I took the pastor of a very large mega church in Orlando turkey hunting and within minutes after that golden red sun stuck its head up I called a big one up for him. The turkey stood about 20 yards away with his head sticking straight up and his long beard hanging down and I watched as the pastor took careful aim and squeezed the trigger. The turkey turned, took a step, and was airborne and flew unscathed several hundred feet to the safety of the tree line on the other side of the field.
I looked at the preacher and he looked at me and he said, “I missed”.
“Yep.”
“I don’t know what happened; I think maybe I shot over him.”
“Yep.”
He was very disappointed and frustrated. As we drove back to the resort we passed a small hunting plot. I said, “Did you ever hear of Governor Lawton Chiles?”
He said, “Yes, of course”.
I said the former landowner here told me that the Governor hunted that plot right over there and he missed a turkey one morning. Unfortunately the very next morning he was found dead in his exercise room. We subsequently named it the Governor’s plot in his honor. Now I want you to know that if you die tonight I’m gonna name the plot we hunted this morning the ‘Pastor’s plot’”.
He looked mortified, but sheepishly stammered, “Well that would be a nice gesture”.
The next day I texted him to see if he was still alive and well. He texted me back and said that he was indeed alive and feeling well and in fact at that very moment he was enjoying a salad with Honey Lake jalapeno-honey salad dressing that he’d purchased during his visit to the resort.
Whew! Glad he made it… It remains the “Rifle Range” plot.
The next day I took a fellow from Tampa hunting. Now it is important; no VITAL, that one must remain completely motionless when turkey hunting. They have eyes like binoculars and can see movement of any kind and when they do, they are gone like the wind. I’ve seen them detect me blinking my eye after I tried as hard as I could not to blink. One’s gun must be held at the ready so when an old gobbler walks within range it can be immediately blasted in one swift motion.
I called a big gobbler up to within fifteen yards of my Tampa client. I thought to myself, “Get the smoker going and call all the kids to the table mama, this old Tom is gonna bite the dust”. Suddenly I saw my client lean his shotgun up against a tree and remove his backpack.
Huh?
The big gobbler and his harem vamoosed.
My hunter, who was a doctor, looked sheepishly at me and told me he thought the pack might hamper his aim.
I remarked, “Uh huh, well we don’t have to worry about that now doc.”
So here we have a thriving pastor of one of the largest and most effective congregations in the United States and a highly acclaimed doctor, (who was president of his fraternity no less), and who graduated at the very top of his class and both had a very bad day.
It happens.
This weekend it rained torrents, so you can imagine my surprise when I looked in my back yard and saw a bald eagle trying to fly through the rain. He flapped his giant wings furiously and seemed to lose altitude in the driving deluge as he swung out over Honey Lake looking for a fish to scoop up. Yikes, the torrential downpour seemed to drive him almost into the water and I thought he would end up in the lake for sure, but somehow he regained enough altitude to land in a tree on the shoreline. He shook off like a big old wet dog and let me tell you he didn’t look very majestic or dignified or like our revered national bird. As I viewed him through my binoculars he looked more like a disheveled wet mop.
Hmmm…This just goes to show you that no matter how successful or highly esteemed someone or something might be, everyone has a bad day now and then. Though we might try to soar like an eagle, we will have our bad days. Expect them and quit whining about God picking on poor little ol’ you.
This week brings us ever closer to Easter Sunday. It is my favorite day of the year. We should remember that Jesus had a bad couple of very bad days Himself prior to the holy Easter morning that He arose. He did indeed rise up from the depths of hell and soar like a, (dry), eagle all of the way to heaven and thus enabled us to do likewise. Selah! Think about that the next time you spiral down the toilet heading for the sewer.
I hope you will bring your family to the Easter service at Honey Lake Church and Worldwide Ministry this coming Sunday, (or somewhere), and worship Jesus and spend some fun time with your family and friends.
Let’s hope for a great day and perfect weather for that blessed day. Don’t get too bent out of shape if things don’t work out exactly as planned. Those of us who put our faith and trust in the Lord will eventually all soar like eagles and shoot straight and there will be no more valleys or missed turkeys. Cha cha cha…
Isaiah 53:2:
He grew up before him like a tender shoot,
and like a root out of dry ground.
He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to Him,
nothing in his appearance that we should desire Him.
He was despised and rejected by men,
a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering.
Like One from whom men hide their faces
he was despised, and we esteemed him not.
Surely He took up our infirmities
and carried our sorrows,
yet we considered him stricken by God,
smitten by Him, and afflicted.
But He was pierced for our transgressions,
He was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was upon Him,
and by His wounds we are healed.
He suffered greatly before his humiliating death.