One of my most beloved hobbies is bow hunting. It’s fun practicing. I like shooting the target and striving to be more accurate. I also love going out in the woods and sitting in the tree stand. Even though I think about all the things that I need to be doing, I use it as a quiet time. Time to talk to God and reconnect with His world. Reflect on all He’s done. Admire all of His beauty and think of ways that I can be a vessel for Him. It’s really a recharge time so I don’t feel as guilty when there’s laundry to be done, or other household chores left unfinished. I feel recharged after hunting. I feel connected to my maker.
6 years ago, the church we were attending was having a women’s bible study on Paul. I felt the tug that I needed to go so I signed up. On the 4th Sunday of every month the church gathered at a local nursing home for evening services instead of services at the church. Someone suggested it because most of the residents are shut in and don’t get to attend church. So the preacher preached sermons there. Services were at 3pm instead of 5pm. We lived 20 minutes away from church so by the time we got home, fixed lunch, and cleaned the kitchen, it was nap time for my 18 month old daughter and 3 & 4 year old sons. The nursing home was only 5 minutes away from our home but it was really hard for us to go because of nap time and the early service. In fact, most days it was hard to even make it back to evening services just because of unforeseen incidents with having 3 little ones. But we tried. Not always hard enough, but we tried.
The first Sunday night of bible study, my husband and I skipped church and decided to go hunting instead. It was the 4th Sunday so it’d be at the nursing home. Too hard to make it to service…seems like a plausible excuse. My husband’s work schedule made it to where we couldn’t hunt many days out of the month. I also was having a lot of health issues where my blood pressure would plummet and I would pass out. I always wore a safety harness while in my stand but didn’t feel comfortable hunting alone so I only went when my husband could go too. So there wasn’t a whole lot of opportunities for us to go.
I have never missed a deer. Or hog. Never. Not being cocky, it’s just the truth, I have never missed. I shot at a fox one time and didn’t see a small limb in front of it. The arrow hit the limb and it deflected my arrow…and I shot its tail off. Legit. I couldn’t make this stuff up. I’ve had a few mishaps in the woods like that as I’m sure any seasoned hunter has. I’ve shot deer too far back or too high. I’ve only shot 2 bucks in my life and both small. There just aren’t many “big” bucks around these parts.
Here in South Arkansas, we battle mosquitos the first half of deer season because it’s so hot. That Sunday I went hunting was perfect; no wind, wasn’t too hot, and the mosquitos had to have been eating another victim because they weren’t nagging me. A buck, very nice 8 point might I add, came in at a mere 15 yards. He never saw me. He came right in to feed on my corn. My heart was beating fast because I had never had an opportunity to shoot such a nice buck before. I had to calm myself down and take a deep breath because you can’t be shaky when you shoot. Just as I composed myself, he stood broadside and a horsefly bit his leg so he bent down to bite at the horsefly. His head was turned away from me so it was a perfect time to draw back. I clipped my release on my string and gently and ever so slowly pulled the string back. I eased my bow right where I needed it. He was still biting at the horsefly. I put the sight behind his front shoulder, kept my arm steady, and pulled the trigger on my release. Immediately, I felt something was off and I pulled my bow away to see where the arrow was in flight. My bow string hit my sleeve when I released my arrow and I watched the lighted nock fly several feet to the right causing a complete miss! I was so sick. Literally could have puked. I sat back down super aggravated at myself for making such a careless mistake. I sat and stared at my arrow stuck in the ground. The lighted nock just a reminder of what a complete miss I had just made.
I reflected on my hunt all night and the next day. I kept replaying the scenario over and over again. How? How on earth did I not notice my sleeve was slightly poofed out? It was a shirt that I didn’t wear often. Ugh I thought to myself. I’ll never wear that stupid shirt again. But it hit me. I couldn’t help but to think how greedy I was being with my time. That tiny voice inside of me telling me to sign up for bible study, the thought that I probably shouldn’t hunt but go to bible study instead,that was the Holy Spirit nudging me. I didn’t go to church and give my time to God, instead, I did what I wanted to do. That hunt brought a lot of perspective to my eyes and I have no doubt it was the good Lord who helped me see. Like so many things in life, we tend to do what we want to do and not what it is that God wants us to do. Our plan may sound and look so incredibly perfect to us…but when we reach the end result it’s a disaster. Not at all like we had planned. We may have an excellent aim, perfect target, and be really good at something but without God, it’s useless. With an eye on the prize, we shoot and completely miss. I thanked God for allowing me to see that buck that day and for giving me eyes to see the real situation that He put before me. God has plans for our lives. Big and small, we just have to surrender it all to Him.
I ended up attending the rest of the Bible study classes and thoroughly enjoyed the fellowship and furthering my understanding of scripture. I had no idea that my story would end up parallel to Paul’s, but God knew. He knew what was up ahead for me and He knew I’d need to reflect back on Paul to get me through some desperate times. What an amazing God we serve.
