Devotions For The Outdoorsman: "The Let Down"
I remember the day I bought my pump shotgun like it was yesterday. I was in high school and I was just getting into hunting waterfowl. The gun was used and I found it in a local gun shop. I paid cash for it and I can’t explain how proud of that gun I was. I also remember its maiden voyage into the duck blind. I was joined by fellow high school friend Jared. It was a cold day and we decided to hunt a small farm pond that sat on the south end of a huge peanut field. The field and the pond was covered in ducks. It had all the makings for a great duck hunt. The pond was partially frozen except for a thirty yard hole in the middle of the small pond. In no time we had our limit of ducks. We had tossed the decoys into the middle of the pond and since we didn’t have waders we used a small flat bottom boat to retrieve our birds and our decoys.
After gathering all the decoys and fallen ducks we broke through the ice and with the front of the boat a few feet up on the bank Jared climbed out onto the bank. I stood up in the back of the boat to do the same. That brand new shotgun in hand. Jared didn’t see me stand up and reached down and grabbed the front of the boat to pull it further on the bank. The tug sent me flying backwards into the frozen water. As I was falling all i could think about was that brand new gun. I held it as high as I could. I fully submerged up to my wrist. I was completely soaked but that shotgun was bone dry. Jared had a good laugh and he reminds me about the incident just about every time I see him.
I still use that gun to this day. Since that day I have used it to beat off snakes, it has been a paddle, dragged through mud, and who knows what else. It in over fifteen years of hunting it has only let me down once. I had just slung some steal at a canvasback that came in low over the decoy spread. When I went to pump in another shell something happened. The track in the firing mechanism broke ending my hunt for the day. It was a simple fix for our local gunsmith the next day and I was back after the waterfowl. No matter how good that gun has been I can’t say it has never let me down. In this life, we will be let down. We will be let down by our friends, our family, our spouses, our children, and even our weapons will let us down eventually.
“So this is what the Sovereign Lord says: See I lay a stone in Zion, a tested stone, a precious cornerstone for a sure foundation; the one who relies on it will never be stricken with panic.” Isaiah 28:16
This life is full of let downs. We have one thing in this life that will never let us down. That one thing is the Lord. He is a tested stone and a sure foundation. As much as I want to be those things for my wife, family, and church I can’t. I will let them down. If I put my trust in the things of this world I will be let down and left disappointed. So the challenge for us is what is our trust in? Our career? People get laid off daily. Our friends and family? Death comes everyday. We only have one fail safe in this life, one solid rock and that is Christ. Are you building your life one the cornerstone? If your life is built one anything else it is sitting on nothing but sinking sand. Take a moment to review your life and ask yourself what is your life truly built on.
Author Brad Clay is the host of Final Descent Outdoors and a licensed and ordained minister in Oklahoma. Brad served for 12yrs in vocational ministry before stepping out to do full time outdoor ministry in 2013. Brad resides in Edmond, OK and is married with four children.