A friend of mine in Sunday school last week told me about going turkey hunting with his wife and he had a tale reminiscent of what happened to me the other day as recorded in WFTD. They arrived at their hunting location under a large live oak tree long before daylight and waited until the sun appeared, at which time he began calling. Apparently there were no turkeys around and he kept calling and calling to no avail while his wife intermittingly dozed off, no doubt bored silly and wondering why she had embarked on such a crazy mission.
Undeterred he steadfastly kept calling for nearly TWO hours and then noticed a large gobbler come up behind him. He cautiously tapped his wife on the leg and whispered for her to be very still and not to move a muscle that a turkey was right behind her. She immediately turned her head around to look and sleepily blurted out, “WHERE?”
Of course that old Tom disappeared just as quickly as he had appeared and my buddy was left to nothing but his dreams of long beards, sharp curved spurs, and a funny story.
Although my friend was unsuccessful in bagging that old Tom, I used his experience to my advantage to take a dandy turkey of my own yesterday. I decided to go to a brand new location at the last minute and didn’t have a blind setup or even a clear idea of where I would sit. I stumbled around in the darkness and finally sat down at the base of a tree right in the middle of some vines and briars in the utter darkness. There I uncomfortably waited for daylight, all of the time staring around at the blackness around me and wondering if I was sitting in poison ivy, or near a cottonmouth moccasin, rattler, or in a bed of redbugs or ants.
As luck would have it, right at daylight an old Tom gobbled about two hundred yards from me. I purred my answer back and yelped a “Come and get it” call and he immediately let out a gobble. Unfortunately a bunch of hens also started answering his gobble and immediately flew down and went straight to him. I guess they decided to go to him to get it and it sounded as though the entire flock was moving away from me and he was going with them.
I was disgusted with this turn of events and I had a million things to do in my office yesterday and was thinking about just giving up and heading home, but then I thought about my Sunday school buddy calling for TWO solid hours. I decided if my friend could call for two hours and convince one to come in, I could stick it out a while longer myself.
I began calling again only louder this time, and lo and behold in about ten minutes, one answered me to my left about 400 yards away and then another to my right. I thought, “Yikes I have turkeys answering me from everywhere”. I called a few more times and the one on the left answered and was much closer this time; obviously he was coming to me. I didn’t hear from the one on the right, but I called again and the one on the left answered again and this time from perhaps only 100 yards.
Now I’m getting excited and the adrenaline is pumping. I put my slate call down, ready my gun and wait for him to appear. Just then suddenly the one from the right that had only gobbled one time stepped out into the road. I thought, “Oh my goodness, now that one, he is a real beauty”.
KA-BOOM! He had an 11 1/2 inch beard and 1 5/16 inch spurs and beautiful blond colored wings.
I examined him and after admiring my trophy for a few moments I headed down the road to get my truck and suddenly the one that had been coming to me from the left flew up no more than fifty feet from me. I just smiled all the wider.
Okay so what did I learn from this?
Tenaciousness!
In order to get what we want in life we must not give up at the first sign of trouble, but instead stay on course. Had I yielded to my impulse to just call it a day when one did not immediately fly down to me, I would have gone home empty handed and defeated. Instead I stayed the course sitting amongst the briars and vines and crawling creatures and KA-BOOM son…
I’m so glad that I did not just give up and quit.
I am going to name the road leading to my home, “Tenacious”. I know it sounds crazy, but I absolutely LOVE that word. I visited another plantation that had a road named “Tenacious” and I thought it would be a perfect fit for me too. Incidentally my home is named, “Selah” — which means “Stop and rest for a moment and meditate”.
Okay so to go to my house you head down a road named tenacious and when you finally arrive you are invited in to “Stop and rest for a moment and meditate”.
Hmmm… I like it.
We should do the same in this old life, eh? We work hard and stick with the program and when the prize has been secured there will be plenty of time to stop and rest and meditate on our struggle and our reward, (in heaven). Selah…
You know sometimes I really get discouraged. I had someone blast me with a truly hateful e-mail yesterday for a WFTD that I recently wrote. Many things were said that were untrue, unkind, and uncalled for. When you are trying the best you know how to serve the Lord and you get viciously attacked for your effort it is discouraging. But I am reminded today that I must be “tenacious” in my quest to do what I think the Lord wants me to do. Regardless of what others may say or think about me, I care most about what Jesus Christ thinks. The Bible states that He carefully weighs my heart and my motives and I want to score high when He judges me in that respect.
God is the one we should be aiming to please, realizing full well that when effort is made on His behalf and you dare to stick your head above the clover, someone will be putting the crosshairs right between your eyes.
Paul states in the Bible not to sweat it. Others endure the same and much, much worse, so hey, stick to the fight when we’re hardest hit, whatever we do we musn’t quit.
Tenaciousness!
Oh yeah…
1 Pet 4:12
Dear friends, do not be surprised at the painful trial you are suffering, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice that you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed. If you are insulted because of the name of Christ, you are blessed, for the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you.