Fisher of Men

A few years ago I was working for a specialty retail store in the mall. I had a manager that was in his mid 40s and was a very good man. I liked him a lot. He was a helpful manager, he was very understanding of my nonsense as a teenager in college and became somewhat of a mentor for me. I feel like I learned a lot from him.

He always wore a small gold pin of a fishing hook on his collar. Being in Florida, I had always assumed that it was a pin showing his love of fishing. My own father is an avid fisherman and I had always loved going on the lake with him. I decided to ask my manager, let's call him Phil, about it- maybe I could talk with him about where he fished, what equipment he used and what he caught.

Phil then explained to me that his hook pin was because he wanted to be reminded that he is a 'fisher of men' for the Lord.

*Sigh*....dammit.

"Fisher of men" comes from Matthew 4:19. This is where Jesus found Peter and his brother Andrew who were fishermen. He told them to follow him and become 'fisher of men'. The brothers immediately threw down their nets and became apostles.  (I mean, wouldn't you just thrown down your career that feeds yourself and family to follow some hippie around for nothing? I know I would!)

The more I think about it the more I'm confused as to how this has become a Christian catchphrase...

What is fishing? You use good bait, pretty lures, and smelly spray to trick a fish to getting snagged on on a sharp-ass hook that will pull it out of it's home so that it may be thrown into a cold and dark place with other terrified fish (the cooler) to then be taken out and mocked by having someone hold it up by the mouth while they take pictures of it (IT WAS THIS BIG!!). Then it is descaled, beheaded, deboned... Then, if  it's caught by my father, it gets rolled around in Louisiana Fish Fry and land in the skillet to be served up with French fries and ketchup.

Sounds like a fun ride, Christians.