BLOOD TRAIL: August 2012

Monday, August 13, 2012

Nate's Perspective

It’s funny how kids can make you think about things in new ways. My five year old grandson Nate recently lost his Grandma Massey. My wife Valerie and I went to the viewing to pay our respects and help any way we could. When we got to the funeral home we visited with the family and friends that we knew, met some of their family we hadn’t seen before and generally made the rounds. When we finished I headed back to the lounge to where the rest of the kids were. Nate happened to be back there by himself playing a video game on his dad’s phone. He looked up and said, “Hi Papaw.” I said, “Hi Nate, how ya doin’?” He said, “OK” and went back to his video game. I took a seat just to be there and keep him company. After a short time he looked up from his game and asked, “Papaw what are you doin’ here in heaben?” I said,” Nate I’m not in heaven. We’re at the funeral home not heaven.” … “Oh”, he answered, and went back to his video game. His Mom and Dad had explained to him that Grandma Massey had passed away and now she was going away to live with Jesus in Heaven. I guess he processed that information the same way that most five year olds do. Since grandma Massey was in the next room this must be heaven. Five year olds have an amazing capacity to retain information for future reference they just don’t have the background to sort that info.

You know, we adults are much the same as five year olds when it comes to processing information. If we’re not given the background on a situation we can come to incorrect or incomplete conclusions. Too many times the Gospel is given to the lost without the background necessary to come to the correct conclusion. Much of the time they are told that all they have to do is say a simple prayer or just keep the two greatest commandments. The benefit of “accepting Christ” is explained as a matter of life enhancement and heaven after that. No mention is made of God’s absolute holiness or our absolute sinfulness. No mention is made of repentance and a changed life, or the alternative, hell. If they are mentioned it’s only in general, vague terms that don’t carry the weight or information needed to understand the gravity of their plight. Folks, we gotta start laying out the whole truth to the lost. Their hearts need to be awakened to the fact we are vile sinners in God’s eyes and in need of a savior. How do we do that? We can change the “Modern Message” back to the “Old Truth”. What we tell them needs to have the hard edge of truth. No more sugar coating. Until we are willing to break their hearts with our words they will not be able to arrive at the right conclusion.

BLOOD TRAIL

Hunting is a great pastime activity. In today’s world, with a few exceptions hunting isn't among the skill sets necessary to acquire our food and clothing. We are accustomed to 40 hour work weeks and the availability of less labor intensive hunting areas such as Walmart, Krogers and Sears. It’s much easier to work a job and then spend your money at a department store than to invest many hours studying, patterning, hunting, killing and preparing wild game for a few pounds of meat ,a hide and a set of horns. To those who don’t hunt it may look like a huge waste of time. Those of us who hunt know the benefit of the activity. It’s outdoors, usually solitary, relaxing, and requires preparation, diligence and discipline. (Kinda like a job) For those of us who hunt the rewards of relaxation and enjoyment outweigh, for the most part, all the hard work involved. One of the most important skills you can learn is blood trailing. In the daylight it is a relatively straightforward task after you find the first drop of blood. Each drop tells us something new. It can tell us weather the animal is moving or standing, If it’s moving which direction and how fast. It can tell us weather we should pursue quickly or allow it to rest. At times we can tell where the animal is wounded. There is certainly a good amount of satisfaction in the work, but probably the most rewarding part of the hunt is the stories we can tell. The things you notice while hunting, a bird you haven’t seen before, the antics of a squirrel or a fawn, the moment of the kill and the labor of retrieving your harvest.

My last hunt involved some blood trailing in the dark. As is common, my shot at a buck came just before sunset. I didn't like the placement of the shot so I waited until I thought he had gone out of earshot and hastily looked for the first blood sign I could find and marked it. I left it and went home to have a little supper and to get adequate lighting to follow the trail. When I came back I was able to quickly find the white tissue paper I had tied on a limb above the first drop of blood. Four hours and five hundred yards later I was privileged to retrieve the animal I had harvested.

I don’t want to bore you with all the details of a four hour tracking job but I do want to point out some interesting parallels to our Christian walk.

* Its important to pursue as quickly as possible. We must follow the trail with diligence unless we loose our harvest to other predators or scavengers. (2 Peter 1:10)

* What we see in the woods at night is completely different from what we are used to seeing during the day. The subtle yellows, greens and browns we see during the day becomes nearly monochromatic at night.

* The human eye is naturally drawn to the color red.

* At night there are different types of light, close in as from a gas lantern or a campfire, focused light as from a flashlight and the bluish white light of the moon on a really clear night. (Mat 5:14-16)

* Sometimes you will find yourself searching for the next drop of blood on your hands and knees.

* As you turn leaves over looking for the slightest trace of blood you may see a spot of red on the middle of a leaf. When you inspect more closely you discover it is a false drop. Maple leaves and others naturally have spots of red. I call them false drops. After a while you learn to recognize the difference between the real blood and the false trail randomly spread by the wind. (1 John 4:1)

* The real thing has the shine of authenticity. The more you see the real thing it becomes easier to recognize.

* Sometimes the trail is hidden by the forces of nature, rain, wind or animals. Even our own big feet can obliterate a blood trail. (Mark 4:4)

* At times you will loose the trail. At that point go back to the last drop of blood you found and begin searching in widening circles until you pick up the trail again.( Acts 17:27)

* Each step on the trail brings us closer to our harvest. (Philippians 3:14)

* Sometimes we need to go back to where we began and start the trailing process again from the beginning. We must ask ourselves questions about the important details. Was my shot really on the mark? Did I miss completely? Was the blood trail I was on actually real or was I fooled by the vagaries of nature? Once we assess where things truly stand we can either continue on the trail or begin the hunt again. (2 Cor. 13:2)