3 lessons learned in the woods and their spiritual implications

You will get a kick out of this if you are an outdoorsman.  If you’re not, the spiritual implications arevaluable, trust me.   I recently spent a few days bowhunting in adense forest in central Missouri.  On thesecond morning of the hunt, I awoke 30 minutes before the alarm went off.  I slept great!  I was rested and ready to go.  Getting up extra early, I was able to readthe Bible, pray and enjoy some good coffee before we left the cabin.  I had only been in this set of woods oncebefore and yet walked directly to the tree I wanted to hunt from.  Awesome! The morning was goingperfectly.  I climbed the tree and gotsettled in my stand.  I knew this wasgoing to be a great day.

About 7:30 a.m. I saw movement on my right side.  Here he came. A nice buck emerges from the brush about 20 yards away.  I had only a small lane to shoot through andknew I couldn’t waste much time.  That’swhen it happened; a series of mistakes that would turn my “perfect” morninginto a long, wet, disappointing day.  Letme explain.

As I drew my bow, my peep sight turned.  Aargh! That’s when I realized my firstmistake of the morning; I didn’t give my equipment a thorough check.  Then, I made my second mistake, I didn’tregroup.  I thought about it.  I really did. But instead, I took a blind shot. The result was a poor shot and hours of tracking in the rain! 

Tired and frustrated, I settled into a different spot in theevening.  I just knew that the deer wouldcome from one direction so I set my climbing stand to face it.  I had good, clear shooting lanes, my peepsight was in

place and I was ready.  Thenit happened. The deer did not come from the direction I was facing. Nope, itcame from behind me.  When I realized it,I got impatient.  Instead of waiting forthe right moment to turn my body into position, I hastily turned around to geta shot.  By the time I got back to where Ineeded to be, I was busted.  I watched asthe deer galloped away from about 25 yards. I neglected to follow the basicrules of hunting.

Needless to say, as I lay in the bed that night my emotionswere much different than how they had begun earlier that morning.  My anticipation of a great day had turned toa restless night of disappointment and a list of “should haves.”

As I pondered on the mishaps it struck me.  The mistakes I made in the woods are often madein our faith journey with the Lord.  Wego from unspeakable joy and great anticipation to regret and disappointment

If you want to make a difference, spend time with a child

Last week, my seven-year-old daughter walked up to me and asked for a pocket-knife lesson.  As you can imagine, I was shocked.  I thought, "My daughter wants a knife lesson?"  The more I thought about it, my thoughts went from "What?" to "Cool!"  You should have seen us in just a few minutes.  There we were sitting on the deck whittling away on sticks.  She had a smile a mile wide, and so did I.  When I told her that we were whittling, she thought I said, "Fiddling."  She said, "Dad, I love to fiddle!"

The past few days I've spent with my ten-year-old nephew who is visiting while on a school break.  We have hunted, fished, played basketball, laughed, and wrestled.  It's a wonder we haven't broken anything. There have probably been times this week that my wife has been glad we have all girls - too much testosterone around the house this week.  Words fail me to explain the feeling I had watching him put a worm on his hook for the first time, reeling in a fish, and learning to filet the fish for supper.  As we ate those bluegill he said, "This is the best fish ever."  The glow of wonder and awe that has beamed from his eyes have reminded me of the little blessings I too often take for granted.

God keeps impressing on my heart the incredible impact that one person can have on another if they will just spend a few minutes with them.  This is no more clearly seen than

Give Yourself Permission to Smile

It is stated that the wisest man in history was the great King Solomon of Israel.  To this day, his wise proverbs inspire us, challenge us, help guide us down a road of self-improvement and draw us closer to God.  In addition to the book of Proverbs recorded in the Bible, the book of Ecclesiastes is also attributed to him.  Written toward the end of his life, Ecclesiastes has a different feel than his Proverbs, but is no less beneficial to our  life and faith.

When you begin reading Ecclesiastes, you are struck with the author's dark, depressive tone.  Though a man given wisdom from above, like all of us, Solomon did not always yield to heavenly wisdom and made many mistakes.  In Ecclesiastes, he writes from a reflective point of view as if he is looking back over his life and asking the questions "Why did I do that?" "Was that important?" "Where did my focus get off track?"  Over and over again he repeats the words, "Everything is meaningless!" and "Chasing after the wind."

hen reading Ecclesiastes, It's tempting to close the book and open to a different section of the Bible. We are more comfortable with lighter, more uplifting texts of Scripture.  Truth is, some of

Applying Precious Promises from Above

The beautiful thing about being a Christian is that when we surrender our lives to the Lord Jesus, we come to life spiritually.  Jesus told Nicodemus that we must be "born again" (John 3: 3). That is, we must become alive spiritually to God.  That happens the very moment you surrender to Jesus and receive Him as your Lord.  At that very moment the Holy Spirit moves into you.  The Apostle Paul proclaimed that we are the "Temples of the Holy Spirit" (1 Cor 6:19).  How amazing!

 Now, when the Holy Spirit moves in, He doesn’t move in empty handed.  He brings with Him wonderful blessings for you.  The Bible teaches in Romans chapter 12 and 1