Hunting in Colorado
10-28-11
I was just up in the Colorado Rockies with my boys, elk hunting and getting my head and heart ready for the mission trip to Guatemala. Prior to leaving camp that 1st morning for the hunt we prayed the God would deliver an elk to be harvested should it be His will. In the 1st hour of the 1st morning I spotted a trophy elk at 150 yards and stopped my son Jon who had the tag. He had a great broadside shot but questioned whether it was an elk or a mule deer as he had never been so close to an elk before. I tried to reassure him but he would not take the shot. Three to four minutes passed and then the elk finally turned and went off into the forest. Previously I might have been upset that we missed such an opportunity but for some reason I was not. I simply acknowledged that Jon was not ready to take his 1st elk. Later on in the day God prompted me with a message that Jon did not trust me and that was the reason he was not reassured, and that the lack of trust was linked to an unforgiving spirit he had with me.
Two days later when I had a chance to read scripture and pray about the prompting. I spoke with my boys together about the possibility that such an unforgiving spirit existed with Jon. I did so with Christian, my other son, as Christian “handles me” with a tender heart when he has a problem with me but with Jon not so much.
We talked with one another and found that we could assist each other better if we could be kind as we approached our differences and with that trust could be restored. There were hugs and kisses abounding with these realizations and the trip went on from there. I do believe, as my boys also discussed in their tent that night that should Jon have shot that elk we would have missed an opportunity the God had presented for us to grow closer to one another and to Him, that this was His will for us that morning.
Colossians 3:12-14
New King James Version (NKJV)
Character of the New Man
12 Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, put on tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, longsuffering; 13 bearing with one another, and forgiving one another, if anyone has a complaint against another; even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do. 14 But above all these things put on love, which is the bond of perfection.
Category : Blog
