Outdoor Truths

This year is going to be odd but special. I'm hunting a new piece of property that I once hunted about 30 years ago. This place holds many memories. I learned about cattle at this place. I killed my first turkey at this place. And many deer stories came from this place. To say it's special would be an understatement. It's over 400 acres of individual life chapters that are now compiled into one story that I'm getting to read in book form. To be honest, I have felt some deep emotions since having access to this property. This last turkey season brought of wave of them. And I imagine deer season will be no different. As I sit in a tree stand on opening day and look around, I'll not be looking for a deer but for another memory that made me who I am today. The work I do now came from the time I spent there. I actually do a ministry to hunters and fishermen because God used this particular farm as my university. The farmer was a tremendous teacher. He used bulls, bushhogs, and barns to teach me about this way of life. But God used them to teach me about His way of life, and the future life He had for me. Creation spoke to me. Trees rustled prayers. Hay fields waved praise. Creeks flowed promises. And I watched and listened. And then God pasted these things on my life like two pages pasted together - that it would be impossible to pull one page away without tearing off a part of the other.

The truth is, I'm not unique. My story is not unique. We all have a story like this one. We all have a time and a place that God used as a school to bring us to where we are today. You have it. It may not be something as delightful as a farm. It might be something that was difficult and demanding. But this too was meant to make you into the man or woman you are today. And it's for the same purpose as mine was. To create your calling. To mold your message. To make your ministry. To give you a voice to the people in your life that God wastes nothing, and uses everything, to make us into the perfect vessel to hold his timeless message.