Hidden Rites of Passage 2 (Little Boys)

Two proud brothers with the "king for the day!" 

There are certain “Rites of Passage” that happen spontaneously and there are some that happen that take a lot of intentional preparation and purposeful engagement. The former are, like I said, more spontaneous in nature. They pop up unexpectedly, but are great moments to seize in pointing hearts to something larger than the specific unexpected situation. 

The latter are things we, as parents, can do to point our children to a greater good, a spiritual component that the Bible clarifies as being of eternal weight and glory. Some of the more intentional “rites” can be a series of processes or events. We refer to them as “Milestones” at New Beginnings. Some of our Milestones for the parents and families in Genesis Kidz are Parent/Child Dedication, Blessings, and Cultivating Faith. 

This weekend, Jack experienced one of those rites of passage that every parent and grandparent loves watching—catching his first fish! 

Words cannot convey the amount of energy, focus, determination, precision, and frantic oversight that goes into helping three little Lynch boys with long rods in their hands wielding sharp hooks on the edge of a body of water. 

But here's the breakdown:

1. I throw out Sankie’s line first (15 ft of weeds to throw over/not good practice area) in hopes he wouldn’t reel it in quickly before I even get Owen and Javi’s bait wet. 
2. I move over 20 feet and throw in Owie’s line. Two down…one to go. But this is no ordinary third step. This is Jackson!
3. I move over 20 feet and throw in Javi’s line. 
4. Sankie has already reeled his into the weeds and is hung up as I set Javi’s handle and tell him to hold on tight, watch his bobber, and start turning the handle if it goes under. 
5. As I’m moving over to Sankie’s and start to reel his through the weeds—Jack yells, “Daddy, mine bobba went down, mine bobba went down, it’s gone!”
6. Sankie runs over to Javi and starts helping him hold the rod while Javi reels it in. I thought, there’s no way—it’s been less than a minute. 
7. Owen drops his pole to the ground and runs over also. (Not proper etiquette to drop your poles and run when someone else catches a fish!)
8. Sure enough, Javi had landed his first fish—a little perch. (He called it a whale; Owen was happy because it wasn’t a “bass mouth” like he was going to catch). 
9. We coaxed Jack into holding the line as I took their picture—until the fish flopped and then he swore “it tried to bite me, Daddy!” So he wouldn’t hold it after that until I was taking it off and let all of them touch it. 

Jack's "look of concern." It tried to BITE him--he said. 

So we’ve all heard the famous story about a guy who told his friends to cast their empty nets to the other side of the boat and they ended up damaging their nets because of the miraculous catch. Later He would tell them, “I will make you fishers of men.” 

So wouldn’t this be a great moment to get the boys attention and teach a great lesson calling them to truly think through living their lives for something larger than a single lifetime—but to instead surrender to Jesus’ command to use their lives to make disciples of all nations? Wouldn’t this be a great fit for that? 

Well, it didn’t happen that way. 

This is another tribute to good intentions that may have ended up lost in translation (and chaos!). After Jack caught his little perch, the other boys were hopping and yelling—ready and positive that they were going to catch lots of more fish in the next few minutes. I was trying to tell them to wait so I could tell them a little story—but after we let the fish go they were all  screaming, “mine first, daddy, mine first…Jack’s already caught one…mine first!” Now it was three boys with hooks and poles swinging in the air in their own attempts to get the next fish. 

So as I barely told them about Jesus’ famous story they were more captivated, at that moment, with the opportunity to catch all the fish (that was the only one we caught). You may have a spontaneous circumstance that you try to use to turn into a God Moment (Faith Walk) too. Don’t feel bad when your attempt at drawing in spiritual relevance doesn’t pan out. Keep looking for opportunities and point them to God’s gracious intervention in all manners of life—and most exceptionally His intervention through His own Son. 

So, Jack walked away with the single catch and beat all of us in fishing on that beautiful day (when the little guy finally wins in anything you let him and the others know!). But there will be other days and hopefully other fish. And I hope they do consider that God allows some of those events to remind us of something larger to live for—something of eternal weight and significance. I pray, by God’s grace that they do not deserve, they will all be captivated in becoming fishers of men no matter what they do in life. 

But on that day, I think God enjoyed allowing a three year-old to smile with excitement and  and jump up and down and give his dad a great high-five knowing he had beat us all and learned a little more about life and God’s creation in this small rite of passage. 

Sankie P. Lynch

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sankie@nbchurch.info