I know I am constantly growing as a hunter and fisherman. All I have to do is look back at last year and I know there’s room to get better. One young man was being interviewed for a new position. The interviewer asked, “What do you wish to gain by your employment here?” To which the applicant replied, “I wish to gain experience.” Well, there’s one thing that’s for sure, he will gain experience. It may be a good experience or a bad experience, but he will gain experience. Each hunt offers much of the same. Hopefully, most of the days will bring good experiences. Undoubtedly some will bring a painful one. I remember the year I bragged about my fifty-five-yard shot on a double bearded gobbler, only to miss another bird a few days later, at only fifteen yards. Now I may have thought I had “arrived” as a hunter after such a long and might I say, impressive shot. But missing at such a short distance brought me back to the reality that I am an imperfect hunter. And the truth is, as long as I continue to pursue this passion of mine, I will forever be learning and growing.
It’s sometimes amazing how we can deal with these faux pas’ when it comes to hunting or fishing, but we are quick to give up when it comes to something like our Christian life. We tell ourselves if we cannot do it completely, perfectly, and wholeheartedly, we’ll just not do it at all. And thus, we let our imperfections determine our worth as a child of God, while God never expected any such ability from us anyway. Did you know that Michelangelo started forty-four sculptures? Fourteen of them were never completed. I heard these facts not long ago. I wondered what the value of those fourteen might be. You see, our worth to God is not based upon how many successful Christian days we have logged. Heck, it’s not based on anything we have or can do. It’s based solely on the initiative of God to love us out of his character, even while we were unlovable. And God’s determination to continue to love us is not based upon our ability to be lovable either. It is based entirely upon his own insatiable desire to accept us as imperfect and incomplete persons made in his own likeness.
Gary Miller
gary@outdoortruths.org