Gaff was still laughing at Wally’s question.

            Priscilla looked from face to face as she repeated it, “George or Mother Water?” Then she looked toward the ocean… for an answer?

            Wally ignored Priscilla and her confusion. “My Easter sermon is about how Jesus suffered to wipe clean our records of sin. He went through a powerful amount of pain just for us.” Then he turned on Priscilla. “It sounds like you’re forgetting to be thankful that God gave His only begotten son to save us.”

            Gaff stepped in to deflect Wally’s thrust. “Is that the most important thing Jesus did for us?”

            Wally sputtered. “Wouldn’t you say that dying is the greatest gift?”

            “You ready to step in front of a train for your congregation?”

            Wally’s expression sent spikes through Gaff. “What? Of course not. What good would that do?”

            Priscilla echoed, “Yes, what good would that do?” Frown lines between her eyes deepened.

            Gaff looked away toward Mother Water. “Those fish out there give their all for us. They die in order to nourish our bodies…”

            Wally blurted out, “Well, Jesus died to nourish our souls.” His grin said he was ready to accept the trophy for winning the debate.

            Gaff continued to look toward the ocean. “Tell you the truth, I get more from looking at the life in the ocean than from thinking about the death in it. There are more lessons in the way the creatures work together than in the way they die.” He glanced at Wally. “Sometimes it’s easier to die than to deal with your fears of what the world holds for you.” He pointed toward the index cards lying forgotten in Priscilla’s lap. “Sometimes it’s easier to die than to learn to love those who don’t act like they love you.”

            Now, Wally really had his back up. “You saying that Jesus wanted to hang on that cross to avoid dealing with life?” He stood suddenly, jabbing his hand at Gaff. “You will burn in hell…” The towel around him slipped resulting in a sudden reminder of the cool air. His jogging clothes didn’t provide much protection from the wind.

            Gaff chuckled. “You’ll have a stroke if you don’t calm down, Wally. I was only thinking that I learned more from the way Jesus lived than from the way He died.”

            Priscilla waved her cards in the air. “The Way of Love. That was His great lesson for us! Even in death, He showed us how to love those who don’t treat us kindly. Besides, didn’t I read somewhere that He was the logos and that means the word or wisdom. Isn’t the word they were referring to love?”

            Wally wrapped the towel around himself and plopped back onto the cooler. He hesitated before the truth of her statement. “But He did die for us.”

            Gaff noticed the jiggling tip of his rod… could be a fish on the line. “Oh, He died all right, but that was only after He showed us how to live.”

            Priscilla glanced at the tip of Gaff’s rod, too, and grinned. “The idea is that we are to love our neighbors and ourselves and God. Isn’t that what He told us? I don’t think He went around proclaiming that He was some God that would save only people who bowed down to Him.”

            Wally shot back, “He said to follow Him…”

            Gaff grinned at Priscilla as he moved to tend his rod. “You follow Him, don’t you, Priscilla? You follow His example of including everyone in our circle of loving.”

            Priscilla followed Gaff as he trudged through the sand. “You follow Him, too, Gaff. You talk to anyone who comes to you and I’ve seen you love even people causing a ruckus on your beach.”

            Wally stood, holding the towel close, and followed his two companions. “He died to save us,” Wally repeated, but his voice was weaker, not so adamant.

            Gaff reeled in his line. He fought the good fight and was rewarded by a great prize. “So, Wally, are you saying that the greatest gift you could give your congregation would be to throw yourself under the bus for them or to teach them to live a life filled with love?” There was a big king mackerel on the hook. Gaff grinned his pleasure. Gotcha, he thought.

            Wally sounded unsure, seeing that he was being led into an alley with no other egress. “Well, to teach them to live right, but…”

            Priscilla swam into the fray. “Guess you’d rather teach them that loving everyone is a better way to go than to criticize and ostracize.” She held the line while Gaff pried the hook out of the fish’s mouth.

             Wally looked like he was hooked. “I want them to take Jesus’ name as savior… to save their souls.”

            Gaff held the fish up to admire it. “Is His name more important than learning what He taught about loving everybody regardless of their physical, mental, or emotional state?”

            Priscilla pulled her phone out of a pocket and motioned Wally to stand next to Gaff and the big fish. “He even loved people His faith called the unclean simply because they weren’t Jewish or were sick.” She aimed her phone to record this moment in fishing history.

            Wally forced a smile as the photo clicked. “Well… well.”

            Gaff put the fish into the cooler and retrieved a piece of bait before Wally returned to his seat on it. “Don’t recall any story where He told the person He was helping that they had to call Him their savior before He would heal them. In fact, didn’t he tell them to keep the healing a secret?”

             Priscilla regained her piece of sand and looked at Gaff. “I don’t know the Bible that well, but did He ever even insist that people follow Him as a prerequisite for a healing? Besides logos doesn’t even rhyme with death or groveling.”

            Gaff shook his head as he returned to bait his hook and cast it into the water beyond the waves.

            Wally blurted out, “He was the Son of God.”

            Gaff called over his shoulder, “Correct me, Wally, but didn’t God create the earth and everything on it?”

            Wally yelled his answer, “Of course, He did.”

            Gaff brushed sand from his hands as he walked back to his chair. “If God created us then aren’t we are all the sons and daughters of God… Not sure Jesus capitalized the word son when He said anything like that.”

            Priscilla concentrated on running her hand through the sand to hide her amusement.

             Gaff sat down and moved around to dig his chair into the sand. “And if God was the only thing that existed before He created the world, what were His building materials? I’ve been asking myself this. I figure that He just took bits of Himself to make the planets and the stars and all the creatures on the earth. If you look at it like that, then everything He created was from a piece of Him and so we’re all part of God, aren’t we? The whole kit and kaboodle!”

            Wally pulled the towel up as far as it would reach and covered his face in his hands. He moaned, “Again, with the pantheism.”

            Priscilla couldn’t resist adding something. “If we’re all part of God and part of the Universe and have everything in us that He has in Him… then we’re holographic bits, you might say.”

            Wally groaned from inside his towel.

            “So if you have faith in God and surrender to His will, then you know that good things will come to you. No need for fear because it’s all good in the end regardless of how it starts.”

            “No fear because you’re never alone. You’re surrounded by all your brothers and sisters, all the children of God.”

            “And Mother Water.” Gaff grinned at the ocean.

~*~

*Lorena Peter, Ph.D., writes entertaining mysteries, romances and wisdom books. All have strong spiritual underpinnings and paranormal elements. She blends a medical intuition and healing practice (and travel) with her writing. For more information go to WWW.LORENAPETER.COM. You may contact her on Facebook. For her understanding of the Course, she thanks Carmen Cameron and the class in Louisville, KY. Dr. Lorena Peter is also the author of the delightful book: Gaff: Wisdom from the Sea.