Weekly Devotion July 3, 2023
Bible Study Verse: Luke 19:10
“For the Son of Man came to seek
and to save the lost.” (NIV)
Thoughts: One
deer season probably 20 years ago now, I was hunting with my brother-in-law in
northern Michigan during bow season. On one particular evening, he shot a doe
right before dark, which meant that we would be tracking with lights. There was
no snow on the ground - just leaves, so we pulled out a lantern plus a
flashlight to help in the process. With every blood spot, one of us would stand
there to mark it with a piece of toilet paper, while the other one went ahead
looking for more blood. Wherever the deer took us, we would always be able to
backtrack our way out by following the white trail of toilet paper.
The problem was that as we flashed our lights, we got a
glimmer of the dead deer’s eyes, so we rushed on up to the deer to start
gutting it out. The last 75 yards or so, we hiked along without marking the
trail, and during the process of gutting the deer out, our lantern died. As we
finished up, we relied on the single flashlight we had. It wasn’t until after
we were done gutting the deer and ready to drag it out that we looked up to see
our trail back. Seventy-five yards doesn’t sound like much, but for the life of
us, we couldn’t find that last piece of toilet paper. We flashed the light any
and every direction to no avail. We started circling our location, hoping to
find a glimmer of white paper hanging in a tree somewhere. To our frustration,
we ended up doing this for a couple of hours, and just about as we were getting
ready to build a fire and set up for the night, we discovered a flash of white
fluttering in the breeze.
Action Point: Plain
and simple, we got lost. We thought we knew what we were doing. We had a plan,
and we even executed the plan for 95% of our tracking time. The darkness closed
in around us, and we couldn’t find our way out. I can’t tell you how frustrated
we were and how foolish we felt, and the coyotes howling in the distance didn’t
help with the ambiance at all! But here’s what I know - I gained a huge
appreciation for being saved. And I think it’s good for us all to remember that
we were all lost at one time. The only reason we don’t have to experience the
anxiety associated with being lost is because Christ reached into each of our
lives and saved us. We need to approach each day with a thankful heart because
of this, and we also need to recognize that we need to pray diligently for the
Lord to do the same with people in our lives who we know are lost. May they too
experience the overwhelming peace of being found.
Sportsman’s Tip of the Day: Technology
has changed drastically since this event. I purchased a couple of rechargeable
LED headlamps this past year, and they are wonderful in the dark!