| Outdoor Truths: Aiming Outdoorsmen Toward Christ April 25th |
Gary Miller ~ outdoortruths.org
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It’s definitely a true statement that sometimes we don’t always get what we ask for, or what we want. Those words have been cemented in my head from childhood. They were my dad’s way of saying “get over it” and his way of letting me know that what I want may not always be what I get. I see this happen a lot in fishing. Instead of a largemouth, it’s a gar. Instead of a smallmouth, it’s a drum. Our high hopes of success are dashed against the rocks of an unpleasant surprise. At times, this swap can be dangerous. More than once I have called for a gobbler and a coyote has decided to spoil the party. A friend of mine shot a coyote at point-blank range when it tried to ambush him, thinking he was a real hen. And then there’s the bobcat and even the wildcat. Both are ornery and don’t like surprises on their end either.
Just the other day, while turkey hunting, I saw the signs of one of those big cats and wondered if I was being watched. It was disconcerting and downright eerie. My area is home to the Cumberland Gap National Historical Park. There are over 20,000 acres of mostly mountains. Those mountains are home to all sorts of critters. Bears sightings are fairly common now, along with those cats. And even though the deer and turkey are flourishing, so are these other animals. While snakes used to be my only fear, now I have “lions and tigers and bears”…. Oh my! Well, maybe not lions and tigers. But bears and wildcats and rattlesnakes are enough to make me walk through the woods in the dark, lit up like a Christmas tree, while singing Victory in Jesus to the top of my lungs. I can imagine me easing through the woods, half scared to death, and then all of a sudden a hoot owl cries out just above my head……….. I’d jump through my skin, fly up a tree, and gobble like a sick jake! That is living the life of the unexpected. That is getting what you didn’t ask for. That is life in the great outdoors.
That’s not, however, how it has to be concerning eternity. We don’t have to wonder. We don’t have to live in fear. And we don’t have to live simply hoping that we will get what we ask for. The Bible is clear that, he who has the Son, has life. It’s a sure thing.
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