Billy Bass Lives On

Many of you remember Billy Bass. The annimated singing toy that resembles a largemouth bass that contains a motion detector that activates a small computer chip that prompted him to start singing, startling anyone who happens to be walking by. You might remember seeing him most recently in a McDonald's Restaurant commercial singing, "Give that fillet O'fish, Give me that fish....."

Officially, he's known as Big Mouth Billy Bass. The animatronic singing toy was a popular gag gift item about ten years ago.

Made of plastic stretched over a mechanical frame, at first glance it closely resembles a mounted trophy fish. A product of Gemmy Industries, Billy turns his head outwards, wiggles on its trophy plaque and sings kitschy songs, such as "Don't Worry, Be Happy" and "Take Me To The River."

I share all of this to share a story I encountered on a discussion group recently. Unfortunately, I lost the address link.

It seems a lady on the group and her husband had gotten a Billy Bass as a gag gift at a Christmas party many years ago. While they'd had a lot of fun with Billy, he was, well, quite honesty, getting on their nerves. Still, there was some fondness for Billy and all the laughs he generated. They wanted to get rid of him, but also were sentamental enough they didn't want to just sumarily dump him in the garbage.

After some thought, they installed a new long-life battery, packed up Billy Bass and headed to her husband's favorite fishing lake up north. Now, this lake was in a really remote area of Michigan. In the middle of the lake there happened to be a small island. On that island was an old abandoned fishing cabin. Over the years the cabin had sort of become community property. Local folks would head out to the cabin by canoe to camp a couple of days.

They lady and her husband took their canoe, bundled up Billy Bass and headed to the cabin in the middle of nowhere. They carried Billy Bass to the remote cabin, affixed him to the wall, and headed home.

Can you imagine the surprise of some fisherman heading out into the great outdoors with plans to get away from everything opening the door of the cabin and being greeted by a singing Billy Bass?

I just wish the lady and her husband had enough foresight to install a battery powered video camera to capture the reaction of unsuspecting fishermen walking through the door of that old cabin

The lady and her husband are planning to return to the lake every few years with fresh batteries. You wouldn't want Billy Bass to lose his voice would you?

I've often thought that God does us that way sometime. He puts surprises in our lives that we'd never expect in places we'd never expect. You've been warned.

Jesus answered, "I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit. Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. You should not be surprised at my saying, 'You must be born again.' The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit."   ---John 3:5-9

[ Author Unknown -- from Keith 'The Sermon Fodder Guy' ( ktodd@vci.net ) ]