Fr Ed Homily 8-3-20

The Storm

It would have been about November of 1990. My father-in-law and I were doing some very cold fishing at one of the many lakes in Minnesota called Sand Lake in the Whitefish Chain. There was brisk wind and the chop on the lake was a little more than what they call a Walleye Chop. If you are a fisherman, you know what I mean. We were headed home from a fairly good day of fishing when we saw the sign for Sand Lake and thought we could do this for an hour. The sky was getting darker. And the wind getting colder, but we knew what we were doing.

We decided to troll and stay a little closer to shore than normal. Then it started to snow. We had made it about a third around the lake when the wind really picked up. We were in a 16-foot Lund with a 25 horse motor. This suddenly was becoming exceedingly difficult.

We had the wind to our backs, so we decided to cut across the lake. I had let my line out when suddenly I knew I had a strike. My father-in-law knew that I had a fish on, but he shook his head no. We were quickly approaching a point where we were having trouble seeing the shore. Then suddenly this large muskie comes flying out of the water. My 12-pound fishing line grew taunt from the mouth of the fish to the tip of my pole. He was at least 12 feet out of the water. The waves were now rolling around us nearly 3 feet high. That muskie shook his head, snapped the line, and it was as if time stood still. Then suddenly our boat dropped out from under us in one large swell. We headed towards the point where we last saw shore. After another 10 minutes we saw the shoreline and we were amazingly close to where the dock was. It was a struggle to get the boat on to the trailer. We had to brush the snow off first. It was really coming down. We were hoping we could get out of the landing without getting stuck.

There were many prayers said during all this time. Many thankful prayers. Whenever I picture Jesus walking on the water that snowy day comes back to mind. I was thankful for the prayers that day. I have always been thankful for offering prayers every day.

May the Lord bless you in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen