It's all over

When the fish are gone, it's all over.

Well, my fishing season is done, finish, skoińczony.
As far as fishing goes it was a terrible season, the fish just didn't show up. I don't really know what else to say. No one is really sure why there weren't very many fish, it's just a cyclical thing that happens sometimes.

It's not like there aren't any fish, just not very many where we were. Over at Bristol Bay, where I fished last year, they had an excellent season. And there is supposed to be a strong pink salmon run starting in a couple weeks. So, there are fish, but just not where we were fishing.

We fished in Prince William Sound. At first we did a couple weeks of gill netting and caught very little, then we switched to seining (different type of fishing) and did that for about a week and a half, and caught even less. But that's just the way it is. The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord. (Job 1:21)

I don't know how much money I made yet, but it's not going to be very much. After paying for my plane ticket and other expenses, I'll still come out in the positives, but probably not as high as I would have if I had just had a regular 40 hour a week job. So, I'm feeling a little disappointed. Disappointed that I won't be able to buy some of the stuff that I was really hoping that I would be able to buy. But when I look back and think of the spiritual victories that God has given me this summer, then I know that it was God's will for me to come here and work. I may have earned less money than I would have earned working at Burger King, and I may have had less fun than I would have had if I worked at The Anchorage, but God taught me some things that I wouldn't have learned anywhere else. He needed to take me away from the internet, from electricity, from people, from the civilized world, so that He could have my full attention.

Why didn't God teach me the lessons I needed to learn, and still give me a profitable fishing season? To be honest, I don't really know. I don't know why He allowed this year and last year both to be poor seasons for me. I don't know, but I know He has a reason. And I also know that according to God's promise in Romans 8:28 it's going to work out for good. My job isn't to know "why" but to simply trust that God's knows "why."
At any rate, this is my last fishing season, my last year of torture. :P
It's funny, about a week ago, Rick was telling us about one of his friends that he brought fishing with him years ago. And Rick said to him, "If you get excited when you see a fish jump, and if you get excited when you see the fish come aboard, then you'll enjoy it. But if the fish jumping doesn't really do anything for you, then it's going to be a long season." After two days Rick's friend said to him, "Rick, I think that it's going to be a very long season." I find that very funny because that is exactly what I figured out a couple weeks earlier. Fishing seems to be a long harder for me than the other guys, they seem to actually enjoy it, whereas, well. . . if you've read my blog much recently, you know how I feel about it. They get a rush when they see a fish jump out of the water, whereas I really don't think that I could care less. But, anyway, praise God that's it's over. :D
It's not that I don't like work, I love my job on Public Safety at school. And I am really looking forward to hopefully working at The Anchorage camp, I just don't think that I was cut out for fishing and the boat life. I am, however, very thankful that I had this job for two years, I learned a whole lot, saw things here in Alaska that I wouldn't have been able to see, and experienced some many different things that I never would have experienced anywhere else. So, praise God that I had this job, but praise Him even more than I'm done with this job. :P

So what now? Well, I'm leaving on the 30th, so until then I'm planning on visiting my relatives up here in Alaska. All my family on my dad's side is up here in Alaska, so I'm hoping to visit some of them. Probably spend the majority of the time with my grandfather on his farm. :)

The tentative plan right now is, first, hitchhike down to Ninilchik to get one of my bags and some camera equipment that I left there. Spend the weekend down there and say goodbye to the people at the church. Then on Monday I'll hitchhike up to Anchorage, then get a ride from my uncle Mark and aunt Cindy and stay with them for a couple days before heading up to my grandfather's farm.

That's kind of the plan, like I said it's a tentative plan so it's not set in stone, I still have to make quite a few phone calls.

I'm just so glad I'm done. I've been looking forward to this day for a very long time. I'm so thankful that it's finally here. God kept me by his grace. Thank you dear Lord, my strength and my redeemer.

Tim