The Ichthys or Ichthus from the Greek ikhthū́s 1^st century AD Koine Greek "fish" is a symbol consisting of two intersecting arcs, the ends of the right side extending beyond the meeting point so as to resemble the profile of a fish. It has been speculated that the symbol was adopted by early Christians as a secret symbol; a shibboleth to determine if another was indeed Christian. It is now known colloquially as the "sign of the fish" or the "Jesus fish".

    My wife Linda and I have lived in Oatman, Arizona since 1988 and in the same house as well. On September 19^th, 2021 we got up one morning and while Linda cooks up a pretty fine and tasty breakfast I go out and feed the critters. We have wild chipmunks and rabbits and a fairly large variety of birds and I am talking huge herds of doves and quail.

        On this particular September morning I see in a pile of dirt, which I should have worked with in our driveway for quite a long time, hate to mention how long that dirt pile has been there but I am the kind of guy that pretty much lives by the rule of why do today what I can put off till tomorrow or even better yet the next day... month... year... I am sure you get the picture.

        Anyhoo I see these two light images of fish on our dirt pile. Believe me I hollered at my wife Linda and at the time our youngest daughter Erin was here visiting us so I got her up too! We have never seen anything like this in all the years we have lived there. Like I say we have lived here since 1988 and now in 2021, that adds up to 33 years, and now we see these two wonderful apparitions. I don't mind saying that in everything that had been going on in our world during that time, basically from 2019 to 2021, which could include another very long story, I don't mind saying it was a huge blessing and comfort to see.

    We stood in front of them trying to see where they was reflecting from. Quite honestly we could not shadow them! None of us have any idea where these reflections come from... or maybe we do???!!! Here is something else we did Erin stood in front of it and the Fish reflected on her back... but it was inverted with the nose pointing down... hmmm another mystery!

        Coincidence, accident, chance, fluke, quirk, happenstance? You be the judge but as for us we believe it surely was a sign that something, or someone, that is greater than us IS giving us a symbol, a story, a parable that they are watching over us and all we need to do is trust in them... God and Jesus Christ in which we know Jesus was so prone to do to get us to thinking... using our heads and HE was always there as a comfort for us. Fish are wonderful creatures we have an aquarium and you find yourself watching and staring at them for long periods of time, and that is very comforting.

        Christians had used the fish symbol to recognize Churches and other like believers especially when faced with persecution. And are we not in persecuted times right now?

ἸΧΘΥΣ (IKhThUS), or also ἸΧΘΥϹ with a lunate sigma, is an acronym or acrostic.

Iota (i), Iēsous (Ἰησοῦς), = "Jesus"
Chi (ch), Khrīstos (Χρῑστός), = "anointed"
Theta (th), Theou (Θεοῦ), "of God", the genitive singular of Θεoς, Theos, = "God"
Ypsilon (y or u), (h)uios[11] (Yἱoς), = "Son"
Sigma (s), sōtḗr (Σωτήρ), = "Savior"

Translated to English: "Jesus Christ, God's Son, Savior"

NET Philippians 4:19 And my God will supply your every need according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus.   

Parson Tom ~ February 23, 2023