Dear Friends and Fellow
Children of God,
I did not write a devotion last week because I was
camping at 5200 feet elevation in the Talkeetna Mountains and hunting caribou
with my son, Josh. I’ve had quite a few
people ask me about our hunt, and some have even asked about my devotions. We flew out to our hunt site and had a
personal limit of 50 pounds which each of us could carry. When you bring a 20 pound tent, then sleeping
bags and sleeping pads, guns and ammunition, food and utensils, there is no
room for a computer, even if we would have had internet coverage 40 miles off
the highway. But, honestly, I would not
have wanted to take my computer with me anyway.
Josh and I flew out on Saturday morning, August 31 with
Meekins Air Service. Mike Meekins and
his son-in-law, Matt Keller, each flew one of us in a Super Cub to our hunt
site west of Sheep Mountain. On the way
back from the hunt on Friday, Matt told me, “I’ve been flying with Mike for 16
years. No one has ever come back from
there without a caribou, or maybe without passing on a shot because the animals
they were seeing were not a trophy.”
That sounds pretty easy, doesn’t it?
But the hunt was not that easy, for us at least.
The first day we were allowed to hunt was Sunday,
September 1. As we woke up that morning
and finished breakfast, we surveyed the valley and the mountains around us and
tried to decide where we should hunt. With
our packs on our backs, we decided on a spot we could see through our
binoculars which looked like a game trail.
Then, as we were getting ready to leave, a small group of 4 caribou
showed themselves on a ridge in that area.
According to my “fitbit”, by the time we got to that point we had walked
over a mile. So, obviously we did not
shoot because of the distance. But, we
did start hiking in that direction, and then two more caribou showed
themselves, also out of range. When we finally
arrived at that location, the animals were not to be found. So, on the first day of our hunt we saw 6
animals during our first hour . . . and then we saw no more caribou for quite a
while. On Tuesday Mike Meekins flew in
to talk with us. He shared with us, “I’m
worried. We aren’t seeing any animals
from the air. They don’t seem to be
moving yet.” Maybe we were going to be
that first group of hunters he flew in who would end up without an opportunity
to harvest some of Alaska’s wild game meat.
During the days to follow we hiked in various directions,
usually about 3-4 miles a day. We were
near the mountain peaks and the weather was constantly changing, from sunshine,
to wind and clouds, to rain and sleet, and back to sunshine. I’ve been exercising regularly for the last 3
½ years and had thought I was in pretty good shape. But, carrying a pack at 5200+ feet of
elevation I found that, while my muscles didn’t tire, I often had to stop and
catch my breath. And, at night the
temperatures usually got down around freezing or below. We had snow on the mountain tops around us on
Tuesday, ice on the coffee pot on Thursday, and frost covering everything
Friday morning.
So, after seeing animals early that first morning, we saw
no caribou the rest of Sunday, nor on Monday, or Tuesday, or Wednesday. I think it was on Wednesday when Josh asked
me, “What lesson do you think God trying is to teach us that we are out here
hunting, but not seeing any caribou?” We
talked about that question. It was good to have father-son time. Even if we weren’t finding caribou, we were still seeing ground squirrels,
sheep, eagles, and some other animals.
It was good to get away from
the demands of our jobs. In fact, this
was the beginning of my retirement. We
were praying every day. There are blessings and lessons to learn in
stopping and meditating. Even though we were somewhat frustrated that we
weren’t accomplishing our goal of harvesting a caribou, in the time to get away
and soak in God’s creation, we could still
see the hand of our Lord.
Actually, Josh’s question is a good question for more
than just this hunt. “What lessons can
we learn about God and about ourselves when we work toward a goal and it
doesn’t seem to happen? What lessons can
we learn about our Lord and ourselves when are we more than just frustrated,
but when life is full of loss, and tragedy, and failure? Is God still with us?”
Some Scripture verses came to mind as we considered
Josh’s question, perhaps, most obviously, Romans 8:28. “And
we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love
God, to those who are called according to His purpose.” God does not use His power to make everything
in life good, or pleasant, or easy.
God’s love and power is so great that He can and does work good from
“all things,” from all events of life.
God even works good for His people from the disappointments, the
failures, and the tragedies of life.
The greatest example of God’s love and power is that our
Lord even worked good through the death of His Son, Jesus, on the cross. God is the author and sustainer of life. For the Son of God, for God Himself, to die
would be the worst calamity our universe has faced. Yet, in the death of Jesus, our Heavenly Father
paid for our sin. And, in Jesus’ rising
from the dead our Lord saved us from death and judgement because of our sin. He saved us for eternal life by His grace, through
faith in Jesus’ death and resurrection.
“ . . . God causes all things to
work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according
to His purpose.”
Our hunt was pretty expensive compared to our normal
standards. But, in the big scheme of
things, a hunt without animals is a pretty small disappointment, especially
compared to the other tragedies and failure’s in life. But, that time on the mountain did give us
time together as father and son. That
time without animals gave us an opportunity to consider the beauty of the
creation around us, and the blessings God had showered on us. That time of waiting gave us a chance to slow
down, to consider God’s goodness, and to be thankful. When we went to bed on Thursday night we had
resigned ourselves to a hunt with no harvest.
But we had come to a point where we were thankful for our time together
and for the blessings of God’s presence in the midst of our time.
When we awoke on Thursday, 5 caribou were grazing on the
meadow across the creek in front of our tent.
So, together as father and son, we harvested the bounty of God’s
creation. I was with Josh as he shot his
first large animal ever. We had the
opportunity to consider the blessings of God through the journey of life, and
then we were also blessed with meat for the freezer. Sunday evening’s meal of caribou roast was
enjoyed by all.
So, I’ll rephrase that commercial. Time in the wilderness is truly
worthwhile. Time hunting with my son was
wonderful. But, time in the wilderness
with your son, considering the hand of God, is priceless!
A Child of God, Learning Again To Be Thankful for God’s
Presence Through Life’s Journeys,
Pastor Jonathan
******
ABOUT THIS DEVOTION – I am now retired as senior pastor
of St. John Lutheran in Palmer, AK. This
devotion was previously titled, “Thoughts from the Pastor.” However, with life’s changes I will now call
it, “Journeys
Through Life as a Child of God.” I am only sending this message to those who
have asked to receive it. If you know
someone else who desires to receive this message have them e-mail me at jonrock53@mtaonline.net. You can also view this message on my Facebook
page.
******
No comments:
Post a Comment