Outdoor Truths

Hunters and fishermen will tell you about the importance of confidence. It is really a major part of the battle when it comes to patience and persistence. For instance, if I know I have always caught fish in a certain hole; I will fish that hole slower and with a greater awareness of an imminent bite. I also must have confidence in the bait I'm using. It can be the latest and greatest invention, but without my added confidence it's most likely to find itself in an unused section in the bottom of my tackle box. And what can I say about confidence when it comes to boredom? The two cannot survive together. One will always push the other into the corner of the boat. In hunting, confi dence comes from knowing you are in the right place and that at any time you might have the opportunity for a shot. It causes you to get to the woods early, stay late, and forgo lunch. Confidence brings excitement. What we all must remember, however, about confidence, is it is the byproduct of something else - knowledge. Confidence can never stand on its own. It must have something to prop it up. That something is knowledge. Therefore, if our knowledge is unfounded then our confidence will be as well. You can see how important it is then, to know the truth. In deer hunting, the scenario might go like this. We set a stand in the same place we did last year without scouting. Last year the acorns were plentiful and the deer abundant. We get to the stand before light, excited about the possibilities. Our confi dence is out the roof. As daylight exposes the trees around us, we begin to gaze at each one and fi nd out none have acorns. Immediately, the confidence we had earlier, now becomes doubt, discouragement, and distrust. No matter how much confi dence we may have in that area, the truth says different. As a Christian my confi dence doesn't need to come from the circumstances or situations around me. If I were to only look at the bad things that happen to me from an earthly perspective, I would have no confi dence in my ability to overcome. And conversely, when good things happen, I would have the needed confi dence to continue. But my confidence must come from something that is less fickle than the circumstances around me. It must come from the truth found in the Word of God. If you and I will look at the events in our lives in the light of scripture, we can have confi dence, that know matter what the circumstances appear to be, we have hung our life's stand in the right tree.

~ www.outdoortruths.org