A dead fish never has to try. It goes wherever the water takes it, and it will keep going there all day.
That is the picture on the back of this shirt, and it is the whole point.
What the Shirt Shows
Mountains rise behind a tree-lined river running hard over the rocks. Three gray dead fish drift along in the water, with arrows beside them pointing the way the current is pulling. One fish, drawn as the Ichthus, the Christian fish symbol, is pointed the other way, into the whitewater.
Above the river: "DEAD FISH DRIFT. THE LIVING SWIM AGAINST THE CURRENT." Below it: "BE ALIVE IN CHRIST," with Romans 6:11 underneath.
Romans 6:11
Paul writes: "Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord." (NKJV)
His argument in that chapter is that sin no longer gets to set the direction for a believer. In the next two verses he says not to let sin reign in our mortal bodies, and to present ourselves to God as those alive from the dead. A life carried along by whatever is strongest around it, whether habit, pressure, or the crowd, has no one steering. Being alive to God changes that.
The Fish
The fish is one of the oldest symbols Christians have used. The Greek word for fish, ICHTHUS, can be read as an acrostic, "Ιησούς Χριστός, Θεού Υιός, Σωτήρ," (Iesous Christos, Theou Yios, Soter) meaning "Jesus Christ, God's Son, Savior," with each letter standing for one of those five Greek words.
By the second and third centuries, this symbol allowed believers to identify with each other without saying a single word. It was Christianity's version of a secret handshake - simple yet profoundly useful.
So the one fish moving upstream is not just any fish. It carries His name.
Which Way Are You Swimming?
The current never announces itself. It does not have to. It just moves, and drifting feels like nothing at all. Read Romans 6:11 once more, slowly, and ask where the water has been taking you lately.