Original Entry: August 5, 2008
McMinnville, OR
God did
this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him,
though he is not far from each one of us.
For in him we live and move and have our being. As some of your own poets have said, “We are
his offspring.” Acts 17:27-28
A few days
ago I shared with you about the “Weatherby Buck” purposely leaving out several key
details of the story. Here is one of
them. Because hunting mountain lions in
California is illegal the state is being overrun with the big cats. On DFG official told me that rogue bears from
Sierra Nevada Range campsites were regularly being captured and released during
the 90’s in the Los Padres National Forest, which happens to be where I spent
my time in the field. I noticed a
tremendous increase in the bear sightings during that period and now I know
why! Like the lion, bears are illegal to harvest in San Luis County and, again
like the lion, have overrun these areas.
Lets get
back to the story.
Knowing we
needed to head back to camp we decided to hang the buck in the odoriferous Bay
Tree hoping that a bear or lion would not detect its presence. It was a moonless night and Trevor’s flash
light had run out of batteries leaving only my headlamp to light our path. About half way into our 3-mile walk back to
the truck Trevor asked me a question that I knew needed reassurance, “Jim, should
we worry about bears or mountain lions attacking us?”
Because of
man’s God given dominion over animals our scent, I assured, would be enough to
send any animal fleeing from our presence. Besides, I offered, my flashlight
warns them of our approach. No sooner
had I spoken those words when two things occurred. My headlamp ran out of batteries and I
realized that by carrying the bloody carcass of the Weatherby Buck I no longer
smelled like a human but a deer!
In the
dark of the midnight sky I dropped to my knees and began to pray while groping
everything in my emergency pack to find four “fresh” Double A Batteries. Once found, I had to guess which way they
went in until finally, praise God, I found the perfect combination.
Let there
be light!
Acts 17:27 tells us that God desires men to “seek him and perhaps reach out for him and
find him, though he is not far from each one of us.” Paul reassures that the “Lord
is near (Philippians 4:5)” but he is not easily found. He makes it difficult enough so that we will “reach out”, hunt for, and ruthlessly
search for Him. This is all by the
design of Him who is worthy of our desperate reaching out to Him.
