FAITH AFIELD A S P O R T S M A N S D E V O T I O N A L S C O T T

Transcription

1 FAITH AFIELD A S P O R T S M A N S D E V O T I O N A L S T E V E S C O T T C

2 2013 by Stephen Scott Published by Baker Books a division of Baker Publishing Group P.O. Box 6287, Grand Rapids, MI Printed in the United States of America All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means for example, electronic, photocopy, recording without the prior written permission of the publisher. The only exception is brief quotations in printed reviews. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Scott, Steve, 1971 Faith afield : a sportsman s devotional / Steve Scott. pages cm ISBN (pbk.) 1. Hunting Religious aspects Christianity. 2. Hunters Prayers and devotions. I. Title. BV S dc Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture quotations are from the Holy Bible, New International Version. NIV. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. Scripture marked KJV is taken from the King James Version of the Bible. Scripture marked NASB is taken from the New American Standard Bible, Copyright 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. Scripture marked NKJV is taken from the New King James Version. Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Scripture marked NLT is taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright 1996, 2004, 2007 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois All rights reserved. Scripture marked TLB is taken from The Living Bible, copyright Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois All rights reserved

3 To the three generations of women in my life: My mom, who always believed in me My wife, Barb, who is my constant encourager My daughters, Myah and Taryn, my greatest joy

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5 Why I Hunt 1 I believe hunters owe it to themselves to try to understand what it is that urges them out. To fail to examine the source of the hunting instinct is to fail to experience it fully. Charles Fergus, The Upland Equation, 1995 It s the night before opening day of deer season and I can t sleep. I have been doing this for twenty-six years now and it s always the same. My body is restless and my mind is filled with thoughts of what the morning will bring. Vivid memories of past hunts collide with the dreams of the next. Why does my heart pound with anticipation? What is it about this sport that fills me with so much excitement? Why can t I sleep? What is it that moves me out the door and into the wild? I hunt because my father was a hunter, as was his father before him. Our forefathers had to hunt for survival. I hunt because their blood flows through my veins. It s who I am. I hunt because I am drawn no, pulled into the great outdoors. I need to escape the confines of buildings and offices. I need to silence the noise with solitude. I hunt because I love the pursuit and the challenge. The kill plays but a minor part. The kill is necessary, but as the philosopher José Ortega y Gasset said, One kills in order to have hunted. I hunt because I love life. Only when you grapple with the reality of life and death can you fully appreciate life. I hunt because it is in creation that I come face-to-face with the Creator. There I cannot deny him as I so easily can from within 7

6 my man-made Babel. Everything in the outdoors declares his majesty. I hunt because it is a privilege. It is a right (see Gen. 9:3). It is a blessing. So why do you hunt? What urges you out into the field? Not only does God give you gifts and talents, he also gives you desires and passions. Not everyone is a hunter, but God has instilled in the heart of many people a great love of his outdoors and the desire to match wits with some of his finest creatures. If we do not pursue what God has wired us to do, we do him a dishonor. If you are a hunter, a fisherman, or an outdoor enthusiast, you have been entrusted with a great gift to use and enjoy. I do not hunt for the joy of killing but for the joy of living, and for the inexpressible pleasure of mingling my life, however briefly, with that of a wild creature that I respect, admire, and value. John Madson, Out Home,

7 Beautiful Places 2 In the joy of hunting is intimately woven the love of the great outdoors. The beauty of woods, valleys, mountains, and skies feeds the soul of the sportsman where the quest of game only whets his appetite. Dr. Saxon Pope, Hunting with the Bow and Arrow, 1923 Recently a friend of mine returned from a successful moose and caribou hunt in the Northwest Territory of Canada. He was 150 miles from the nearest village, accessible only by plane or helicopter. He was surrounded by millions of acres of untouched wilderness and mountains. While he claimed the photos did not begin to reveal the true splendor of this place, I was in awe of the beauty he captured through the lens of the camera. I felt as if I understood what Isaiah meant when he said, The mountains and hills will burst into song before you, and all the trees of the field will clap their hands (Isa. 55:12). Very few people will ever get a chance to visit a place as remote as this and experience its grandeur. Why would God create such a magnificent place and not locate it geographically where most would have access to its beauty? Like a most prized trophy, wouldn t God want to display it in such a way that it could be admired by all? But would these places be as beautiful if they were commonplace? Would they be as special if they were easy to get to? Would they seem so spectacular if they were always available and easily shared by anyone? Probably not. God created special places both physically and spiritually. We get to these spectacular places many times with much effort, and sometimes with pain and discomfort along the way. And once we 9

8 get to these places, the reward, appreciation, and gratitude are all the sweeter. If God made all special places easily accessible, well, I guess they wouldn t be special. They are reserved for those willing to make the investment necessary to get to them. Don t settle for the status quo. Don t be content with being as good as the average churchgoer. Press in. Dig deep. Discover God s great plan for your life. Discover God s special place that he wants you to experience. It won t necessarily be easy. There will be sacrifice. But it is worth it! No eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no mind has imagined what God has prepared for those who love him. 1 Corinthians 2:9 NLT Our ability to perceive quality in nature begins, as in art, with the pretty. It expands through successive stages of the beautiful to values as yet uncaptured by language. Aldo Leopold, A Sand County Almanac,

9 The Crunching of Leaveses 3 There is nothing that accelerates the heart rate of a deer hunter more than hearing the unmistakable sound of hoof steps in the autumn leaves particularly after sitting in a stand for several hours. It is a different sound than the scurry of a fox squirrel or the clumsiness of another hunter. Deer do not step loudly, but there is a sense of heaviness. They are deliberate steps, often with a steady cadence, coming into audible range so subtly that the mind doesn t process that it is a deer until it is close. When your ears finally register with your brain, you immediately take mental inventory, making sure your equipment is ready and that you are fully concealed. Your eyes strain to identify the direction from which the sound is coming and to catch that first glimpse of movement. Buck or doe? Is it alone, or are there more trailing? Is this the one I have been waiting for? Adrenaline begins to rise as the sound gets closer. The anticipation is great. This is it game time! Hearing steps in nature goes back to the beginning of time. When the cool evening breezes were blowing, the man and his wife heard the Lord God walking about in the garden. So they hid from the LORD God among the trees (Gen. 3:8 NLT). I m sure that for Adam and Eve, adrenaline was flowing strongly too. Unfortunately it was not because of excited expectancy, but rather because of embarrassment and shame. They had just disobeyed the one command that God had given to them, charting a course that would plague every person of every generation after them. So they hid among the trees. The next time you hear the crunching of leaves in the woods, ask yourself this How would you respond if you heard God approaching? Would you be embarrassed about your behavior and lifestyle and cower in fear and embarrassment? Or would you be excited to meet the Maker of heaven and earth, knowing that your 11

10 sins have been forgiven and that your relationship with the Lord is on solid ground? The LORD detests those whose hearts are perverse, but he delights in those whose ways are blameless. Proverbs 11:20 Rejoice in the LORD and be glad, you righteous; sing, all you who are upright in heart! Psalm 32:11 12

11 Aim Small, Miss Small 4 There is a principle in all shooting sports summarized by the phrase Aim small, miss small. In hunting it is sometimes referred to as picking your spot. Both phrases speak to the importance of aiming at a particular spot rather than the whole target. In target shooting it refers to aiming at the bull s-eye, not just the paper. In hunting it means to aim at the spot right behind the shoulder of a deer rather than at the whole deer, or at one quail rather than the entire covey. The bottom line behind this principle is that the more concentrated the focus, the more accurate the shot. In target shooting this principle will help you tighten your groups and hit more clays. In hunting it is even more critical as it will help you make a quick, clean kill an ethical responsibility we owe the game we are hunting. This is a lesson I learned when I first began to shoot archery. I practiced all the time and became very proficient at hitting a paper plate, which I had been told was the size of a deer s vitals. A friend of mine came over to shoot with me, and his arrows were always in a tighter group closer to the center of the plate. I practiced even more, several days a week, with basically the same results as I had before. I took my bow into the shop to have it tuned better. Still I shot the same. The next time I was with my friend, he again shot really tight groups. I told him that I was going to sell my bow and get a new one that shot as good as his. He laughed at me and said that my problem was not my bow but rather my target. Thinking he had lost his mind, I asked him how in the world the target could affect my shooting. He said simply, Your target is too big. Don t aim at the paper plate, aim at a dime-sized dot in the middle of the plate. As soon as I started aiming at the small dot, my groupings became a lot tighter. 13

12 God has asked each of us to aim at a small target. He said, Be holy because I, the LORD your God, am holy (Lev. 19:2), which means he wants us to be perfect. He could have given us a bigger target to be good. He could have told us to be nice. Of course, some of the best and nicest people on earth are not even believers. God said that we should be like him holy and perfect. You might be saying to yourself, But that is too small a target; no one can ever hit it. You are absolutely correct. No one can, but by aiming at this smaller target we will be a lot more like him than if we just try to be good or nice. The apostle Paul was aiming small when he wrote in Philippians 3:12 14: Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. Too many believers don t become all that God wants them to be because their target is too big. Aim small and you will miss small. Pick your spot focus on Christ and you will become a lot more like him. 14

13 Trophies That Last 5 In my den I have two deer heads hanging on the wall the first buck I ever shot (a basket rack 10-point) and the biggest buck I ever shot (a P&Y 148-inch). I love to look at them and remember the hunts. Both were very special events for me, and the memories of those hunts are forever etched in my mind down to the finest detail the location, the weather, my initial surprise at their appearance, the shaking of my arms as I drew my bow, the shot placement, and the satisfaction of recovering the animal. Most people I know have their deer mounted because they want to hang on to those memories and to relive the hunt. Not long ago I looked on ebay and saw hundreds of mounted heads for auction many of them were tattered, dusty, and falling apart. Stitches were showing and paint had chipped off the nose and lips. They did, however, have beautiful racks, and I m sure there were some great hunting stories to go with each mount. Early on, these mounts looked beautiful above the fireplace in the hunter s home, but now some lucky family members had inherited the old and deteriorated prizes and were trying to unload them. The bottom line is this very few things last forever. You can hunt your entire lifetime and fill your den with wonderful trophies, but no one besides you will really care about them after you are gone. Taxidermy doesn t hold eternal value. There is a way, however, to keep your love of hunting alive long past your lifetime. By introducing a young person to the sport and sharing experiences with him or her in the field, you will pass on the love of the hunt to the next generation. Lots of kids want to hunt, but they have no one to take them. They have the desire to learn and experience the love of the outdoors, yet this desire is going unfulfilled because there are not many adults willing to teach them. If you love 15

14 hunting and want to make a more significant impact on this world than leaving deer heads up for auction on ebay, take a child hunting with you and pass on your love for the outdoors. Do you want to make an even greater impact one that will last for eternity? Then use your time in the outdoors with children and youth to mentor them in faith as well. What better place for kids to learn about the Creator than by spending time in his creation. There are few things that last forever, but people we reach for Christ in this lifetime are trophies that will stand the test of time. Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy.... But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven. Matthew 6:

15 Staying Tethered 6 Tree stands are a great advantage when hunting whitetails. They put the hunter in an elevated position for greater visibility and, more important, they allow the hunter to avoid the deer s normal line of sight. This allows the hunter to draw his bow or aim his rifle undetected while the deer are at close range. For the hunter, a tree stand is invaluable gear to have in the hunting equipment inventory. Tree stand accidents, however, have become the leading cause of injury and death among hunters. Some reports have indicated that as many as five hundred hunters are killed every year across North America due to accidents involving tree stands. Another five to seven thousand hunters are permanently disabled, and ten to fifteen thousand sustain less serious injuries. According to a study conducted by Deer and Deer Hunting magazine, more than a third (37 percent) of tree stand hunters will at some time fall from a stand and about 3 percent will suffer crippling injuries. When used properly, today s modern full-body harnesses provide a great level of security by keeping you connected to the tree. The key to staying safe is using the harness and staying tethered to the tree from the time your feet leave the ground until they return to it. Too many hunters wait until they are in the stand before they secure their safety harness, yet percent of all tree stand accidents occur while the hunter is ascending or descending. Staying tethered to a lifeline will save you if you slip as you climb or if your stand breaks or if you simply doze off and start to fall. If you are connected, you are safe, but if you are not connected, you are putting yourself in harm s way. Spiritual safety and success are also dependent on staying tethered. Jesus said in John 15 that he is the vine and we are the branches. To be fruitful, we must abide, remain, or stay joined with Christ. 17

16 It starts with believing that Jesus is the Son of God, accepting him as Lord and Savior, and then remaining diligent in our obedience to him. When we do this, we tether ourselves to God s will, which is the best and safest place we can be. Then we can experience the fruitful life he intends for us to have. Not to be tethered to him is to be spiritually dead. If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned (John 15:6). We put ourselves at risk when we live life without being tethered to our Savior, and nothing truly good and fruitful can be produced through us. As Jesus reminds us, remain in me. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. This is to my Father s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples. John 15:5 8 18

17 A God of Fair Chase 7 The pleasure of the sportsman in the chase is measured by the intelligence of the game and its capacity to elude pursuit and in the labor involved in the capture. It is a contest with sharp wits where satisfaction is mingled with admiration for the object overcome. John Dean Caton, The Antelope and Deer of North America, 1877 In the classified section of some hunting magazines, you can find advertisements for hunts that guarantee the buck of your dreams. The ads promise a 100 percent success rate. You decide how big a deer you can afford, and you ll be set up with the buck of a lifetime. These high fence farms with genetically engineered deer are some incredible places with magnificent animals, but it s hardly a real hunting experience. According to the Boone & Crocket Club, Fair chase is the ethical, sportsmanlike and lawful pursuit and taking of a free ranging wild game animal in a manner that does not give the hunter an improper or unfair advantage over such animals. While some have joked that fair chase is only fair when the deer get to carry guns too, most hunters agree that what they like most about hunting is the challenge of the pursuit. Hunters love matching their wits with a wise old buck, strategizing a good stand location, and letting the game of chess unfold on the deer s own turf. There are no fences, no unfair advantages, and no guarantees just passion and pursuit. God did not create us like robots, nor are we simply marionettes. We are not preprogrammed to operate in predetermined ways, nor does God have us on strings, compelled to move only when he tugs. 19

18 He gave us a free will. He gave us the ability to make our own choices. He desires that we choose him, but he doesn t make us choose, obey, or follow him. Our God is a God of fair chase. He views us as a trophy worthy of pursuit. He is passionate about his hunt, and our love, affection, and obedience are his most prized trophy. Before we ever even knew about God, he was pursuing us with his love. God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us (Rom. 5:8). God does not give up on us no matter how long or how far we stray. Like the shepherd searching for his lost sheep or the woman seeking her lost coin, God is relentless in his pursuit of us (see Luke 15). He remembered us in our low estate His love endures forever. and freed us from our enemies. His love endures forever. He gives food to every creature. His love endures forever. Give thanks to the God of heaven. His love endures forever. Psalm 136:

19 Shut Up and Listen 8 In August 2008 I traveled to Wyoming to bow hunt antelope. It was a hot and dry time of the year, so the outfitter recommended a waterhole hunt. Over the next five days, for fourteen hours each day, a small five-foot-cube pop-up blind would be my home. After several busy weeks of work preparing for this trip, the solitude was welcome. No cell phones! No meetings! No interruptions! The only things I took to the blind besides my gear and lots of water were my Bible and a notepad. I was looking forward to enjoying creation, spending time praying, and reflecting on life. I couldn t help but compare this experience with that of the monks of old who would retreat to the desert alone to spend time with God. The first two days, while long and hot, were exciting as dozens of antelope made their way to the pond to replenish themselves. They came in small waves and could be seen making their approach from a mile or more away. This allowed me plenty of time to read and pray. I had just launched a new ministry called On Target Outfitters a youth mentoring ministry that uses shooting sports as a way to connect with kids. There were many things I needed to pray about all the kids in the program, all the volunteers, my family and friends, and anything else that came to mind. For two days I prayed and prayed and prayed, but on day three I didn t know what else to pray for so I just sat there quietly in the silence. It was then I realized I had been talking to God for two days, telling him everything that was on my mind, but not really listening. I m sure for those first two days God wanted to tell me, Shut up and listen, or in his terms: Be still, and know that I am God (Ps. 46:10). I have never heard God speak audibly, and quite frankly, I would probably freak out if I did, but I can tell you that for the next two days I had a wonderful two-way conversation with God. I sensed 21

20 his guidance about decisions that needed to be made. I felt his assurance that this new ministry was his and that he would provide for it and for us. He showed me how my life up to this moment was preparing me for what was ahead. He communicated to me some changes that needed to be made in my life and some reprioritization that needed to take place. It was a sacred time, a Mount Sinai experience for me that was possible only because I finally shut up and took time to listen. In my office I have a picture of a remote wilderness lake that has the caption, The quieter I become, the more I can hear. It reminds me that in the busyness of life I need to take time to be quiet and listen to God. This was a priority for Jesus while he was on the earth. If it was important to him, how much more should it be for us? But Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed. Luke 5:16 Immediately Jesus made the disciples get into the boat and go on ahead of him to the other side, while he dismissed the crowd. After he had dismissed them, he went up on a mountainside by himself to pray. Later that night, he was there alone. Matthew 14:22 23 Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed. Mark 1:35 22

21 Family Favorites 9 Have you ever purchased camouflage clothing for a newborn baby or suggested Realtree as a color scheme for your child s bedroom? A bow or perhaps a Nerf shotgun are perfect gifts for a child s first birthday, right? We all hope that someday our child will grow up to share our love of the outdoors, that he or she will become our hunting and fishing buddy. Maybe our child will, but maybe not. Then what? How will you treat your child if he or she prefers the theater to the tree stand or the band over the bass boat? What if you have two or more children and one resonates with your passion and the other wants to pursue something else? One of the earliest accounts of a dysfunctional family in the Bible is the story of Isaac, Rebekah, Jacob, and Esau. Full of deception, envy, and favoritism, the relational dynamics in this family were a recipe for disaster. The story also happens to have as main plot points, hunting, the great outdoors, and a love for wild game. The boys grew up, and Esau became a skillful hunter, a man of the open country, while Jacob was content to stay at home among the tents. Isaac, who had a taste for wild game, loved Esau, but Rebekah loved Jacob (Gen. 25:27 28). Every time I read these verses, I laugh because the writer of Genesis so deliberately and colorfully describes the differences between the two brothers one a rugged outdoorsman, the other a domesticated city boy; one callous and rough, the other soft and tender. With which one do you resonate more? And no, it s not as easy as simply identifying one as a man s man, and the other a momma s boy. But clearly, the differences between the two boys caused the mom and the dad to favor different sons for different reasons. 23

22 God has created every person unique, with differing gifts, abilities, talents, personalities, and desires. It is God who has made our children distinct from one another and sometimes even different from us. God made them the way they are for a reason, and he has a special plan for them. They are all gifts to us and all need to be treated as such. Nothing good comes from showing favoritism. Don t allow your passions to become a wedge separating family members, and certainly don t neglect any of your children so you can spend time in the field. Celebrate each child s passions as much as you celebrate your own, and your family will be stronger for it. 24