One summer day, I asked my 7 years old granddaughter, Aowyn, if she wanted to go with her dad and I to Lake Fayetteville to bream fish. She had been lots of times before and was able to cast a cork and jig rig on her spincast rod and reel without assistance.
She quickly accepted our offer and announced that she wanted to catch a catfish. I told her that if we tipped her jig with a power wiggler there was a remote chance that she might catch a catfish but it was not likely. I told her again that we were bream fishing and reminded her that she loved to eat bream filets.
She was undeterred and said it didn’t matter what I said that she intended to pray to catch a catfish and she believed that her prayer would be answered. We had a brief theological discussion about prayer as we drove to the lake. She didn’t care much for my explanation that God might not answer her prayers for a catfish immediately.
The three of us got down to business pretty quickly after we launched the boat. We all love to fish. I don’t remember who caught the first fish but I will never forget Aowyn’s first fish. It pulled much harder than a bream and when she finally got it to the surface, her dad and I were astonished to see a decent size channel catfish emerge. She just laughed and said I told you that I was going to catch a catfish. I suppose that sometimes God answers prayers just because He wants to laugh at an old man and laugh with a 7 year old girl who believes that He hears her prayers.
- Jim
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