Read the Water

One of the most valuable skills for fishermen is to learn to "read" the water. Trout like to hide behind big rocks and below undercut banks with overhanging tree roots. At the head of a pool, they are likely to position themselves on either side of the current, or under the current, where the water slows a bit, in order to have the best vantage point for watching the bugs that are being swept along. They like deep, cleare, weedless pools, where they can easily see their prey, and they often hang out in eddies, where food is plentiful. It helps, too, to know that trout face upstream, with their noses into the current. If you know the direction a fish is facing, then you will know where to place the fly. Otherwise you can cast all day with perfectly good flies and catch nothing.

As disciples of Jesus, our madate is to be "fisher of men." It is a calling that takes us from the safety and comfort of the shoreline and invites us out into that place where the fish swim. It is a place of adventure, and a place perhaps of some risk. But if we are to be wise in this calling, we need to learn to read the rivers and know the pools of the students we are ministering to. We need to give careful thought to which way the fish are facing, what their habits are, and where they like to swim. If we want to reach students with gospel of Christ, we need to understand the culture in which they live. To put off considering culture where ministry plays out because of the hard questions it raises would be like a farmer refusing to consder the soil in which he intends to sow his seed because he does not want to get dirty. Culture is where ministry happens.