After being in Australia for quite a while, I've found that the Australia accent and slang have rubbed off on me more than usual. Now that we are back in Thailand, some of my co-workers have been working hard to decipher my Australian vocab at times. There are some Australian-isms that are very helpful in communicating Gospel truths, though - including a number of the songs by Australian singer / songwriter Colin Buchanan. One of his songs goes like this:
   "Be like a fisherman.
   Forgiveness is the bait.
   Burly up with godly love and be prepared to wait.
   Some folk aren't drawn to Jesus, so just leave that bit to him,
   But when they bite - whoa! - reel them in."

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Lately, my youngest son has been enjoying going fishing with me on our weekly day off. We head out to one of the rivers nearby, throw our line in and...wait. Patience is key - that and the ability to deal with snags! We don't usually catch anything, but we've seen others catching fish. And so, we enjoy the outdoors together, we enjoy the quiet, and we are learning to perservere.

There seems to be a lot of parallels between fishing and sharing the Gospel in Thailand. We may talk to 20 people about the Lord and only find one who is genuinely interested. But without taking the time to talk to those 20 people, we wouldn't have the opportunity to see that one person respond to Christ. So I intend to be more like a fisherman - being patient, perservering and being ready to deal with the snags!