MAY 2026

Ever precious greetings in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ! It is my great honor and high privilege to share my heart with you once again. As you may know, Debbie and I go to Florida in April every year for our anniversary. Our honeymoon was the first trip that we ever took together! It was wonderful. Our anniversary is a sweet time of fellowship, lolly-gagging together, relaxing and debriefing while getting to know the Lord and ourselves afresh after all the months and months of ministry drain. This was our fourth year, and it has become a sweetly anticipated tradition for us. To God be the glory, we did very little ministry – well, just a smidge. 😁

I have observed that Debbie and I have very different ways of relaxing. Of a truth, I am from Mars, and she is from Venus! She enjoys reading the Word, listening to her favorite teachers, and also crocheting. She enjoys cooking too, of which I am the grateful beneficiary! She also loves the pool. Every night at 5pm we bike over to the pool after all the day’s crowds are gone. Sometimes, we even have the whole pool to ourselves! Debbie is always trying to do “her laps,” and I am always chasing her around the pool! Quite the joy for me, never forgetting where I came from, and quite annoying for her, I’m sure! I can be a total nudge, but Debbie has been graced with the gift of perseverance toward me. We all have our own wild hairs, do we not? Grace, grace, grace! (Ephesians 4:2)

As for me, my delightful rest and relaxation is found in fishing. I was fishing with my father before I could even walk, and I have been fishing with great joy ever since. I have been in pursuit of the elusive tarpon for five years now. I want to mount one on my wall for all to see. Debbie thinks I’m crazy as a bedbug because I bring more tools and fishing equipment on our trips than I do clothes! Tools to fix broken things, of course, and the fishing equipment is to fish. How could she possibly not grasp the importance of that!😄 I confess though that Debbie is very gracious to me and she encouragingly rejoices in my joyful fishing adventures! Often at sunset, she will come with me. She is found sitting in my fishing chair reading her Bible as she watches me lose my lures in the rocks and the trees! Oh, you didn’t know that as a rule, fishermen, lose lures? Grasshopper – you still have much to learn!

I am generally very frugal in my spending; thus, I bring everything I can in my suitcase from home. Two things that I can’t be without are good tools, a pole, and tacklebox of lures. I have converted an old tool belt from my carpentry days, and I now use one as my tacklebox for fishing. I just sling it around my waist, and it contains all my tools for fishing. Quite ingenious, if I say so myself.😉 It houses: 20 distinct lures, pliers, Bluetooth speaker (for worship), Bible, multi-tool, bear spray, assorted knives, fold-up chair, gaff for saltwater fishing, bug spray, and sunscreen. Plus, a few more diddies!😊 Yes, it is all very orderly in my tool-belt tacklebox! It is written, “Let all things be done decently and in order.” (1 Cor. 14:40)

As you may surmise, every species of fish requires a different type of lure. Think of the word “lure.” They are designed to lure the fish to succumb to the temptation that will ultimately make them a captive, even enslaved, by their own natural lust. Therefore, you can not use the same lure for every fish. The motive of using lures is to deceive fish. A good fisherman is really quite premeditative, methodically tempting the fish with a really good looking meal. The more tantalizing the lure, the stronger the temptation for the fish. Once said lunker can no longer resist, he bites, lunging only to be hooked! All the while, unbeknownst to him, the whole scheme is a deception, and I am the deceiver. I then hoist up said captive and take a picture of it to show off to everyone. Having been free, it is now my trophy. It now belongs to me and to do with it that which I see fit. I either eat it or I throw it back. I win.

One of the problems that I run into is that the pole for surf fishing is much longer than that for freshwater fishing. Therefore, I am not able to bring it on the plane as a carry-on. I had been seeking hard to find a three-piece pole that I can put inside my suitcase. But shop as I did – here, there, and everywhere, Amazon inclusive – nothing! I went to every fishing store you can imagine. I spent days and days searching for the right pole and didn’t find one. Sovereignly, when I got to the Airbnb, lo and
behold, in the backyard, was the perfect pole!

It is written, “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking [fishing] whom he may devour [catch]: Whom resist steadfast in the faith. . .” (1 Peter 5:8-9a)

As Christians, two things that we can’t be without are good tools, and a pole and tacklebox of lures. The tools are to fix the broken. Sin breaks; thus, people are broken by sin. Nothing is broken in Heaven but the blood-bought, broken saints. They are just as the Lord would have them: redeemed, weaned, and forever broken of self, who was the arch-traitor to themselves. Brokenness is the underpinnings of humility, the crown of glory. Humility, being the creature’s proper eternal posture,
was modeled upon a bloody tree by the Lamb of lambs. Our toolbox is the Spirit-filled man of God and his Bible. No more, no less; the Word is sufficient. Let us wield it well as we lovingly fix the broken.

So also, lest we mistake the tools for fixing with the tools for fishing, let us remember that you can not fix the unsaved; they must be evangelized. As I so often teach, you cannot clean a fish (disciple it) until you catch it (get it saved). In evangelism, you must have a tool-belt tacklebox full of gospel lures, even, verses of every sort. The unsaved are forever trying to do “their laps” in the pool of this world. They are drinking from the toilet. The water is clear, but they know not – death is in the pot! It is incumbent upon you to be a total nudge, nudging them ever closer to Christ, their only hope! On the flip side, satan has a tool-belt tacklebox full of lures too! They are designed to hook you in your sin. Satan is daily, methodically, tantalizing said lunker (you), and when you can no longer resist, you bite, lunging only to be hooked! Have you considered that satan desires you as his trophy? He wants to mount you on his wall for all to see! Beloved, resist him – steadfast in the faith!

Finally, in my flesh, I had searched for days and days looking for that perfect pole, while sovereignly, it was already right there in the backyard! Similarly, I had searched for satisfaction in all the world’s substances and was left empty and hopeless. All the while, Jesus was right there in my own backyard! How about you? Oh, you don’t think you need Jesus? Well then grasshopper, . . .

“YOU STILL HAVE MUCH TO LEARN!”

JOYFULLY IN JESUS,
LOVE, PHILIP