Warrenton United Methodist Church
Aug 23, 2026 · 26 min · 9 segments
Send us Fan Mail Pastor Ashley invites us to grow gratitude by surrendering our need for control and trusting God’s authority. Drawing from James 4…
We're in a series called Speak Life, where we are looking at the impact of our words, how we can use them to bless, kind of doing a little reset on where we might be off track a little bit.
Or for those of us who are newer to faith, learning more about what it means to follow Jesus with every aspect of who we are.
Fisherman who was sitting by the shore under a tree, been fishing all morning and just enjoying the shade and he was smoking a pipe.
He looked like he was taking a break.
And while he was sitting there just enjoying the shade and the breeze and the sitting, a rich businessman passed by and perplexed by what he saw and feeling like He had some questions to ask.
He had two cents to offer.
He decided to stop, and so he did.
He approached the fisherman, and he asked him why he was just sitting there under a tree, smoking and not working.
The businessman felt like there was a missed opportunity.
In response to the inquiry, the seemingly poor fisherman replied, caught enough fish for the day.
So hearing that answer, this rich businessman got indignant.
He said, why don't you catch more fish instead of just sitting in the shade wasting your time? The fisherman asked, what would I do by catching more fish? The businessman said, you could catch more fish, you could sell them, you could earn more money, you could buy a bigger boat.
The fisherman asked, what would I do then? The businessman said, you could go fishing in deeper waters.
You could catch even more fish, earn even more money.
The fisherman asked, and what would I do then? The businessman said, you could go buy many boats and employ many more people, and they could work for you, and you could earn even more money.
And the fisherman asked, and what would I do then? And the businessman said, you could become a rich businessman like me.
And the fisherman asked, what would I do then? And the businessman said, you could then enjoy your life peacefully.
And the fisherman said, isn't that what I'm doing now? The point, the point of that story, the point of their exchange is is the reminder that all of our days, all of our lives are made up of time, and all of it limited.
And the way that we spend our time, the way that we spend our hours, the way that we spend our days indicates our perspective about our life, what we value, and whose it is.
We're in a series called Speak Life, where we are looking at the impact of our words, how we can use them to bless, kind of doing a little reset on where we might be off track a little bit.
Or for those of us who are newer to faith, learning more about what it means to follow Jesus with every aspect of who we are.
Fisherman who was sitting by the shore under a tree, been fishing all morning and just enjoying the shade and he was smoking a pipe.
He looked like he was taking a break.
And while he was sitting there just enjoying the shade and the breeze and the sitting, a rich businessman passed by and perplexed by what he saw and feeling like He had some questions to ask.
He had two cents to offer.
He decided to stop, and so he did.
He approached the fisherman, and he asked him why he was just sitting there under a tree, smoking and not working.
The businessman felt like there was a missed opportunity.
In response to the inquiry, the seemingly poor fisherman replied, caught enough fish for the day.
So hearing that answer, this rich businessman got indignant.
He said, why don't you catch more fish instead of just sitting in the shade wasting your time? The fisherman asked, what would I do by catching more fish? The businessman said, you could catch more fish, you could sell them, you could earn more money, you could buy a bigger boat.
The fisherman asked, what would I do then? The businessman said, you could go fishing in deeper waters.
You could catch even more fish, earn even more money.
The fisherman asked, and what would I do then? The businessman said, you could go buy many boats and employ many more people, and they could work for you, and you could earn even more money.
And the fisherman asked, and what would I do then? And the businessman said, you could become a rich businessman like me.
And the fisherman asked, what would I do then? And the businessman said, you could then enjoy your life peacefully.
And the fisherman said, isn't that what I'm doing now? The point, the point of that story, the point of their exchange is is the reminder that all of our days, all of our lives are made up of time, and all of it limited.
And the way that we spend our time, the way that we spend our hours, the way that we spend our days indicates our perspective about our life, what we value, and whose it is.
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