them. But that would change. His little gift to me, was the inspiration needed to send myself, he and his brother out on the 4wheeler on several occasions over the next few years. The pages of the book now tell the tales, and bring back sweet and wonderful memories of time spent with my boys. It records of course the fish we caught (which was always a scant number). The book had a place to record the date and time of the outing, the weather, the gear, bait and tackle used. And I think the most important part for all of us, a section to list the lunch and snacks we brought.
Stumbling on the old book again, took me back on a sentimental journey…. I spent a few minutes reliving those special moments, thankful for such great times, and such precious memories.
How God Sees Us
Now any parent knows, when raising a child, or children, there can be some pretty challenging times along the way. Tantrums and outbursts and timeouts when they’re young; arguments, frustrations, worries as they move through their teenage years. But as we reflect on those child rearing years; it’s the beautiful smiles, the special days, the warm little fingers, and the proud graduation moments that hold sway in our memories. As I put “My Little Fishing Book” back into the drawer, I was reminded of God’s word, how he sees and remembers us.
Heb 8:12 “For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more.”
These are really and truly, comforting words. Just to think, when God in heaven looks upon every saved sinner, he chooses to remember our sins no more. The amount of sin, dark and black, violent, bloody, hideous, that has mounted from the creation of man till now, it’s staggering. When we turn on the news, or if we take a moment to think about news headlines over the past decades, we’re reminded of tragic events, wars and crimes resulting from the rampant run of sin.
But GOD who is love, is “longsuffering to usward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.” And it took the brutal death of his gift of love, Jesus, to atone for, and wipe away the dark stain of sin. When God looks upon us, on each and every one of us who are washed in that atoning blood, that life giving blood of Jesus Christ, God remembers our sins no more.
God Sets The Standard
It should come as no surprise, that in every aspect of life, it is God who sets the moral standard. The standard for love, for human dignity, for forgiveness. If I can, as one father, choose to remember my children with abundant love, and dwell not on any past infractions, imagine how much more our Heavenly Father, who is the embodiment of love, pours out such a gift of mercy when he says, “I will remember their sins no more.” And it is a choice our Heavenly Father has made. It is not simply that he forgets our sins, and the scars that they have left upon his Son.
In fact, in John 20:27, we read that Jesus, even after ascending to Heaven, reappeared to his disciples, still bearing the marks of crucifixion. “Then saith he to Thomas, reach hither thy finger, and behold my hands; and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into my side… Yes, God did not forget the burden of our sins, he provided for it, and upon our acceptance of that gift, the Psalmist says: As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us.”
But, we know there are transgressions that have not been removed, sins that cannot and will not be overlooked. Those are the sins of the unsaved, those lost in their sin, who choose to ignore Gods plea for the salvation of their souls. Sadly, the Bible speaks of a recollection of all their sins, a final judgement, a revealing that their names will not be found written in the Lambs Book of Life, and a casting into the pit of Hell for all eternity. “there will be weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth”.
Reminiscing
I will no doubt pull out that little old fishing book of mine sometime in the future, and reminisce again on those special days and times. Mind you, it doesn’t take a book or an object to bask in precious memories of family, friends, and the joys of loving.
We can take such great comfort today in knowing with certainty, that our Heavenly Father sees us in love. And he needs no prompt, no object. He looks upon us as his redeemed, heirs and joint heirs with Christ, washed in and covered by the blood of the Lamb. I’m so thankful today that my sins have been “far removed” through my belief and trust in Jesus finished work at Calvary. My sins are to be remembered no more. I have a relationship now and forever with my Heavenly Father, who is the Eternal God, creator of mankind, God of Everything!
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Brad Hewey
Brad offers up practical, scriptural advice from a perspective borne out of everyday life encounters. As we live and move and have our being…it’s the individual life lessons that most often present the greatest challenges, but can yield the richest blessings. We’ve all, as Christians had those faith-affirming moments, where we’ve had an overwhelming sense of God’s spirit, or his very presence “at a particular but, maybe random time”.
Brad was born and still resides in a small community in the Annapolis Valley of Nova Scotia, where he and his wife Karen raised their 3 children. Brad & Karen fellowship at the Greenland Bible Chapel, where Brad serves as an elder.
Brad loves meeting and engaging with people. His background in sales has provided opportunities to travel throughout the US and Canada, networking with people from all walks of life. Brad is a singer/songwriter and has recorded 3 Christian albums. Songs from his “Brighter Day” release, have aired on Christian Radio stations across Canada and two of Brad’s albums are on HopeStreamRadio’s playlist.
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