By Bill King
When was the last time you went fishing with a stick? No, I’m not talking about a spear that you might use to stab a fish, but a stick that you might use to catch one. When I was a kid, I loved to fish with a cane pole. The problem was that I didn’t always have one, but I could always find a long stick. I would break off the limbs, tie a line to the end of it, fasten a hook to the end of the line, put a worm on the hook, and catch myself a stringer full of bream. Last Sunday afternoon, I went fishing with such a stick. No, I had not returned to that mountain stream in Eastern Tennessee that I wrote about last week. The really strange thing was that I went fishing where there was no water, and I actually caught something. Instead of casting my line in water, I casually let it down over a backdrop with water painted on it. I didn’t use a hook but a wooden clothes pin. I didn’t catch a brim, or a bass, but a bunch of candy…one piece at a time. I was fishing at Lanier Baptist Church, where I am privileged to serves as pastor, during our fall festival.
We had a wonderful time. Inside, we had a cake walk and a book walk for everyone. Outside, we had games for the children. They pinned the face on a giant pumpkin painted on a sheet of plywood. They painted faces on real pumpkins as well. They pitched bean bags at boards with holes in one end, shot miniature basketballs at a little goal, and bowled with a plastic ball and pins. We played on a giant- inflatable slide and a bounce house, courtesy of East Liberty Baptist Association. Those two items were extremely popular with the kids. I even saw kids now in their sixth-and-seventh decades sliding! The big hit of the afternoon was an appearance by an eight-foot-tall robot named Ace Justice. He rode a motor-powered scooter around and interacted with the children, as well as to a few adults, with his AI digitized voice. We ate charcoal grilled hotdogs and award-winning homemade chili. We presented the top-three chili cookers certificates suitable for framing. We finished the event with a program by my friend and professional illusionists Bruce “Kid” Davie, from Arkansas. Then, as everyone made their ways to their cars to go home, they stopped to trunk-or-treat in the parking lot. We all went home almost sick from all that candy and the other goodies we had eaten.
Fall festivals used to be called harvest festivals. These go back as far as Old Testament days and early European days. In America, they date back to the days when we were mainly an agricultural society that depended on our crops for our sustenance and livelihood. At the end of the growing season, and after all the crops had been harvested, there were giant celebrations. Most of those farmers and families had prayed that God would grant a gracious crop, and then gave thanks to Him afterwards. These were often hosted by communities, schools, and churches. It was at one of those events, many years ago, where I first fished for candy and prizes with a stick in a pond that had no water! Even though most of us are no longer farmers, this is still a good season of the year to celebrate how God has provided our needs and blessed.
