Sunday Soak: Tippet and Tangles
There is no mess too great for the power of God.
Hello friends! This week’s post will be a little different (shorter, maybe?) because I spent some time in the hospital around Thanksgiving to rule out any life-threatening conditions associated with a set of symptoms I’ve been experiencing.1 I’m not trying to phone it in, but it’s maybe a little more raw than usual.
There seems to be a universal ignorance among new fly fishermen about tippet. Fly fishing involves a lot of foreign equipment if you are new to the sport, and there is a ton to learn all at once just to get out for the first time, especially if you’re learning on your own instead of with a guide. You have to figure out which rod weight and length, which reel weight and style, line weight and taper, leader weight and length, and the right flies among 70 million to choose from. Oh, and fly boxes.
Then you decide what kind of equipment-carrying apparatus you need - vest? Pack? Lumbar pack, sling, chest pack, lanyard, chest pack with a backpack. Waterproof or nylon. Maybe waxed canvas with taped zippers. Magnetic or zip closures.
OK, once you’ve got the right apparatus, you have to fill it with stuff. Floatant, nippers, forceps, the knot-tying guide, retractable lanyards, a nail or small tube, assortment of leaders, strike indicators, license with trout stamp, sunglasses, reading glasses, and neck gaiter. Don’t forget the net and a net keeper.
Then the clothing. Waders - hip, pants, or full? What weight and brand? Booted or sock foot? What kind of boot sole - lug or felt? Studded or not? Cleats? Throw in wool layers, a down jacket, a rain jacket, the right socks, and fingerless gloves, depending on the weather. And better get a couple of totes for all of it - perhaps a taco bag or a duffel. (I personally go with an old Chick-Fil-A takeout bag, a plastic tote, and a carryall.) And you may need a stool or small chair to throw in the back of the car if you like to sit while you tie your boots.
OK, that’s it! You’re ready to get out there!
So many first-time anglers get out there and fish for a long time in such a state, and by the time you meet them after they’ve been whipping the water with their line for a couple of weeks, their leader is chopped down to a stout two feet, and they’re trying to figure out how to tie a clinch knot on a plastic wire that’s 2mm thick.
The tippet, you tell them. They forgot the tippet.
For my non-fly-fishers, tippet is thin line available in various weights that comes on a roll. Most of us carry several weights, and many of us carry little rings to tie it onto our leaders. New anglers either don’t know about it, or they decide to forgo it, because after spending hundreds (thousands) of dollars on everything else, buying several rolls of plastic for $7-26 per roll (and don’t forget the tippet holder) seems optional. In the latter case, it’s usually a misunderstanding of the purpose of leaders vs. tippets. Very simply, the leader is for continuing the taper of the line so that the fly presentation is natural (so you don’t want to chop it off), and the tippet is for tying on flies.
From what I’ve seen, it usually takes a more experienced angler coming along and, after replacing the leader, graciously offering some tippet of their own to either enlighten the newbie to the existence of it or demonstrate the validity of spending the extra cash to the skeptic.
I was definitely the ignorant one in this case. People kept saying, “Do you have tippet?” And I was like, “I have no idea what that is, but my dad send me a lot of stuff, so probably.” Unfortunately, he didn’t send me tippet. But like others, the price was hard to swallow. I think I ordered my first set of spools off of Amazon just to cut costs.
So I was in this mindset that whenever it got tangled, I had to work hard to untangle it. I’d spend an inordinate amount of time untangling the thin little strands, just to have them permanently kinked and unusable anyway, but that didn’t stop me. No matter how knotted, jumbled, and wound around the tree branches, I was devoted to untangling that plastic blob.
When I finally started fishing with people more experienced than me, they would often help me out by grabbing my fly out of the tree I’d caught (no, I don’t eat the trees that I catch) or dealing with the tangle. To my shock, they did not spend time untangling the line. They simply grabbed their nippers, cut off the tangle, and tied new tippet on.
The first few times, I was like, “WAIT! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?! YOU’RE WASTING SO MUCH MONEY…I MEAN, PLASTIC!” But they weren’t interested in salvaging what couldn’t be salvaged. They wanted to get me back to fishing as soon as possible.
This spiritual picture is not so obvious, so I’m just going to spell this out. God doesn’t always spend time untangling the mess we’ve got on our hands. Sometimes, He just cuts it off and starts over.
I am the Lord, your Holy One,
Israel’s Creator, your King.”
This is what the Lord says—
he who made a way through the sea,
a path through the mighty waters,
who drew out the chariots and horses,
the army and reinforcements together,
and they lay there, never to rise again,
extinguished, snuffed out like a wick:
“Forget the former things;
do not dwell on the past.
See, I am doing a new thing!
Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?
I am making a way in the wilderness
and streams in the wasteland.
(Isaiah 43:15-20)
I have to say that I feel like this topic is due, because I talk a lot about endurance in tangled times, but we must also not lose sight of the fact that God is a miracle worker, and there is nothing outside of His control and nothing He cannot do.
A couple years ago around this time, I found myself in a situation. After weeks of praying and all kinds of confirmation, I felt like God was leading me to leave my home and job at boarding school and embark on a new adventure. I felt confident He was leading me to a couple of key things: marriage and a career with deeper creativity. But wow, those did not look how I expected. In the early days after I left boarding school, I was living in a friend’s parents’ attic, working as the marketing director at a small company.
The big hurdle for me was to find a place of my own to live, because I had never done that as an adult. I had worked and lived at boarding school all my adult life, so I hadn’t even paid for rent, utilities, or even meals for more than a decade. When I finally swallowed the reality that living expenses were expensive, and after asking God to help me find a place to live through a friend at church (He totally answered this), I moved into a little apartment on the complete opposite end of the city. Aaaaand my boss promptly cut my hours (and therefore salary) back to just 25 hours per week.
I confess that I felt blindsided and abandoned. Had I heard God wrong? I thought I had been following all of the steps I felt had come from Him. I kept crying out, “Help me! I’m so sorry; I thought I was following You! Please help me!” But it just kept looking worse and worse and worse. I thought, I’m just going to quit life and move back in with my parents. Not to mention that what I thought God was doing with marriage was just not looking good or right.
And then seemingly overnight and without any wherewithal of my own, this plan came together in front of me. In the midst of looking for a part time job, I found a new full time job perfectly suited for me with great healthcare and benefits just 15 minutes away from my new apartment. My best friend suddenly became the most attractive man in the world to me. (Spoiler alert, we got married.)
Everything that looked like a huge mess was completely upended. It wasn’t that I had heard God wrong; He was just doing something radically different than what I thought it would all look like. I was looking for a process, a plan, a path. But He didn’t need my good ideas, just my obedience in the face of what looked uncertain, because He was doing His own thing.
Get this. God doesn’t always untangle the mess. He wasn’t going to untangle my job or my relationships in that time period. What seemed like a great expense to me, He lopped off completely and replaced with something entirely new.
So here are some reminders from Scripture to lean on during our tangled up times.
God did not provide Sodom and Gomorrah with an economic decline. He destroyed them in a firestorm. (Genesis 19)
God did not have the Israelites build their own boats. He parted the water so they could walk through on dry ground. (Exodus 14)
God did not embroil Joshua in a long battle. He made the sun stand still so they could finish the fight that day. (Joshua 10)
Jesus didn’t give the sick and lame a 12-step program. He healed them. (Matthew 8:16, Matthew 15:30, Luke 6:18, John 5, and many others)
Jesus didn’t send His condolences. He raised the dead to life. (Luke 7:11–17, Luke 8:40–56, John 11)
Jesus didn’t go to war with Rome to free Israel. He died on a Cross to free all who believe in His Name. (Matthew 27-28, Luke 23-24, Mark 15-16, John 19-20)
We know it’s not always that way. Noah did have to build an ark. Abraham died waiting for the Promised Land. The Israelites wandered in the desert for 40 years. King David spent years on the run from Saul, Absalom, and other enemies. Daniel stayed in captivity for decades and likely died in Babylon. Jeremiah spent the majority of his life trying to turn the Israelites back without any success. Sarah, Hannah, the Shunamite woman, Elizabeth, and others had to wait years to conceive. Four hundred years went by between Malachi and Matthew. The early church was persecuted. We’re still waiting for the Second Coming of Christ. We watch loved ones slowly suffer and die. He calls us to pray ceaselessly for the things we desire. I could go on and on.
But ultimately, we pray in all of our circumstances knowing that absolutely nothing is outside of the realm of possibility when it comes to the Lord Almighty. He may call us to endure, or He may just upend everything. He may call us to suffer, or He may work a miracle. Our job is to keep our eyes, minds, and hearts set on Him in obedience, hope, and faith.
To end, let’s meditate on Isaiah 40:10-31 together. We’ll do this in the way I do my morning Bible study, when I take each part and write what is true about God and what is true about me/us.
Behold, the Lord GOD comes with might,
and His arm establishes His rule.
His reward is with Him,
and His recompense accompanies Him.
God is unsurpassable in strength. There is no one who can rule with His force of power, and that power is on our side in Christ Jesus.
He tends His flock like a shepherd;
He gathers the lambs in His arms
and carries them close to His heart.
He gently leads the nursing ewes.
He is our Good Shepherd (John 10:11-18). Shepherds fiercely protect the flock, and they tenderly care for it. We are His flock, and He loves us (John 3:16).
Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand,
or marked off the heavens with the span of his hand?
Who has held the dust of the earth in a basket,
or weighed the mountains on a scale
and the hills with a balance?
God created everything. How could anything be too hard for the Lord who can do all things? There is nothing in our lives that is not contained by Him.
Who has directed the Spirit of the LORD
or informed Him as His counselor?
Whom did He consult to enlighten Him,
and who taught Him the paths of justice?
Who imparted knowledge to Him
and showed Him the way of understanding?
God does not need our good ideas. There is no one wiser, no one greater in knowledge and understanding. No one could possibly offer Him food for thought. And yet He considers our desires so carefully in His plans. He answers our prayers - yes, no, or not yet - with the knowledge of all things forever.
Surely the nations are like a drop in a bucket;
they are considered a speck of dust on the scales;
He lifts up the islands like fine dust.
Lebanon is not sufficient for fuel,
nor its animals enough for a burnt offering.
All the nations are as nothing before Him;
He regards them as nothingness and emptiness.
There is not a mighty force in all the earth that could rival our God. He does not even consider His enemies a threat, because though they are plenty, nothing has ever threatened the Lord God Almighty. All that looks powerful to us is but a speck of dust to Him.
To whom will you liken God?
To what image will you compare Him?
To an idol that a craftsman casts
and a metalworker overlays with gold
and fits with silver chains?
To one bereft of an offering
who chooses wood that will not rot,
who seeks a skilled craftsman
to set up an idol that will not topple?
There is nothing this world can offer us in His place. Shall we take the things made by God to make things that rival God? What finite thing could possibly rival the eternally Existent God?
Do you not know?
Have you not heard?
Has it not been declared to you from the beginning?
Have you not understood since the foundation of the earth?
He sits enthroned above the circle of the earth;
its dwellers are like grasshoppers.
He stretches out the heavens like a curtain,
and spreads them out like a tent to dwell in.
He brings the princes to nothing
and makes the rulers of the earth meaningless.
No sooner are they planted, no sooner are they sown,
no sooner have their stems taken root in the ground,
than He blows on them and they wither,
and a whirlwind sweeps them away like stubble.
“To whom will you liken Me,
or who is My equal?” asks the Holy One.
Nor is there a person, power, or dominion that can rival the Lord. Think of Thanos in “Avengers: Infinity War”. He snapped his fingers and half the universe disappeared. This was a Hollywood-made enactment of an apocalyptic event, one of the most tragic, apocalyptic scenes in cinematic history, in my opinion. Yet, in all of our imagining of what power can look like, we still haven’t even brushed the surface of what His power is and can do (Ephesians 3:20). And that power is on our side.
Lift up your eyes on high:
Who created all these?
He leads forth the starry host by number;
He calls each one by name.
Because of His great power and mighty strength,
not one of them is missing.
Just look at the universe around us, in all that we cannot possibly begin to fathom. God created it all. He contains it all. He purposed it all. What we cannot even reach, He commanded to be and do.
Why do you say, O Jacob,
and why do you assert, O Israel,
“My way is hidden from the LORD,
and my claim is ignored by my God”?
Do you not know?
Have you not heard?
The LORD is the everlasting God,
the Creator of the ends of the earth.
In all that I cannot put together myself, I am only looking at my ability when I despair. I am only looking at the pathetic collective power of the world around me in all of its incapability. But GOD is the Creator and Ruler over everything. He is the very concept of always, sustaining all things in His existence. Of course there is nothing in our minuscule lives that escapes His notice. Of course He hears us and does not ignore us.
He will not grow tired or weary;
His understanding is beyond searching out.
He gives power to the faint
and increases the strength of the weak.
Even youths grow tired and weary,
and young men stumble and fall.
But those who wait upon the LORD will renew their strength;
they will mount up with wings like eagles;
they will run and not grow weary,
they will walk and not faint.
We will always grow weak and fade. Even in our strongest days of life, we will wear out. We are still dependent on food, sleep, water, and temperature stability for survival. We are so finite. But God is infinite in all of His attributes. He is our strength. He is our endurance. He is our hope. We cannot fathom Him, and that’s good! Who would want to worship a God they could grasp? How puny would that God be?
How incredible it is that our Almighty God gives us His Holy Spirit. And we know that in the Spirit is the strength to endure, the power of miracles, and the joy of the Lord who loves us! (Acts 1:8)
OK, now think about the pathetic story I just told you about uncertainty in moving, my job, and my love life. Doesn’t that all just seem so microscopic compared to God? What was so distressing to me was nothing to Him!
So don’t worry about it! Don’t worry, my friends, about how He will work it all out. Take heart instead!2 Whether we endure or whether we see the miracle, we can rest in knowing that He is God and He is on our side forever. He has redeemed us and rescued us, and He counts us as His most precious possession in all of His Creation (Matthew 10:31). It just may be that that thing you cannot see a way out of, that you can’t possibly see coming untangled, or the thing you think will drag on forever is just a breath away from the revelation that God has been working for you all along (Romans 8:28). Take heart!
I’m so excited to begin the Advent season with you next week! Until then, may all that is created testify to God’s power and divine nature, that you may be encouraged by His love all around you.
Also, feel free to comment or reach out with any topics you’d like me to cover or questions you’d like me to answer! I will do my best to respond in either a Sunday Soak or another publication during the week.
If anyone has an experience with the progression of these symptoms, I’d be very interested to know! It started two months ago with pulsatile tinnitus in my left ear, followed by episodes of lightheadedness and dizziness, then grew into some headaches. All symptoms have become more frequent and have lasted longer over time, and now I also get frequent head rushes that make my vision go gray/black. Sometimes I have a terrible headache. They ruled out intracranial hypertension, stroke, aneurism, brain tumors, etc. The ENT and neurologists were all quite perplexed. Only one neuro resident thought it might be migraines, but the ENT and attending did not, given the length and continuity of the onset. To me, it feels like heat exhaustion, so ICH seemed most likely, but they ruled it out. Then again, they ruled out ALS for my dad, which he was finally diagnosed with three days before he died. Feel free to reach out if you have any insights.
Check out this post on my Instagram feed for a series of “Take Heart” verses from the Bible. Caption: This phrase appears more than 20 times in the Old and New Testaments. The message is devastatingly simple: be courageous. But where does this courage come from? It has to be rooted somewhere, and each of these passages is rich with those roots—the Lord is working on your behalf. He is at hand. In Matthew 14:27, Jesus used the same language when He says “it is I” as the Lord did when He told Moses “I AM”, proclaiming His identity as the Name above all Names. Take heart, take heart, take heart, dear friends, because He is the same yesterday and today and tomorrow. He is the Existent One, who holds all things together, and nothing escapes His care. Take heart that He is on your side, working all things together for good. Rest and be comforted that He is greater in all things and at all times. Amen!