Chinese Fisher of Men

Bill Brown ... Xiamen University
"Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men." Matthew 4:19

"The Master angled, but did not fish with a net; he shot, but not at birds sitting." Said of Confucius

Loi Faat was born about a century ago in a small Chinese village. His poor parents sacrificed to send him to school because, as firstborn, and as a boy, he was their hope for the future. And Loi Faat studied hard--until he was struck down by the smallpox that ravaged his village.

Loi Faat was one of the few young survivors, but over the following weeks he went totally blind. The family was devastated; having a blind son was even worse than having a daughter. Faced with a life of begging, Loi Faat decided to end his life, and after days of agonizing over how to do it, he bundled up one cold night, felt his way to the raging river, and threw himself in--only to encounter not death but a new life.

Loi Faat could not sink because his clothes buoyed him up like a raft. A mile down the river, an old Christian fishermen felt an urge to pull in his net. He expected a few small fish at best, and was shocked to pull in blind Loi Faat instead. The fishermen immediately thought of the verse, "And I will make you fishers of men." and he hastily carried Loi Faat to his small hut to build a fire. He fed him, warmed him up, and shared with the boy why he must never abandon hope.

With nothing but the old fisherman's stories as training, Loi Faat began sharing his own story, and his new found hope, with others, learned to read the Braille Bible (which he called his "life"), and over the years traveled all over China, sharing his message with tens of thousands--thanks to one old fishermen who braved a cold winter's night to fish, and who heard the still, small voice when it said "pull in your net."

We too are fishermen, but to catch anything we need to be prepared and obedient:

1. Fishermen Prepare Fishermen need experience and knowledge to choose the right equipment--rods, nets, boats, bait. Paul told young Timothy, "Study to show yourself approved to God, a workman that needs not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth" (2 Tim. 2:16). Our Father sometimes brings the fish to us--but only if we know what to do with the fish.

2. Fishermen Choose Where to Fish You can't just throw your line or your net anywhere and expect a catch. A good catch takes knowledge, and experience--or a hint from other fishermen, who tell you that bass feed under a certain log in the evening. But if we show we are good fishermen, our Father will tell us where to fish, or even bring the fish to us. In Luke 5:6, after Simon had fished all night without success, Jesus told him to cast the net again in deeper water. Simon said it was useless, but did so anyway--and caught so many fish the net nearly broke.

Jesus told Simon where to fish only after Simon had spent long hours fishing without results. Simon was, after all, a fishermen, who fished day after day and took catching fish for granted. Jesus wanted to remind him that, in spite of his expertise and skill, he should not take fish, or life, for granted. Fishing is far more profitable when it is a partnership between the fishermen and the maker of fish.

3. Fishermen Fish. Jesus gave Simon a net full of fish but Simon, not Jesus, had to row out into deeper water, lower the net, and then struggle to pull it up, and afterward clean and gut the fish, and sell them. If Simon had been incapable or unwilling to do the work, Jesus would have never wasted the fish on him. "To him who has much, much is given; to him who has little, even the little he has shall be taken away" (Luke 12:48).

Loi Faat touched thousands of lives only because he was saved by a poor hardworking fishermen who stayed up fishing on a cold winter's night, and whose heart was attuned to the still, small voice within that said "pull in the net" He was also a fisherman who knew what to do with the catch afterward.

We are all fishermen, prepared over the years and decades to fish in different ways, in different places. But preparation and experience isn't enough. If we are ready, our Father may well bring the fish to us, but even then we must cast our nets into deep water, and haul the catch in.

Go fishing.

The Loi Faat story was adapted from:
Miller, Basil, “Twenty Four Missionary Stories from China,” Beacon Hill Press, Kansas City, Missouri, 1948 Miller's source: Rev. H.G. Rodine, Secretary of Foreign Mission, The Evangelical Free Church of America; personal letter to the author.
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