Original Entry: June 4, 2007
3 choose the best and most worthy of your master's sons and set him on his father's throne. Then fight for your master's house." 2 Kings 10:3
In California we called them mountain lions. Other places call them pumas. In Oregon we call them cougars. These shy and highly elusive animals strike fear in the hearts of men without ever being seen. Hunters carry pistols, walk only during the daylight hours, and are very aware (At least they should be) of their surroundings when sitting too long in one place.
Although dangerous, these animals have a tremendous fear of man and are rarely seen in the wild. In fact, in all of my years in the outdoors I have only seen one mountain lion in the wild and believe most lion sightings are only bobcats.
“Does it have a short tail?”
“Is it orange with stripes?”
My story is very true. Let me tell you about it.
It was a hot August afternoon in the summer of 2002. My cousin Darby, a kid in the youth group named Trevor Jenison, and I had made the two hour hike into “The Hell Hole!” Once situated, we began to glass a hillside and were able to locate a nice buck running up the hill just 300 yards away. As it ran I noticed it literally ran past something long and yellow in appearance. It was my first mountain lion sighting! It was crouched and walking towards us! Certain details of the moment I will not share, but that lion quickly ran from our presence once it knew it had been seen.
The hot summer nights of California’s Central Coast negate the need for a sleeping bag except to protect one from the creepy crawling things that come out at night. Darby slept in his normal blood stained deer bag. Trevor forgot his bag and so we opened up mine and slept on the ground with the creepy crawlers. We went to “sleep” about 300 yards or so from the lion sighting but never fell asleep as the sounds of the lion screaming, “You’re in my house! Get out or else!” continued throughout the night.
We had ventured into the lion’s house and were in potential danger of becoming the prey instead of the predator!
The follower of the Lion of Judah (Revelations 5:5) is a man who offers himself to the great house of God. Everyday a man wakes up he must realize that he is a son in his Father’s house and as such he is either God’s greatest servant or a double agent. The Christian man is the son of The Lion and an heir of The King. Men never fights for fighting’s sake, but fight only to defend his Father’s house and the weak using weapons unfamiliar to this world in order to tear down evil strongholds (2 Corinthians 10:4).
He does not back down form spiritual warfare recognizing that it is, “violent men who take (the Kingdom) by force” (Matthew 11:12).
