Original Entry: May 30, 2008
McMinnville, OR
Then the
Lord appeared to Solomon at night and said to him, “I have heard your prayer
and have chosen this place for Myself as a house of sacrifice. If I shut up the heavens so that there is no
rain, or if I command the locust to devour the land, or if I send pestilence
among My people , and My people who are called by My name humble themselves and
pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from
heaven, will forgive their sin and will heal their land.” 2Chronicles 7:12-14
It sits in
the center console of my truck. I put it
together about a year ago and it is simply call the Brag Book. In it are the pictures of successful hunts
over the years. Whenever I meet a fellow
hunter I pull out the Brag Book and begin to; well, brag!
I have had
a strange turn of events through my Brag Book arriving at the conclusion that
it takes humility to have a Brag Book.
Confused? Let me explain. As I compare the successful and unsuccessful
hunters only a few things separate the two. Surprisingly I discovered that
pride is one ingredient to failure.
Pride
because men are often too proud to ask for help.
For
example, in preparation for our New Mexico hunt Big Darby and I called over
twenty previous tag holders for help. In
one instance I drove 2 ½ hours to interview a Central Oregon man about his
hunt. I used Google Earth. I called two different state biologists on several
occasions until we were on a first name basis. We arrived four days early in
Mexico and pulled over every early season hunting party we could find in search
of answers. We never stopped begging
(that’s right), never stopped learning in order to gain the knowledge that
ultimately provided a successful hunt.
Sometimes
it takes a lot of begging to do a little bragging!
Men often
wrongly believe that admitting ignorance is associated with weakness. So they
continue to fail while those humble enough to beg for help succeed.
Men fail
in life for the same reasons that they fail in anything else. They wrongly
believe that to admit not having an answer is associated with weakness. So they
continue to fail while those humble enough to ask for help succeed.
Shanna and
I got marriage counseling. We have a strong marriage. I have an accountability
partner through www.xxxchurch.com. I am not addicted to porn. I have men in my
life that I have asked to call me out. I am man of integrity. I spend time with
my sons, take regular time off, go to their sporting events, mandate spiritual
things, and take regular family vacations. I have three great sons.
Ask for
help. Throw down your pride. It is stupid. It is a stumbling block. It is one
of the three big sins mentioned in 1
John 2:15-17.
Humility
means getting small. It means getting over yourself in order to allow others to
help you. Christ became small when he
exchanged his throne for a manger (Philippians
2:3-10).
It takes
humility to get on your knees to “pray.”
It takes humility to lift your eyes to Heaven and “seek (God’s) face.” It takes
humility to admit sin and “turn from
(our) wicked ways.” It takes
humility to admit that we are sick with sin and allow God to “heal (our) land.” It takes humility to “boast” in his name (Psalm
34:2).
Who can
help you seek God? Who can you go to in
humility and ask for help? Remember God
will let us find him if we seek him with all our heart (Jeremiah 29:13).
It takes
humility to brag.
