10 Mar SHOW UP PREPARED
By: Dylan Ray
You’ve been there…don’t lie. You’ve showed up on a duck hunt and realized you completely forgot your shot gun. You’ve been on a bow hunt and figured out quickly that you forgot your release. You’ve been out in the woods and happen to find out the hard way that you didn’t throw any toilet paper in your pick up. We have all been there. It’s these funny stories that we love to share every year around the Camp Chef as we wait to pull off the steaks! The year Isaac forgot his paddle for the canoe and had to paddle across the lake to get to the blind using nothing but cane he had bundled together. The time Uncle Tom forgot his harness and tied himself to a tree with a ratchet strap. These are the funny times that we remember and share with everyone, well, we are definitely more likely to share them with everyone when they didn’t happen to us. We, are professional hunters who have our routine down, we never forget anything, and we won’t let you forget the time you headed into the woods ill prepared…at least that’s what we want everyone to believe.
If you’ve been a hunter for any amount of time, you’ve found yourself in a predicament like one of these. Whether or not you want to share the embarrassment with your friends and family, you’ve probably been there. But, there is more to the story than this just being kind of embarrassing. What if, that day you forgot your release that just turns into you nature watching is the day the “Stix” walks out? “Stix” the wide 12 that you ran into a couple years ago has never shown back up yet, and he chooses today to do so. What if the day you forgot your shot gun was they day your crew hits a 9 man limit? Could have been 10, but you didn’t have a gun… What if the day you forgot your diaphragm call is the day you spot that monster bull, but you now have nothing to call him in with? Simple statement…when you’re not prepared you cannot succeed. This goes for our spiritual walk too. We have to be prepared in order to be successful. I hate it when I hear kids in my youth group say, “I gave the Christian thing a chance, and I just couldn’t do it”. Well, do you want to know why you couldn’t do it? Or why it didn’t work out? BECAUSE YOU WEREN’T PREPARED!!
Matthew 24:43 says, “But know this, that if the master of the house had known what hour the thief would come, he would have watched and not allowed his house to be broken into.” Let me tell you something…the thief is coming. Satan is coming. His attacks are coming. You want to live for the Lord and do what is right and Satan wants to see you fail. He wants to rob you of your joy. He wants to steal your hope. He wants to see you go through a divorce. He wants to see you lose your kids. He wants to see you fall back into addiction. He wants to see you sell your house for more drug money. He wants to see you fall and fail. He is coming. Here is your warning. HE IS COMING! You better be prepared, or you will fail, every single time. Just like Matthew says in verse 43 of chapter 24, had you known the thief was coming you would have been prepared and not let him brake in. Well, I came to tell you to get prepared because he is coming. Stand firm in your faith, protect what is yours, keep a watchful eye for Satan and his attacks, and when the time comes…FIGHT!
