Outdoor Thoughts

Part 4 February 10, 2014
By Doug Carico (Avid Outdoorsman)
There is nothing quite like a father and son day afield. (And I don’t mean to slight mothers and daughters here, so please bear with me!) As they spend more one-on-one time together, it is soon apparent to both where the old adage “The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree” came from. And so it is. Even though there may be some differences, there’s no denying the similarities. And we can each learn a lot about ourselves just by observing the other.
In my previous installment, I concluded by saying that there is much more that we can know about God. That is the topic of this, my last segment of this series and it has to do with the father/son relationship. Just as we are usually proud when our sons look and act like us, so it is with God. Except that with Him, His son is even more like Him than any of us and our sons. In Colossians 1:19 we read: “For God was pleased to have all His fullness dwell in Him (Jesus),” and in 2:9 we are told “For the entire fullness of God’s nature dwells bodily in Christ”. From these quotes, it becomes obvious that if we want to learn more about God, we should look at His son, Jesus. And we can know a lot about Jesus! We know that he came to the earth, not for his own good, but for ours. He became our example, showing us what is really important in life.
If you recall, in my second segment of this series, I ended it saying that we all have a serious internal conflict because we know what we ought to do, but can’t seem to do it, at least not consistently. We have a very real problem in that we have a built in rebellious nature that we just can’t overcome. (BTW, rebellion against God is more commonly known as sin.) And if we continue in our path of rebellion, we will be tried as traitors and the punishment will be eternal. Christ came not only to show us how to live, but to make it possible for us to live as we ought to – in the way God wants us to! He made a way for us to no longer be condemned rebels. He actually took the penalty that we deserve; the usual penalty for traitors – death. But, there is one thing we must do – we must make the choice that we no longer want to be rebels against God. And the opposite of rebellion is submission. So, we must submit ourselves – our lives – to Christ. He will then make it possible, through his Holy Spirit living in us, for us to live this life that we should have lived but couldn’t. But, there is an added bonus!! Not only can we live this life as we ought to, but we will live that good life for eternity!! He has already done the hard part – he willingly suffered for our rebellious actions. Really now, why wouldn’t you? Think about it: the price to continue to be a rebel is way too high!!

Part3 February 3, 2014
By Doug Carico (Avid Outdoorsman)
Paul Harvey is famous for his line “And now for the rest of the story!” In this third installment, I want to begin to tell “the rest of the story” by tying everything together. We’ve looked at the fact that we all have good reason to know that God has created everything and that certain things are right and wrong. A third thing that we all know by intuition is that we are more than just our bodies. We never just think of ourselves as the flesh and bone we see in the mirror. We know there is something more that is totally different from our physical bodies. We know our existence goes beyond this life. Ecclesiastes 3:11 tells us that “…. He has also put eternity in their hearts ……” But, as we all know, when we try to go just on this limited knowledge – and even though we may be “without excuse” as we are told in Romans 1:20 – we still mess up in really serious ways. All we have to do to confirm this is to look at our own lives, at the newspapers, or read our history books.
So, we need to know more; we need to have more knowledge and a better understanding of things. In Hebrews 11:6 we are told that “….anyone who comes to him (God) must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.” After we realize we have good reason to believe God exists, we also realize we need to know about His character; what He is really like. This verse tells us that He wants us to try to get to know more about Him. Why? Simply because He can and will do wonderful things in and for our lives if we will just apply ourselves in getting to know Him.
God has provided us with a lot of information about Himself through the 66 books of the Bible. If you do a close study of it, you will see that it a truly is amazing book. It was written over 2500 years in four different languages by at least 40 different authors. And yet it has a single theme throughout its pages – God wants all of us to know Him and to know what life is supposed to be like!! The Bible is an account of God revealing Himself to us after all of mankind turned from Him and was living as if He didn’t exist. (Sound familiar??) Because of His great love for us, He slowly, by degrees, began to show us what the truth of our situation really was and is: we are hopeless on our own!! Once we understand this fact, we are well on our way to understanding how it’s all supposed to work together. But, without that understanding, we can never really make sense of it all. So, God wants us all to know Him. Is it possible for us to know even more about Him?? The answer is YES!! The HOW of getting to know God even better will be the subject of my fourth installment. Hope you will stay with me for “page 2” as Paul Harvey used to say.

Part 2 January 27, 2014
By Doug Carico (Avid Outdoorsman)
When I’m float fishing the North Fork of the Holston or the Clinch Rivers, I really enjoy seeing the ospreys as they fish. While bow hunting, I once watched a young bobcat catch a chipmunk and proceed to enjoy his lunch. As I watched the osprey and the bobcat I felt a renewed attachment to nature. And even when we see two majestic whitetail bucks fighting, sometime even to the death, we accept this as just the ways of nature. But, when we see something like this committed by person against another person, particularly one we love, or an innocent like a child, we are quickly repelled and sickened. We hear or say things like: “That just ain’t right!!” “How could someone do that!!?” “That is just plain evil!!” or “They should have the same thing done to them!” We automatically feel revolted. We feel a need for justice.
So, what is the difference? It is the simple fact that we are human! We are very different from the animals. We have the ability to think and reflect on our actions. In my last installment, I mentioned that we know we are connected to nature and because of that, we can and should know that we are connected to nature’s Creator. But then we run up against events like the ones I’ve just mentioned! At those times, humans seem so disconnected from what is right and good. The wonderful solitude and comfort of those times afield are shattered.
So, where is the disconnect?? Well, we were all born with a conscience. We automatically know when we do or see something that is wrong. Where does this understanding come from? “God” is the only good answer. He is the only One who could have given us this understanding of right and wrong. We are made Imago Dei meaning in the image of God. But, we all know that we are free to go against our consciences and we all do. In verse 18 of the first chapter of Romans (the same chapter I referred to in the first installment) we are told: “For God’s wrath is revealed from heaven against all godlessness and unrighteousness of people who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth,…” In verses 21 and 22 we are told: “For though they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God or show gratitude. Instead, their thinking became nonsense, and their senseless minds were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools….” So!! It’s not that we don’t know. We do. God has planted it in our consciences. It’s just that we choose to go against what we know. We choose to “suppress” or “hold it down”. We resist the thing that we know is true and right. We lie to ourselves. Why?? We have a part of us that doesn’t want to know. And we all realize that people who no longer listen to their consciences are sick; we call them psychopaths. But we all have that part of us that doesn’t want be told what to do. We see it even in our very young children. We have a rebellious nature that comes to us from the original rebels in the Garden of Eden. We are in a serious internal conflict. We have a very real problem here. Is there a way out? Stay tuned for the next installment.

Part 1 January 20, 2014
By Doug Carico (Avid Outdoorsman)
It’s that perfect morning. You’re on the lake at daybreak and there is a mist rising. The lake is as slick as glass. There are a few fish feeding along the shore line. You can hear ducks somewhere just around the bend. Or, you’re in your tree stand, and the sun is just starting to shine enough so that you can see colors. As a little time passes, the woods begin to glow in the golden hue of the maple trees all around you. The birds begin their serenade. The air begins to barely move the leaves so that they shimmer like golden flakes. You can hear a katydid still making it’s contented sounds. You breathe in a deep breath of the rich smells of the autumn leaves. All is well with the world. You just know this is how it’s supposed to be. You suddenly know there is more than even your senses can take in; it’s literally a sensory overload. You’re experiencing the kind of beauty that can never be duplicated; only enjoyed.
These are the kinds of experiences that keep us all going back for more. These are the experiences that unite us all as hunters and anglers. We know that we are supposed to be a part of this. And we are. We were made to enjoy this wondrous creation. These experiences are evidences of our connection to that creation and to our Creator. God is continuously reaching out to each of us. In this instance He is attempting to reveal Himself to us through His creation, of which we are his prize creation! The Bible tells us in Romans 1:20 that we ought to know a lot about Him just through his creation. In fact, it tells us “His invisible attributes, that is, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen since the creation of the world, being understood through what He has made. As a result, people are without excuse.” That is why we feel so close to God and his creation at moments like I described above. But, God has even more ways for us to get to know Him. Stay tuned for the next installment!