For my hunting fraternity, I need say no more! This has happened maybe 2-3 times in my life, but the timing was especially frustrating the other day. As a husband of a wife that LOVES the Thanksgiving and Christmas season, and we always have a BUSY holidays in terms of family, friends, etc., a grandfather, and a pastor, my hunting time is limited. Often the ideal hunting days and times find me doing what I've been called by the Lord, OR coerced, delegated...TOLD by my wife to do! For once, I was in a spot I had been wanting to hunt, had gotten in early, quietly, and felt prepared. It was Dec. 31, 2022 and as I sat and processed life, what I would preach on Sunday, plans and resolutions for the New Year, and whatever else deer hunters think about while waiting for one of those magnificent beasts to appear out of thin air (crazy how they do that!), I had determined the distances I'd have opportunities to shoot, how I needed to adjust my crosshairs, etc. I.Was.Ready! Or, so I thought! To make a long story (which we hunters have plenty of!) shorter, a deer stepped out at a distance I was comfortable with and I aimed, shot...AND missed!
So, here I was, last day and last hunt of 2022, going home with tail tucked between legs. Still no deer sausage or bacon burger in the freezer! We had a dinner with friends planned, so I was able to suck it up, go and do the New Years Eve thing with a forced smile on my face, and get ready to preach on Sunday. Fast forward to Monday evening, Jan. 2. A friend had invited me to go to his place, that had not been hunted all year, and to harvest 1 or 2 deer. So, I decided to give my shooting skills, or the gun I had blamed the miss on, another chance. Had not been in the shooting house 30 minutes and 4 came through. So, I picked out the one I chose to take, aimed, fired, and...CLICK! My first reaction was to throw my gun AT the deer, second was to pack up and go to the house! But I reasonsed that this was the only time, in 15 years of hunting with and shooting this rifle, that this had happend and I needed to stay put. As I waited, I began to consider crazy thoughts, "Maybe I'm just snakebit, cursed, should sell or give away ALL of my hunting stuff, take up golf, tennis, fish more and just forget how much I love venison!" So, just 30 minutes later, while wondering if I'd ever see or harvest another deer, another large doe stepped out. I aimed, pulled trigger and heard that earth shattering BOOM I live to hear when hunting, but was unsure, up unitl the time I squeezed trigger, if I would indeed hear it! Finally, the gun fired, I could in fact aim and fire a gun...pepperjack smoked sausage and bacon burger is on the way to the freezer!
I felt relieved, laughed at myself for getting discouraged about a stupid deer on the way home! THEN, as I got back to the real, non-hunting world, I found myself in Job chapters 1-5 in my chronological reading plan yesterday. As I read, I thought about my deer hunting journey over the last few days, and how I am so often, TOO often, easily discouraged and disillusioned, not just with hunting but with ministry, life, the seeming ineffectiveness of my ministry at times, finances, the state of our world, etc. I had one of those "come to Jesus" moments where it feels as though He sits down across from me and says, "Really, Mark, consider my servant Job..." If you need to, go read the first 3 chapters of Job. Job did express disillusionment and discouragement in verse 3, but only after exhibiting tremendous faith in God, in the midst of personal catasrophe, in chapters 1 & 2. If you want to see a sobering and mature account of a man working out his faith, interacting with God honestly, and whether he actually could trust in His God, read the entire book of Job over the next few days. Job's story even incorporates "so-called" friends who hurt more than they help, eventually having to be quietened by God!
In such a difficult time in the history of this world, in our nation, and even in many of our families, personal lives, as well as in the church, disillusionment seems to be the most common emotion I gleen from people I encounter each day. I need to remember, and I invite anyone who's read up until now, to take to heart a passage I have memorized, and will include below to hopefully encourage others, as it has me. As long as God is sovereign over this world, and He is, as long as we have access to his love and forgiveness through Jesus Christ and his atoning for our sins, which we do, there is hope, a reason to keep pressing on even through the greatest moments of discouragement and disillusionment. Aim and fire, and don't quit WHEN you miss your mark!
