Clear Sailing or Stormy Weather Ahead ?
By Pastor Jim Sinclair
SPORTSMAN ’ S MEDITATION Ok , I said let ’ s do it , it ’ s a three day weekend , let ’ s go camping . We loaded all the gear into our travel trailer and off we went . One thing I have always liked about camping is sitting around a campfire with family and friends on a nice clear night looking at the stars . So here we are sitting by ourselves around a fire all by our lonesome . I must admit my coat wasn ’ t quite enough to keep the cold wind from giving me goosebumps , but nonetheless I was camping .
It is amazing how the weather can manipulate our lives , we are not people that like storms , storms bring adverse circumstance to our lives , In the storm of life is where our foundation is tested , it reminded me of this story from the Good Book , that ’ s found in , Matthew 7:24-27 24 “ Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock . 25 The rain came down , the streams rose , and the winds blew and beat against that house ; yet it did not fall , because it had its foundation on the rock . 26 But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand .
Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine , and doeth them , I will liken him unto a wise man , which built his house upon a rock : and the rain descended , and the floods came , and the winds blew , and beat upon that house ; and it fell not : for it was founded upon a rock . And everyone that heareth these sayings of mine , and doeth them not , shall be likened unto a foolish man , which built his house upon the sand : and the rain descended , and the floods came , and the winds blew , and beat upon that house ; and it fell : and great was the fall of it .
This describes a storm , one of the things I noticed is there is no middle foundation , it ’ s either rock or sand , many times in life we are prone to build on sand . Once we start building on sand it can be hard to notice how weak the foundation is . Then when the storm hit ’ s “ Great is the fall of it .” The foundation crumbles .
We must watch what we let into our spiritual diet / life , if we hear and do what he says , we will be wise . If not , we can fall and fall hard . Once a little sand is built on , it get ’ s easier and easier to build on it .
This reminds me of this story . A foolish old farmer , so the story goes , concluded one day that the oats he had fed his mule for years were simply costing him too much . So he hatched a plan ... he mixed a little sawdust in with the feed , and then a little more the next day , and even more the next , each time reducing the amount of oats in the mix . The mule didn ’ t seem to notice the gradual change , so the farmer thought things were fine and kept decreasing the proportion of oats . But weeks later , on the day he finally fed the poor beast nothing but sawdust , the mule finished the meal and fell over dead .
I hope the point is understood , nothing can substitute our relationship with Jesus . We must set ourselves on guard lest we drift toward to much sand and not notice it . The exchange is ever so subtle hardly even noticeable until our spiritual life collapses before us . So the point being ... Keep the sand out and always build on the ROCK , ( Jesus ) Keep livin the life Pastor Jim .
Due to lack of space this month we were not able to highlight some of the activities from the Montana Sportsman For Fish and Wildlife 7th Annual Pig Roast and the Western Regional Trapping & Outdoor Expo . However , all the pictures I took during the events are posted on line at :
www . montanawoodsnwater . com / events /
We will cover both events in the July issue along with many other great articles and new events .
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