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Outdoor Truths: Aiming Outdoorsmen Toward Christ Aug 29, 2019

I'm getting a little excited about the upcoming deer season. After last year, I feel like I need to redeem myself. My friends are going to take my hunter card if I don't get in the woods more. So, I'm making plans now. I'm looking forward to being perched above my day to day life, with thoughts of a racing heartbeat that doesn't come from stress. As of late, I've been getting a field ready so I can plant a fall crop. The smell of dirt is like inhaling anti-anxiety medicine. And the seat of my tractor is my couch for therapy. My strength and determination return after every encouraging pass. Trail cameras are helping me not only record the possibilities, but they're revealing the past that I have missed so much.
Hunting is not for everyone. I understand that, and I try to respect the opinion of others. As a follower of Christ, I believe I am supposed to. But creation is complex. It not only involves plants, trees, lakes, rivers, and oceans, it involves other life - living, breathing life. As the steward of creation, I have the responsibility of managing every resource this earth provides. And no matter what you might think, our resources are mostly non-renewable. They are here, and then they are gone. The earth itself is slowly burning all its non-renewable energy. It is not eternal as some thought in days past. It was created by someone who is. All of this to say, I believe there truly is a balancing act for those of us who are both Christians and hunters. While we understand man is God's most prized creation, we also must understand we were created to be his most responsible one and the only ones who will answer for the rest of what he has made. Therefore, as I manipulate the land to produce my desired outcome or as I take the life of an animal for food or for management, or as I use nature as my therapy, I will be careful to not only manage this God-given resource, but protect it, and remember to use it for its main purpose - to reveal the invisible qualities, the divine nature and the eternal power of God, to others.

gary@outdoortruths.org ~ www.outdoortruths.org


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