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2004 Season: Wrong!
06/21/2004 - The 2004 regular season is now complete. I am glad. '04 turned out to be the worst season I have ever had in 15 years on the BASS Trail. How did I go from my best season ever in 2003 when I won BASS AOY, to my worst season ever in '04?
Tough question with a seemingly complex answer. The primary reason is that the Lord withheld His favor form my fishing this year. The spigot of His favor and blessings had gushed wide open on my fishing in 2002 and 2003. In 2004 this same spigot started slowly turning off, the flow gradually diminishing, until finally, at the last tournament of the season, the spigot was eerily dry. What was once a gushing torent of His favor and blessings had now gone silent. Not a drip. The silence was deafening.
Naturally, I immediately asked the Lord "Why"? There are "two reasons" He told me: First, I was wrong to participate in the voluntary Busch program offered in '04. At the begining of the season, participating in it seemed so right.
Rewind to 2003 when I gave away 20,000 of my books with the 100K I had won from Busch for BASS AOY. To date, this generous act is the single most rewarding thing I have ever done in my life. Thousands of lives were positively impacted for eternity. Giving in such a way led to a major mountain top experience with God for me. My fishing success in '02 and '03 had been used by God to bring hundreds, perhaps thousands, into His Kingdom.
I wanted more of this. It felt so good to give to others. So I figured I would sign up for the voluntary Busch Shootout program with BASS in '04. Every cent I won from Busch, I would give to the Lord. (Read my 2004 Season Preview) I guess I felt a bit like a modern day Robin Hood. I would take Buschs money and give it all to the poor.
Turns out, I was wrong to feel this way. The difference was simple: In 2003 the Busch program was mandatory. All anglers had to participate. By blessing me with the win in '03, lets just say God was making the best of a bad situation.
BASS changed the Busch program to a voluntary one in '04. None of the Christian leaders (Mark Davis, Alton Jones, Randy Howell, among others) on Tour chose to participate in '04 except for me. I was wrong! They were right, and they were all very blessed on Tour in '04. Thank you Jesus for the success of my Christian brothers in '04! All those anglers would have won thousands of dollars in Busch money in '04 if they had participated, but they chose to stand by their personal convictions and Glorify God in the process. I love it when a man has the integrity to stand up for what he believes in even when it costs him thousands on dollars.
I said there were two reasons why Gods favor was not flowing in my fishing in '04. First, I was wrong on Busch, and secondly personal sin was keeping me from going to the next level with God. See, God wants us to be continually growing in Him. He always wants to take us to the next level with Him. Our lives are like climbing this long stairway to Heaven. With each rung up, we become more like Jesus. This is a brutal process on our flesh! Some of you may know what I mean! Sometimes, after we reach new heights with the Lord, we just want to stay there a while. Wrong! Gods call is onward and upward. This means we must constantly be shedding sin from our lives, and becoming more like Jesus. The sins I harbored in '02 and '03 that God overlooked, were no longer acceptable in '04. '04 was the time to shed that baggage, and I didn't. I wasn't climbing the ladder, I was standing still in a comfort zone.
Truly living the Christian life, and becoming more like Christ is the hardest thing I have ever done in my life. It is just brutal on my flesh, on this earthly body, and it requires an unbelievable amount of discipline. The first few years of the Christian life, and the first few rungs of the ladder, are pretty easy. God overlooks a lot of sin. But as we grow up, His tolerance for sin begins to diminish.
Not that He ever tolerates any sin. What I am talking about is that God is merciful. He knows after we become a Christian, we don't transform into being like Jesus overnight. It is a lifelong process. Or at least it should be. I see many Christians that never climb the ladder. They have the helmet of salvation, but are never used by God as warriors for His Kingdom.
So '04 has become a tremendous year of spiritual growth for me. As always before, new levels in my fishing are only reached after going to new levels with God. If I keep climbing the ladder, great things lie ahead!
Glory to my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!
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