I never have been much of a hunter. My Dad gave me a Winchester pump 20 gauge at a young age. As a boy, I’ve hunted squirrel, rabbits, and some quail. That’s when you could step outside and hear the distinct “Bob white” whistle on most any day in the country. I haven’t heard one in a long time, now. I killed meadowlark just for the thrill. I never would shoot the Killdeer. I thought there wasn’t enough to those birds to even shoot them. Besides, I had seen too many little ones with their little heads bobbing along—cute as a button! They were spared. And, a lot of copperheads and water moccasins met their demise at the other end of that 20-gauge barrel. I wouldn’t kill the non-poisonous snakes. With all this, I did go deer hunting a few times. On one occasion, I think in the Turnmore bottoms, we had a little temporary camp set up. It had chairs, a firepit surrounded by rocks, and a horizontal “hitching post.” That was simply a small tree we cut, about two or three inches in diameter, and about eight feet long, tied to two trees. There was a pipeline some distance from the camp. I had been out on a stand near the pipe line, and ready to head back to camp. There was just a trail of a road parallel to the pipeline, so I quietly walked up and down the pipeline for a while, before going deeper into the woods back to camp. By the time I arrived back to camp, I was tired of carrying my gun, so I walked over to the hitching post and set the firearm on the ground and leaned it up against the hitching post. I walked a few feet over to a little clearing and stopped and stretched my shoulders, putting my hands up in the air and back behind my head. As I did this and looked down the clearing, twenty feet away, looking straight at me, was Mr. Big Buck, rack and all. With eyes locked together for a long moment or two, we watched to see who would make the first move. My shotgun was a few steps away. I made the slow, easy move first. He calmly eased away with his move. By the time I got to the gun, all I could do was watch the white flag disappear in the woods. Lesson: never lay your gun down. The weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God. Our weapon is faith. Faith connects us to all the power of God. Faith connects us to the good news of what Jesus has already accomplished for us. Aim at forgiveness, Aim for healing. Aim for the Holy Ghost and fire. Whatever you need in life—go for it! Everything we need is in Christ Jesus the Lord. Walk the hunt. Don’t lay it down. There it is. Aim your weapon. Pull the trigger. Bam!
Never Lay Your Gun Down
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