OUTDOOR TRUTHS: Keep coming back
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Hunting and fishing are like other sports in at least one area. There are more failures than successes. Think about it this way. In baseball, if you only get a hit three out of ten times, you’re an all-star. In basketball if you consistently make four out of ten three-pointers, you are elite. In football, a quarterback who completes 65% of his passes is considered excellent. And that still means he misses one out of every three throws. And the guys chasing him? A defensive end might rush the passer 500 times in a season and only get 12 sacks…and that’s considered a great season. The professional golfer misses the fairway 50-60% of the time. And I’m not even gonna talk about the sport of being a husband. We’re wrong 100% of the time! (Did I say that?) I digress. But here’s another similarity between all these guys and gals who participate in these activities: we all keep returning. And here’s what makes this truth even more impactful. Most of us are not professionals at what we do. And yet, we too, keep going back. We may throw a club into the abyss or slam a fishing rod down in the boat, and we may even swear we’re never coming back and we’re going to take up gardening, but when the dust settles and when the cuss words that have been running around in our mind finally leave, we just go back. We do. It’s crazy.
Let me tell you what is also neat and crazy to me. Jesus picked 12 men to be His first disciples – His apostles. They were all different. Some were educated. Some were not. Some were aligned with the Roman government. Some fought it. Some were quiet. Some were loud. But there were several things that marked their lives with Jesus. One was that they continually failed, whether it was by simple misunderstandings or by their own misdeeds. Jesus continually had to explain things to them and manage their misdirected actions. But the other similarity they all had was that they kept coming back. Sure, Judas took his own life at the end of Jesus’ ministry, and all the disciples left when they thought Jesus had died. But while Jesus was alive and doing His work, these disciples kept coming back even after times of stupidity and failure. I think Peter summed it up when He answered Jesus’ question. Jesus asked the apostles. “Are you also going to leave?” And Peter said, “Lord, to whom would we go?” To be honest, I have been angry at God before. I have thrown a spiritual club and sworn I’ll never play again. But with the same heated voice, I always said to God. “God, I’d leave, but where I’m I going to go!?” And then my anger settles. My mind clears. And I keep coming back. Because I’ve learned like in most sports, failure is not the exception. It’s the rule. And God wants me (and you), no matter how many time we’ve failed or keep failing, to keep coming back.
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■ Gary Miller has written Outdoor Truths articles for 21 years. He has also written five books which include compilations of his articles and a father/son devotional. He also speaks at wild-game dinners and men’s events for churches and associations. Stay updated on Outdoor Truths each week by subscribing at Outdoortruths.org.
