On a frosty morning sitting on my deer stand watching the sun bring the woods to life, I wondered why many of the men in my hunting club were more interested in sitting around the camp and drinking beer than they were in soaking in the experience of watching wildlife, hunting, and enjoying the great outdoors!
While patiently waiting on that cold morning for the trophy deer of a life time to show himself, God placed a burden on my heart, just as he has done for so many others. I needed to be sharing the real purpose of living with my fellow hunters. It's not about getting away with the guys, or camping, or drinking, or for that matter even hunting, which I love to do. But what's important, is simply everyone's personal relationship with Jesus Christ. After accepting Jesus as my Lord and Savior, and experiencing a growing relationship with Him, the experience of being in God's Great Outdoors has taken on a new meaning.
When I got back to camp after my morning hunt, and for the remainder of the deer season, I was not bold enough or obedient and never said a word to the other hunters, not even those guys that were more interested in drinking than hunting. God was patient and he knew a seed had been planted, again just like he had done for so many other guys.
This not a personal story of how one man has done anything, but it is a true testimony of how God has prepared the hearts of many men to hear an be obedient, and start a Christian Sportsmen's Ministry to reach out to lost sportsmen. What better way to share the message of God's love with a hunter and his son or daughter than in the woods, at the lake, behind a duck blind or around a dove field! That's where you truly see the splendor of God's creation, and it's also where sportsmen share the same passion.
God has blessed our Christian Sportsmen's Ministry in so many ways! He has allowed us the privilege of teaching single moms and their kids how to fish, or watch a boy harvest his first deer, dove or duck. Many grown men have accepted Jesus Christ as their Savior at Wild Game Banquets, and he has even guided us to a small town in Utah to build a church!
Christian Sportsmen's Ministry is about sportsmen and their families, it's about enjoying God's great outdoors, it's about reaching the lost for Christ, it's about men praying for each other, and occasionally we even eat pretty good, but the true focus is about hearing from God and being obedient, and that means sometimes being bold at deer camp.
If you have been struggling with a burden on your heart about how God wants to use you, and you love the outdoors, this might be the ministry for you. Don't make that decision by yourself; pray that God will use you in a mighty way in whatever ministry you are called.
In Christ's Service,
Mike Mauldin
Top of Page
|
