Thursday, April 30, 2009

Dont be Fooled!


It was still dark as I set up a decoy 40yds from the old house that I would spend the morning hunting from. I had hunted out of this old vacant house, that sat in the middle of a cotton field, the night before. Just before dark I watched a nice buck move through the woods and chase a doe across the field. This morning I was back and this time with a little help from a doe decoy. After I set up the decoy in the field I sprayed her down with doe-in-heat spray and climbed into the old office chair that looked out the broken window of the old house. After the sun rose, I noticed movement in the woods beside me, a few moments later a buck stepped out and headed straight for my decoy. It was not the buck I had seen the day before, but I was on a hunt with my father in the great state of Alabama and I was not going to let him show me up that morning, so I squeezed the trigger and took the buck that had made the fatal mistake of thinking my decoy was the real deal.


Paul warns Christians in 2 Timothy 4:3 that "a time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear." Just the other day I saw an advertisement proclaiming the "good news of Jesus Christ" they asked for you to call and receive a free book on the teachings of Christ. After I researched this group I found out they did not believe Jesus to be the Son of God only a good man with good teachings. It was a decoy! Just like the buck that saw my decoy must have thought, "it looks like a deer, it smells like a deer, it must be a deer!" This advertisement looked like the gospel, sounded like the gospel, but it was not the gospel!

In Paul's letter to the Church at Galatia he says this "I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you by the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel, which is really no gospel at all." he goes on to say "if anybody is preaching to you a gospel other than the one we preached to you let him be eternally condemned!" (Galatians 1:6-7,9)

Study and seek God in His word. So many people today want to find other ways to heaven.

Jesus said "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. (John 14:6)

That buck followed what he thought was a doe, and it was a deadly mistake. Don't make the same mistake! Hell is real! God is real! Our sins are real! Jesus Christ gave his life as a sacrifice to wash our sins clean. If you do not know Jesus as your personal Lord and Savior, all you have to do is admit that your a sinner and hopeless without him, pray for forgiveness, and believe that Jesus is the Son of God that He died on a cross and rose from the grave and you will be saved.

Saturday, April 25, 2009

Choose Your Path Wisely



Two roads diverged in a wood, and I,

I took the one less traveled by,

And that has made all the difference.
(Robert Frost)
Making the right decision is not always easy. Doing the right thing is not always easy either. I spent this morning on one of the best turkey hunts I have had in years, and at the end of the hunt I was empty handed. So what was so great about it? Well I thought all night, just like any other hunter, on where I would hunt and how I would hunt. Would I go after the turkeys or get set up on the field line and wait for them? I made the decision to get set up and wait for them. At first light the woods became alive with the sounds of gobbling turkeys. After a short while I noticed a few birds in the field heading in my direction! I watched as they got closer and closer 5 hens and a jake. I don't have many opportunities to hunt so I decided to take the jake, well two shots later birds were flying all over. Poor shot placement, I was discouraged to say the least. I moved to another field and spotted a hen feeding at the edge, so I got set up and started calling. I looked around to see the largest turkey I have ever seen, heading right towards me. He got about 50yds and moved off in the wrong direction. I tried to bring him back with no luck. After calling at him and looking in the woods behind me I turned and looked forward again into the big field and there was another big Tom 60yds and closing. When he got about 40yds out I went to take the safety off and that was all it took, he was in the air flying high over the pines. Wow what a morning! I had made the right decision on where and how to set up. I can see how some hunters may have gotten discouraged over this, but I was not, I had made the right choice.(I just need to work on the shooting)
Making the right decision is not always easy, make sure that you can live with the outcome of the choice you make. I have made the decision to follow Jesus Christ and to make Him Lord of my life. This decision glorifies our Creator and allows us to spend eternity in Heaven. Romans 10:9-10 says "That if you confess with your mouth, 'Jesus is Lord' and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved."
As I said making the right decision is not always easy, but in this case it is. You either spend eternity in Heaven or Hell. The choice is yours!

Wednesday, April 22, 2009

Little Hunter, Big Woods

O Lord, our Lord,
how majestic is your name in all the earth!
You have given him (man) dominion over the
works of your hands;
you have put all things under his feet,
all sheep and oxen,
and also the beast of the field,
the birds of the heavens, and the fish of the sea.

As I read this Psalm I am reminded that this passion that I have for the outdoors has been provided for me by God. As I continue to follow Jesus, He continues to bless me and provide for me. The Lord knows what I enjoy and he has now brought me to do His work in one of the best deer hunting and fishing spots in this great state! I have been deer hunting since I was about 12 years old and last year I was able to harvest the biggest buck that I have ever taken. I am looking forward to this years deer season. I have been turkey hunting a few times this past two weeks and have seen lots of birds, but I just cant close the distance. I really enjoy just sitting in the woods and watching, it makes me think of the first half of Psalm 8...

When I look to the heavens, the work
of your fingers,
the moon and the stars, which you
have set in place,
what is man that you are mindful of him,

The woods that I so love to sit in and be a part of, is all part of Gods great creation. And as I sit I cant help but remember those words..."what is man that you are mindful of him" how small I am compared to the big woods I sit in, but God still cares for me.

O Lord, our Lord,
how majestic is your name in all the earth!