This is a question that was recently asked to me.  My response was, “why would I be scared of him?”

Come to find out this person was in complete fear that Jesus was out to get him.  The Bible does teach us to “fear”, which to me means “reverence” God.  That is “religion” coming through when people are scared of Jesus.  Jesus is my best friend.  Jesus left Heaven to come to earth to suffer and die for me.  With that said, why would I be scared of someone that did that for me.

The problem is we look at Jesus through “religious” eyes.  My challenge today is for you to get to know Jesus on a personal level.  He wants to be your savior and friend.

Romans 8:16-17
“The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. Now if we are children, then we are heirs - heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ . . .” (NIV)

For the past couple years, I have been searching for information about upland bird dogs. I have researched types, traits, pedigrees, anything and everything that has to do with bird dogs. Through my search, I decided that my pup must be AKC and/or NAVHDA registered. On top of that, I wanted my pup’s pedigree to have several SH (seniors hunters) or MH (master hunters) with the AKC. For NAVHDA, I wanted the VC (versatile champion). When we come into the saving knowledge of Christ, we become part of a special pedigree. Romans tells us that we become “heirs” of God. Once we accept Christ into our lives on a personal level, we are part of His pedigree. This pedigree is full of MH, SH, and VC titles. (NS)

If you need encouragement today, remember you are part of God’s pedigree. You are part of something great. You have been chosen to do only what He has designed you to do. You were hand-picked by God to be part of this lineage.

Hello, let me start by saying sorry for being away a few days.  Things have been super crazy with graduations, kids getting done school, work, etc….

Today I want to focus on my favorite scripture.

Philippians 4:13 “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me” 

I have used this scripture in many areas of my life including outdoor activities.  No matter what you are facing quote this scripture.  Say it out loud.  Whatever life throws your way you can do it as long as you are focused on Christ and letting him lead and guide you.

Hebrews 11:1 “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.”

As I sit here I think back to so many times faith has come into play in my life.  The biggest situation was when my son was born.  Shortly after arriving in this world things started to go bad for him in a hurry.  After being cleaned up the nurses brought him in for my wife to hold him and feed him.  This took place for less then a minute when my sister realized that Kolten was turning a funny shade.  The nurses came in and rushed him out of the room and into the nurses station.  Of course I was directly behind as I had planned on NEVER letting my son out of my sight in the hospital.  With my wife in the room recovering from just giving birth and now worried to death about her new baby I stood around listening to the doctor and nurses talk.  After some discussion they told me that he had low blood sugar.  He was born in Blue Hill hospital which is a small coastal hospital.  After doing a few tricks of the trade on him they decided it would be best to transport him to Eastern Maine Medical Center in Bangor, Maine.  This would mean EMMC would need to send a special five person team down to transport him.  Then they told me I would not be able to ride with him in the vehicle.  After spending a bunch of time with him trying to comfort this new guy it was the dreaded time to go in and tell my wife our baby was needing more attention then the hospital could give him and he was going to be transported to Bangor.  So, I went in and told her in those exact words.  She cried and had a look on her face that will always be vivid in my mind.  I told her that I would need to go to the hospital and be with him, even though this would mean leaving her alone.  It took some time for the team to show up.  They put him in an incubator and wheeled him in for my wife to see him again.  This was a quick visit and they wheeled him out.  They told me I would need to give them a half hour lead as they did not want me to follow them because they would need to move around a lot in the vehicle and this would be dangerous for me.  Well, I did listen to their commands for the most part.  From Blue Hill to Bangor there are two main routes.  I knew they was talking one way so immediately after they left, I kissed my wife and my mother and I was out the door.  It was a super foggy night and very hard to see.  I did not rush to the hospital but was not taking my sweet time either.  I arrived at EMMC and checked in at the nursing station.  I asked about Kolten Sargent and was told he was not there yet.  What?  How did I beat an ambulance?  Then the million things go through your mind…is something wrong? What is taking them so long?  Shortly after that I was told he had arrived and I would be able to go in and see him once he was set up.

I was lead into the Neonatal Intensive Care room and showed how to scrub up.  Then led to a bed where my son was lying.  He had wires and different things hooked up to him.  He needed a breathing tube, they was testing his blood sugar level every half hour which required a prick to his foot.(by the time they was done his foot looked like hamburg)  I asked the nurse how long he would be in there.  She told me it could be three days or more depending on if he eats on his own.  She then added boys usually have a hard time in this area.  I sat with him for majority of the night only taking a couple breaks to go into the waiting room.

Throughout the night and the next morning not much changed.  They was still testing him, he was still requiring a feeding and breathing tube.  About noon my dad showed up with my wife.  I showed my wife how to check in and brought her to see Kolten.  We spent the next several hours with Kolten.  About 8 p.m. we decided to travel the half hour home so my wife and I could rest(at this point I had been up for 40 straight hours).  Throughout the night we called several times to check on him.  Early the next morning we was back in Bangor to spend the entire day with our son.  On this day we was able to remove him from his bed and sit in a chair and hold him.  He was still hooked up to all kinds of machines but to me this was progress.

On Sunday things were looking really good for him.  He was moved out of the room with the really sick babies down to a room that had regular cribs and some of the bigger babies.  We held him and talked with him, fed him, and bathed him that day.  We were told he is doing really good and should be able to go home on Tuesday.  Wow! This was great news.  Again on Sunday night we came home.  Monday morning up and at it again early.  It was January in Maine and super cold on this morning.  EMMC has a road leading up to the main entrance.  The road is surrounded by buildings making this like a wind tunnel.  Due to being so cold, I decided to drop my wife off at the door and I would park out in the lot and walk in.  My wife told me she would meet me in the NICU.  After parking the truck I went up to the NICU and peeked in the room where he was the previous night.  I did not see Kolten or my wife, Michelle.  I thought that is kind of funny but maybe they are doing a bath or something.

In the NICU there are five rooms.  The fourth room had a space age looking table and was the only one in the room.  I saw several people standing around the table working on a baby.  I thought to myself, oh that poor baby.  My thoughts and prayers immediately went out to the family of that baby.  To be in the room by himself that was not a good sign.  Then all of a sudden I realized one of the people standing around the table was my wife.  I scrubbed up and entered the room.  There was literally six medical people working on him.  I was told they didn’t know what was going on but they would be doing test to find out.  After what seemed like an eternity they told us he had spinal meningitis.  This would require them to treat him with anti-biotics for 21 days.  This would mean putting a pic line in him.  Which is a long tube that goes in his arm, head, or leg into his stomach area.

The day before we had what appeared to be a healthy kid that would be going home in two days to a very sick kid that may not live.  The doctors as they have to told us what could happen.  Of course the worse being he could easily die.  He could be blind, deaf, mentally impaired, have learning disabilities, and several other areas of risk.

Over the next several days nothing changed.  His pic line stopped working a couple times, one time he ripped it out, and they needed to put it back in each time.  After about a week of this it appeared as though he was kicking it and he started to come around.  He was moved into the furthest room again with a regular crib about 10 days after.  He was now eating good and was getting stronger and healthier each day.

Finally on Superbowl Sunday a little over a month later he was able to come home.  We would still need to take him back for developmental testing for two years as we was instructed.  We did this for a year and they told us, he’s fine.  Unless you have concerns in the future don’t come back to see us.

Now, Kolten is 2.5 years old and is doing great.  There are no developmental concerns and he is the typical two year old.

As I think back to this event the only thing that got me through was faith.  I remember crying and telling God not to take my son from me.  I remember going through the feeling sorry for myself.  Asking God “Why me”?  The great thing was God was telling and teaching both my wife and I to “trust me”.  Here we had what was the most precious gift to us, I could not do anything.  I was helpless.  That is not a good feeling for me.  One time riding home in the truck it was real clear to me, God was telling me to “trust him” completely.  So, from that day on that’s what I did.  This at times meant trusting him even if it meant he was taking Kolten home to Heaven.

God has everything in control.  We need to learn to let go of the reins sometimes and trust him.  Now that this is a distant memory I can say thank you  God for teaching me this lesson.  Thank you for letting Kolten remain in my life and thank you for having him on par in every aspect of his life.

Faith in God will lead you to great places.

Here is today’s devotion from the Sportsmens Devotional.

This past weekend I had my step son graduate high school. I think about all the horror stories I hear about teenagers. Then I think about my step son. I am truly lucky to have a kid that I never had to worry about doing something stupid. I never had to worry about if he was drunk, stoned, or out doing other things he shouldn’t be doing. Of course he did the typical boy stuff like, driving to fast, going down roads that his car was not meant to be and ripping the exhaust system off and tearing his oil pan.

Although all in all he was a great kid. He taught his mom and myself with great respect. He has grown into a fine young man that loves the Lord. This devotion reminded me of my experiences and life with my step son over the past six years. Without the Lord helping his mother and I this would not have been possible.

Ephesians 6:1-3
Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. “Honor your father and mother”– which is the first commandment with a promise–”that it may go well with you and that you may enjoy long life on earth.” (NIV)

Have you ever watched a wild animal with its young, maybe in person or on an outdoors show on TV? There is no question that the young do what momma says; they do it, or very probably die. And when mother speaks, the young obey right now! So, let’s apply that to mankind. God said to honor our parents, that we’ll be blessed for doing so. Notice, it doesn’t say anything about obedience. It’s just a given–if you honor your parents you’ll also obey them. Now, let’s talk about our relationship with our heavenly Father. If we’re to honor our earthly parents, isn’t it much more important to honor our heavenly Father, God, with our absolute love and obedience? And, isn’t it also true, that if we don’t honor God, if we don’t obey Him, and accept His gift of forgiveness for our sins, that we’ll die? God loves us as no other parent can, even those of us whose parents loved us more than anything else. He loved us enough to send His Son to die in our place. He deserves complete honor!

Godly parents are a gift. Honor them every day of your life. Honor God, as He is our heavenly Father, and gave us the greatest gift of all–eternal life through Jesus Christ, His one and only Son!
If you want your children to treat you with honor, you need to be honorable. Follow your personal “hunter’s code of ethics”, and set an example for your kids to follow.

Tomorrow is my step sons graduation from high school.  This has been a long hard road through high school for him and us.  The kid just needs a lot of motivation because he doesn’t have it inside himself to do it on his own.  It started his freshmen year when reality sank in that high school is different then grammar school.  In grammar school they pretty much carried him along and let things slide.  In high school they have not, nor should they.

As I sat here thinking about this road it reminds me of our walk in many aspects of our life.  The road traveled in the outdoor world.  From my starting point of hunting that first time with my grandfather to where I bring and introduce youngsters to hunting now.  It has been an amazing journey and no where’s near done yet.

Then there is our Christian walk.  We started as babes in Christ.  Each of us have reached different levels in our walk with him.  Again, this is another journey that I have had a great time experiencing.  There has been many ups and downs and I have had to learn the hard way many times.  Although, it gets better and more exciting everyday.

It has been a crazy couple days around the house.  We had a little family emergency pop up, we are preparing for my step sons graduation, we have family members arriving daily, and getting the house and land set up to par for everyone.  This morning I had to drop my wife off at work and go and pick up some stuff that my mother needed moved.  I had about an hour or so in between times to waste.  So my son, Kolten and I went to Birdsacre.  We strolled around and checked out the birds penned up.  Then we set off jogging through the trails in order to get rid of some cooped up energy my two year old son and I had.

While walking and jogging through the trails it came to me, the amazing beauty that God has given us.  What beauty there is in the great outdoors.  I often take the time to thank God and realize that he has given us such a great gift.  But, there are still times like this morning that just make me step back and say WOW GOD!!!

Get outside today and take the time to look around at God’s master work.

LL Bean is in the preliminary stages of making an outdoor theme park.  The park would be located about a mile from the main store in Freeport, Maine.  The company already owns the 700 acres that the park would sit on.  The park would offer hotels, restaurants, and activities for outdoor enthusiasts.  You will find no log flumes, roller coasters, or carnival rides.  The plan is to have rock climbing walls, ponds to “try” out equipment, and other outdoor activities that will attract customers to their site.  Cabelas and Bass Pro Shops already have an inside the store kind of deal for this idea.

You can read further into more details here.

I recently received a message from my friend Marshall over at Desert Rat.  Marshall recently wrote a posts covering the severity of the issues that come along with illegal immigrants.  Whether you think they should be able to come over here or not you must see the devastation they are causing to our land.  I am certain we all can agree that that aspect of this needs to stop.  Whether you hunt, fish, hike, bike, or are for saving the land, I am sure you would support something being done about this.

I know we are up here in the northeast part of the country and this is not our hunting ground, this is not in our backyard, and I know how folks up this way can be, “unless it effects us, who cares”.  My belief is outdoor enthusiasts need to join together as we are a BIG club.  The big thing is good hunting ground is diminishing, we as outdoorsmen already face enough of this without illegal activities coming into play with it.

As I sat here this morning reading through Matt Moslers “scribblings” I came upon an article that I could certainly relate to.  I have two Golden Retriever dogs that are awesome dogs.  They are very well trained and are amazing with my two year old son.  They are brother and sister and are now four years old.  My wife wanted her female golden puppy and when we went to pick her up the male was so darn cute he ended up in my lap on the way home.  Earlier on I spent many a times walking the road in search of where these pups had run off to.  It did not seem to matter what I did to the kennel, they would always find a way to escape.  Here is Matt’s experience tied into our walk with Christ.

“Stupid dog,” I muttered over and over to myself as I walked around my neighborhood leash in hand blowing my whistle, the sound of which was supposed to make him immediately stop whatever he was doing and return to me his owner and master!!  It wasn’t working. 

 

For the second time in two days my beautiful, pure bred, extremely large, AKC registered, yellow Labrador retriever puppy with unlimited potential had escaped from my back yard.  The first time he had jumped over the gate…the five foot tall gate!  So I went to Home Depot and made the gate 6 feet tall.  This held him in for oh, a day or so.  Apparently the pull of the outside world was so strong that he devised an escape plan that included jumping on top of the bar b que grill then over the fence to freedom…or at least what he perceived as freedom. 

 

As I contemplated his latest feat while I walked, whistled and called his name between fits of anger and bouts of tears I realized maybe he really wasn’t that stupid…just short sighted and impatient.  In his quest to explore the world outside of the fence; to smell new smells, run at full speed and chase birds all day long he never once considered the reason for the fence in the first place. 

 

I mean it would take but a second for him to get hit by a car or picked up by an abusive owner or worse someone else who would never again give him the chance to duck hunt.  That would be tragic.  My dog had just finished his first duck season and for a puppy did very well.  With continued training and discipline there’s no telling how great he could be.  But if he can’t stay inside the fence he may never get the chance to realize his unlimited potential.  Stupid dog!

 

That’s when it hit me.  I am so much like my dog…without the hops.  How many times do I jump outside of my fence in search of happiness?  How many times do I break the rules because of “the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life?” (I Jn. 2:16) And I wonder…how many times does my Father walk around leash in hand blowing his whistle exasperated at me for not seeing the purpose of the fence? 

 

Stupid man!  I’ve been reading a lot about “fences” these days although the author of the book doesn’t call them fences.  He calls them disciplines and there are many; prayer, fasting, meditation and study among others.  In his book, Celebration of Discipline author Richard Foster says the purpose of the disciplines is not to rob us of our joy or “exterminate laughter from the face of the earth” but rather to liberate us from the stifling slavery that comes with self interest and fear.  (pg. 2)

 

The Bible says in Isaiah 57:20, “The wicked are like the tossing sea, for it cannot rest, and its waters toss up mire and dirt.”  Foster writes, “The sea does not need to do anything special to produce mire and dirt; that is the result of its natural motions.”(pg. 4)  Because of the effects of sin in our lives we don’t need to do anything special either to produce mire and dirt.  That’s the natural motions of our lives as well. 

 

The solution is not to “kick against the goads” (Acts 26:14) but to embrace the fences in our lives.  God created us.  He knows best how to utilize our gifts, talents and abilities.  “His commandments are not burdensome” (I Jn. 4:3) but they must be obeyed.  Failure to do so results in our own peril. (Prov. 13:15)  Despite what the enemy tells us joy is fleeting outside the fence.  But within the confines of the spiritual disciplines we can run as far and as fast and as long as our heart desires.

 

It took a while but I eventually found my dog.  He was nabbed by the telephone man working down the street.  He’s back now in a 10 x 10 x 6 foot dog fence with a tarp tied across the top.  He’s only escaped three times…smart dog.

You can check out more of Matt’s scribblings on his website.

My friend Matt at over Cross Heirs Ministry posted a great devotion on the Christian Outdoorsman recently.  I found this so true, we treat God as though he is Burger King.  We just stroll up and expect it to be “our” way.

Here is what Matt had to say on this matter:  By the way this trip sounds like an amazing experience.

 There we sat around a campfire in the high mountains of Colorado. There were about 15 of us from several states on a “Christian” elk hunt, the purpose of which was to reach guys on a level where they were comfortable then encourage them to grow up into the person God created them to be. Each night after dinner or actually during dinner after we had embellished the events of our day we would wrap up with a devotion. Most of the guys on this trip were first time or still relatively inexperienced elk hunters so the organizers of the trip thought it would be a good idea to bring in someone who’d harvested lots of elk to inspire us.

This guy looked like an elk hunter. He was rugged, handsome and tall. (Why does it always come back to tall?) In any case the gist of his devotion was that each morning before he hunted he would pray that God would give him an elk and guess what? He did! Apparently every time this guy went into the woods with a bow or a gun he came back with meat, but not just any meat; great, big, huge trophy meat. And the reason why? Because he prayed and God rewarded his prayer because that’s the kind of God we serve.

Now, I had a few problems with that. For starters I had prayed the past two days that God would give me an elk and guess what? No elk. Didn’t even see one. Did that mean God didn’t love me as much as he did this guy or worse that God was not the omnipotent God I always thought he was since he didn’t do what I asked him to do?

This is what I call Santa Claus theology and more and more preachers are preaching it and more and more of us in this prosperous culture are embracing it. After all the Bible says, “Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart!” (Ps. 37:4) And “If you abide in me and let my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it shall be done for you.” (Jn. 15:7) And one more for good measure, “Seek first his kingdom and his righteousness and all these things shall be added to you.” (Mt. 6:33)

While all these verses are true I don’t believe they mean we can treat God like a drive-thru restaurant; put our order in for success, prosperity and peace, pick them up at the window and go on with our lives. But in a culture where we seem to be marketing Jesus as the best of many viable alternatives to a successful life this seems to be the case. But Jesus never said he was the best choice he said he was the only choice; The way. The truth. And The life. (John 14:6)

The biggest problem with this mini-mart approach to holiness is that it’s backwards. It exalts us and our needs over God and his desires for us. God is there to serve us as opposed to us serving God, right? Wrong! In Jeremiah 2:13 God calls this evil, “For my people have committed two evils; they’ve forsaken my, the river of living water, to hew for themselves cisterns, broken cisterns that hold no water.”

The point that God’s trying to make is instead of focusing on “the desires of your heart” or “having all these things added unto you” focus instead on “delighting in him”, “Abiding in him” and “Seeking first his kingdom and his righteousness.”

It may not make a whole lot of sense at first but I believe we’ll find as we draw closer to him and gradually fill our hearts up with him and his word we’ll discover that our desires will be to do what he’s called us to do. Our delight will be to serve him. And all those things we receive in return we’ll just want to use them to further his kingdom. This, not some trophy elk that our wives don’t want in the house anyway, will bring us the true joy, peace, and contentment we’re missing from all that stuff that’s piling around our feet.

My friend, Gary Miller from Outdoor Truths does an amazing job bringing forth messages from the Bible and targeting the outdoor enthusiasts.  Today, I am going to give an example of Gary’s great work.

 In all of my early season preparations, the one thing that I have yet to fully prepare for is Buck Fever. Over the years I’ve gotten better at controlling it, but it is still the master of every hunt. I have seen this sickness humble the most famous, the most athletic, and the toughest of individuals. It has brought low, the movie star and the millionaire, the expert and the novice. It has no respect for race, creed or country. And yet without this aspect of hunting, none would ever go back.
You see, this is the draw for what we do. It’s not the meat, or the camaraderie, or even the time outdoors; Even though these are all important. But the call of the hunt is a racing heart, sporadic breathing, a sweaty forehead, a shaking hand, and conversation that sounds like you’re trying to sing while running a marathon.
The challenge is not so much with the deer itself, as it is with the internal pressures that show up surprisingly expected. If we make a good shot, we have temporarily tamed the fever; if the shot misses, we have been infected again.
Even though there have been many articles written on the subject, none have ever been able to cure this disease. And I hope that none ever does. In fact, if one would ever succeed in banning the sport of hunting, all they would need to do, would be to find the cure for Buck fever.
If you have ever hunted deer, you have bowed respectfully and even joyfully to this master.
The Bible tells us that one day all of us will bow to another Master. He is the Lord.
He is the creator, sustainer, and ruler of all that we see and know. One day, He will cause every human to recognize this.
The expert and the novice, the atheist and the agnostic, the American and the other nations of the world, will all bow respectfully to Him. But not only will we bow respectfully to Him, we will also bow joyfully if we have been expecting His appearance.
The thrill of that day will no doubt cause our heart to race and our hands to shake, but the prize will be worth the price. And for those who have received His gift of salvation ………. there will be no misses.