JOHN MUCKERMAN

FATC Days of Christmas (Day 2)…The Cast Heard Round Creation

The gift that keeps on giving…this year, no partridges in pear trees or turtle doves; that’s for my Safari Club buddies. This gift is for my FATC buddies.

I’ve recently enjoyed reading Daniel Bryant’s book, GOD MUST BE A FLY FISHER, and I think many of you will enjoy it also. I’m reprinting a short chapter each day from now through New Year’s Day. This is not just a book about fly fishing. It’s a book about slowing down. It’s a book about seeing that every moment outdoors might be an invitation to come closer to the One who created it all.

(From God Must Be A Fly Fisher by author Daniel Bryant)

The Cast Heard Round Creation

In the beginning, God said, “Let there be light.” And I’d like to imagine that somewhere, just before those words were spoken, He false cast once or twice— just to get the rhythm right.

Because casting, like creation, requires precision, timing, and just a little bit of flair.

If you’ve ever watched a fly fisher work a perfect overhead cast, you’ve seen something more than muscle memory. It’s choreography. It’s intention. It’s the act of creation in miniature. You’re taking an invisible idea-a bug, a drift, a dream —and placing it exactly where it needs to land.

Kind of like how God shaped the heavens and the earth. With purpose. With grace. With a whole lot of patience.

Isaiah 40:26 says, “Lift up your eyes on high and see: who created these? He who brings out their host by number, calling them all by name.” You think threading a size 22 midge onto 6X tippet is tough? Try naming every star in the universe. That’s a level of detail even the best fly tier would tip their magnifying glasses to.

Fly casting has its own theology, really.

You learn quickly that power doesn’t come from brute force —it comes from finesse. The rod does the work. Your job is to feel the rhythm and trust the design. If you try to muscle it, you’ll tangle your line faster than a toddler with a box of spaghetti. But if you pause, if you let the rod load, if you lean into the timing —that line will sing.

And that’s just like God.

He doesn’t force His will. He guides it. With a steady hand.

With a quiet whisper. With a movement so smooth you almost don’t notice it —until the line unfurls like a ribbon of grace above the water.

And sometimes… it lands perfectly.

Other times? Well, let’s just say that tree wasn’t supposed to be part of the plan.

But God is patient —even when we’re not. Even when we blow the cast, spook the fish, or wrap our leader into an unholy mess of wind knots. He doesn’t give up. He waits. He mends. He casts again.

Sometimes I think prayer is like casting. We don’t always know where our requests will land. Sometimes we flail and flop and double haul our worries halfway to Canada. But God sees the intention. He reads the line. He knows the drift of our hearts.

So, when you’re standing in a river, casting toward a seam that looks just right, remember —you’re part of something older and holier than just fish and flies. You’re participating in a sacred rhythm. A creation story still being told.

And somewhere, I like to believe, the Lord smiles.

Because you’re casting just like He did —on the first day of everything.

And this is where faith enters.

You won’t always see the fish. The drift won’t always look perfect. The fly might disappear beneath the glare. But you cast anyway—not because you see —but because you trust. That’s the kind of faith Paul spoke about in 2 Corinthians 5:7: “For we walk by faith, not by sight.”

On the river, that might mean trusting your instincts, your experience, your guide, your training. But in life? It means trusting God’s hand even when you can’t trace His plan.

It means learning to pause. To breathe. To let the rod do the work. To believe that the One who set the stars in place also knows exactly where your next cast should land.

So cast again.

Not because you know where the fish are.

But because you know the One who made the river.

FATC Days of Christmas… GOD MUST BE A FLY FISHER

Christmas is approaching and I have a gift for my FATC brothers. (No…it’s not a new Orvis Helios fly rod or even a package of Oros Strike Indicators.)

I’ve recently enjoyed reading Daniel Bryant’s book, GOD MUST BE A FLY FISHER, and I think many of you will enjoy it also. I’m reprinting a short chapter each day from now through New Year’s Day. This is not just a book about fly fishing. It’s a book about slowing down. It’s a book about seeing that every moment outdoors might be an invitation to come closer to the One who created it all.

 

(Preface for God Must Be A Fly Fisher by author Daniel Bryant)

Why I Wrote This Book

I didn’t set out to write a book about God.

I set out to write about fly fishing –the sport that has shaped much of my life, refined my patience, and brought me closer to creation than almost anything else ever has.

But the more I wrote, the more I realized…

You can’t separate one from the other.

Not for me.

Not anymore.

Because somewhere between the cast and the current, I began to see it clearly:

God must be a fly fisher.

 

Who else could craft a world so delicate, so intricate, so wildly beautiful and yet so perfectly balanced?

Who else could teach through water, through wilderness, through the quiet rise of a trout under a pale blue sky?

Who else could speak through storms —and also through stillness?

This book is a collection of stories some pulled from Scripture, some from my own life, many from long days on the water where heaven felt a little closer. It’s written for believers, doubters, wanderers, and weary souls alike. It’s for anyone who’s ever stood in a river and wondered if there’s more to life than what they’ve seen.

Maybe you’ve never held a fly rod. That’s okay.

Maybe you’ve never opened a Bible. That’s okay too.

This book isn’t about doctrine or dogma.

It’s about invitation.

To slow down.

To look around.

To listen.

And maybe —to believe.

Because whether you’re casting a dry fly in the golden light of evening or casting your cares before the Lord, I believe the One who made the river still walks its banks.

And I believe He’s calling each of us to wade in.

— Daniel Bryant  (Author of God Must Be A Fly Fisher)

 

A few days ago, I shared some thoughts on significance verses success. It may have just been one of the many messages you were bombarded with during a fast paced day. Then again, for some of you it may have gotten you thinking about how you are investing your life. There is a brevity to life –and as we get older, the days seem to go by even more rapidly.

Maybe this desire for significance and to invest in things that really matter has taken root in your heart, but the fear of failing and the busyness of life is choking it out. We are each masters at looking the other way, procrastinating, talking ourselves out challenges. Some of us just settle for less, some of us fear the unknown –but fear is a liar!

Here are quotes from two famous and inspirational men. Perhaps they will talk to you–maybe even motivate you to move forward out of your comfort zone and to take action:

Mark Twain said: “Life is short, break the rules, forgive quickly, kiss slowly, love truly, laugh uncontrollably and never regret anything that made you smile. Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.”

Teddy Roosevelt said: “It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and tears; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory or defeat.”

Your thoughts?