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Outdoor Truths: Aiming Outdoorsmen Toward Christ June 13, 2019

Perhaps the greatest reason for most of our failures is simple neglect. In the outdoor world it may be that we neglected to check to see if our scope was accurate before we went on our hunt. Or it may be if we had not neglected to retie our spinner bait, that bass would not have broken the line. Neglect comes in many forms when it comes to hunting and fishing. Just the other day I was reminded of this truth. I had already gone through two anchors this year. Once, while river fishing, my son had lost one. He neglected to make sure it was tied securely. Just a few days later I was forced to cut my anchor cord because I was unable to get the anchor unstuck from where it had planted itself. And now, only three days later, I was back with a new cord and anchor. I thought I had tied it securely. I had even made sure to pay attention to the knot each time I retrieved it from the bottom. And even though I noticed it had not seated itself tightly enough, I thought nothing else about it. A few minutes later, as I tried to pull the anchor back in the boat, I noticed that the cord was weightless. It had become untied. I had neglected to notice it loosening before. I immediately looked to my left to try to mark just where the boat was sitting because I knew the current would take me quickly downstream. I made my way back to the bank and made plans to put on my best deep-sea diver imitation. At 9:00 a.m., after a few cold and wet dives, I retrieved it from the bottom. I didn't want my neglect to cost me anymore than it already had.
Neglect is costly. Sometimes the price is not exacted until later. This means we may think the consequences of neglect are minimal or even non-existent. So, we continue down a certain path thinking the things in our life will stay as securely fastened as they were the last time we checked. Then something happens and we reach for our anchor and discover it is no longer to be found. Our neglect has caused us to become disconnected from it. It is still there where we left it. It is still in good shape. It is still holding on - firmly attached to a solid foundation, but we have floated past it and are now left to the will of the current. Perhaps today is a good day to mark the place where you were last attached to your anchor. Perhaps today is the day to decide that neglect has already cost you too much and it's time to take the dive to retrieve that which holds your life steady in the midst of troubled waters. Perhaps today is the day to come back to your spiritual foundation.

gary@outdoortruths.org ~ www.outdoortruths.org


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