What motivates you?

The other day I turned on the TV in our bedroom to kick back and catch up on my quota of mindless entertainment. Somehow I ended up watching a short movie on the documentary channel.

The movie followed three disabled men, Erik Weihenmayer and Andy Holzer, both are blind and the third, Hugh Herr, is a double-leg amputee. The movie is called Mountains without Barriers. I would recommend watching it, if you get the chance.

When I first started watching, they were focusing on Hugh. Hugh was a rock climber who had both of his legs amputated. Back in 1982 he was in New Hampshire climbing Mt. Washington in the winter. And after climbing a 1000 foot ice face, a huge storm hit and he and his climbing partner became disoriented in the white out conditions near the summit.

To make a long story short, a day outing turned into four days. Temperatures reached 20-degrees below zero. They didn't have a sleeping bag or a tent, and no food. To survive they dug into the snow, and then hugged each other to stay warm. Though they both survived, Hugh got frost bite on his lower legs, and after two months in the hospital the doctors amputated them just below the knee.

Today, he not only walks around on artificial legs but he still does technical rock climbing and mountaineering. Watching as a double amputee and two blind men summit one of the three freestanding limestone towers known as the Tre Cime di Lavaredo in Italy, made me really stop and think about my own life.

It would have been so easy for them to not even try or to even quit and give up when the going got tough. Who would have blamed them? They have “limitations” that the majority of us don’t nor won’t experience. But instead of accepting their life as limited and living by the excuse “I can’t” they try anyway and at times succeed.

But yet, I find myself making excuses why I can’t do things that really aren’t that great of a struggle or sacrifice for me. I realize that the majority of the time it is simply because I am comfortable. It is too hot or too cold, too early or to late or too busy or I just don’t want too right now, maybe later. I have found that “later” never really happens.
The real difference between me and those three guys has nothing to do with being able bodied or disabled but being motivated.

What motivates you? I will be honest, for me, right now; it is something I am in the process of redeveloping. But I do know how I have to begin…just taking that first step.

1 Corinthians 9:24-27
24Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. 25Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. 26Therefore I do not run like a man running aimlessly; I do not fight like a man beating the air. 27No, I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others; I myself will not be disqualified for the prize.

Backpack...backpack

I shot my first deer almost 20 years ago. Over the years my hunting has changed a lot, from having to borrow a rifle to actually owning my own, from using a shotgun in Illinois to hunting with a bow when we moved back to Kansas. I have hunted out of tree stands, than have been in the same tree for decades to stalking deer on the ground. Probably the biggest change I have made is what I do with all my hunting stuff.

For years I loaded my pockets with everything I thought I needed, bullets, pen, license and tag, even extra gloves and a hat. There were times when I am sure I looked like the stay puff marshmallow man. The pockets of my coat and pants were stuffed as full as they could be. Then every time I got home everything had to be unloaded. Every time I left to go hunt, I had to load everything back up. I was always afraid I would forget something important, like bullets. Let’s not talk about that though.

A couple years ago, I was in Wal-Mart and saw the fix for my dilemma…a camouflage backpack. I think it was like $10. The price was right, so I bought it. I started putting all my “stuff” in it.
Having that backpack was great. Now I could throw my binoculars in it, my range finder, the release for my bow, my knife, spare gloves and hat, calls, scents, candy, flashlight and spare batteries and of course my cell phone in it and know where it was at all times. The problem is, you get what you pay for, and that first backpack wore out pretty quickly. The strap broke one day while I was wearing it. I bought another one, loaded it up and wore it out in just one season as well.

So this year I saved my pennies and nickels. We went to Cabela’s and I bought a really nice hunting backpack. It is made especially for bow hunters. It has a compartment for my range finder, a place for my release, a pocket for my face mask, and even a place to strap my quiver on the side. It is out of the way but still accessible.

When I got home, I began transferring all the stuff from the old pack into the new one. I was quickly amazed at all the junk I had accumulated. Having a spare pair of gloves is one thing, but I had a pair of heavy gloves, mittens, neoprene gloves, camouflage jersey gloves and three brown jersey gloves.

I also found my stocking cap, a full face mask, and a fleece neck gaiter. There were also several ink pens, most of which did not work. Some scrap pieces of paper and a hand full of empty candy wrappers. On one hand it was kind of like a treasure hunt. I found some things I had been missing. On the other hand, I have been hauling around a bunch of junk I did not need. Everyone knows excess weight just holds you back.

For some reason this verse popped into my mind.

Hebrews 12:1 says Therefore; since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily hinders our progress. And let us run with endurance the race that God has set before us.

Have you taken the time to examine your life to see if there is excess junk that keeps you from living the way God wants you too? Maybe it is a habit, or bitterness, or unforgiveness or even busyness. Sometimes we get so used to it being there, we think it is a normal and necessary part of our life. When in reality, it’s just excess weight that holds us back from living the life God meant for us to live.

So empty your “backpack” through prayer. Ask God to go through the contents and show you what needs to go. Then get rid of it.

Another way to look at it.

This comic was sent to me by a young lady in our church after I preached the "Oh! Deer!" sermon.

Bad Luck and Bucks

Last week, a massive buck was killed only a few miles from where I hunt. Rumors are flying about this deer. One of which is that it could break the Kansas state record. I was talking to a couple guys at church about it and one of them mentioned that there is a lot of luck that goes into killing a big deer. This story is no exception. From what I have heard, the guy who killed it actually fell asleep in his deer stand and when he woke up from his nap there stood this huge deer feeding not far from where he sat. I think that’s called being in the right place at the right time.
I have heard of other stories like this, as well. Like a few years ago in Nebraska. A hunter bought his gun, tag and deer stand the night before opening day. The next morning he put his stand up on property he never hunted before. And loaded a gun he had never shot before. Before the morning was over, he then killed a monster buck.
Luck and chance play a huge part in deer hunting. Of course so does bad luck. There is nothing like sitting there watching a decent buck work its way toward your stand. Knowing that if it just moves another 5 yards it will be within your “range.” Only to have the deer stop, turn around and walk away. Or having a deer stop behind a tree or your arrow hit a branch or the site on your bow is broken and you don’t know it until you let loose an arrow, which was not even close.
Then there is that windy day, when I sat on the ground in a homemade blind of burlap and electric fence posts. I took my quiver off my bow and hung it on one of the posts holding up my blind. Two does came out on the field less than 10 yards from me. They didn’t even know I was there. Before I could even raise my bow, the wind blew my quiver causing it to sway back and forth like a flag in the wind. That in turn caused the does to high tail it to the other end of the field. Or there is the night I sat on the side of this field and watched the deer feed 300 yards away. The next night I moved down closer to where they had come out only to see them, this time, a few yards from where I sat the night before.
There is more to deer hunting than just luck. I know from personal experience that the majority of deer that are killed every year is because the hunter spent hours preparing for the hunt. Days are spent scouting, glassing, and practicing at the range. The hunters I know spend enormous amounts of time and energy making sure everything is ready for the big day. Sometimes that pays off. Other times we go home empty handed. This is why it is called hunting not killing. Deer hunting is a combination of being prepared, luck and bad luck. Of course, personally, if it wasn’t for bad luck, I’d have no luck.
There is one area of our life that luck doesn’t play a part. Luck is not involved in our spiritual growth. If we choose to leave our spiritual growth to luck, we won’t grow.
2 Peter 3:18
But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and savior Jesus Christ.

That word “grow” used here actually means to “cause to grow”. The emphasis here is on us doing certain things that will result in us developing our lives spiritually.
So the question is, what are you doing right now spiritually that is helping you grow spiritually? And on the other side of that, what else do you need to do that will help you continue to grow?

Getting Found!

Ok, so last couple of posts have been pretty long. I apologize for that. But we are covering a pretty big subject. And really, we barely scratched the surface of what is available. We have been looking at the Bible, God’s Word, and the perfect road map for our life.

We took some good advice from survival expert Bear Grylls and applied it to the Bible. His advice is that when you get lost 1. Get your bearings. 2. Make a plan. 3. Get moving.
We spent a couple weeks looking at getting our bearings. We can know that the Bible is accurate, valuable and that it is relevant to our lives today. But just knowing that won’t make a difference. Nor will it help us find our way.

Bear says after you get your bearings, after figuring out the lay of the land, which way north is, where there might be roads or people…then you need to make a plan.
Conventional wisdom says if you get lost stay put. You will be easier to be found if you’re not roaming around in the woods. But even if you stay put, you still have to make a plan. What do you need to do to be found? What do you need to do to survive?

Where will you get water? We can survive without food for a couple weeks but only a few days without water. If it is cold weather, how will you stay warm and dry? Will you build a shelter? Can you build a fire? What about if it’s hot, what will you do to keep out of the sun? What will you do to keep your body temperature down?

When it comes to reading the Bible for all its worth we need a plan. I know a lot of people whose plan could be called the “flop and plop” plan. They flop open their Bible and plop down their finger and wherever it lands they read. My guess is that most of the time they don’t get much out of it.

I believe in a systematic approach to reading the Bible. Though the Bible is made up of separate books written by different people, it is unified in its message. I have heard people say, “I don’t read the Old Testament, because it’s just too hard to understand.” But to really understand the New Testament you have to have knowledge of the Old Testament. It all fits together. It all goes hand in hand.

There are several good reading plans available. It is easy to go on the internet and just Google “Bible reading plan” and you will find everything from a “one year through the New Testament” to a “3 years through the entire Bible”.

If you’re just starting out, the best thing to do is to start simple. One of my favorite reading plans to share with people who are just getting their feet wet in reading the Bible is the Proverbs reading plan. The book of Proverbs has 31 chapters. Seven of the 12 months in a year have 31 days. Pretty cool, huh? One chapter a day for a month is a great way to start.
In a survival situation, there are things you have to get done first. You don’t wait until dark to gather firewood or build a shelter. You don’t wait till you’re thirsty to drink. Procrastination is the biggest enemy to survival. You make a plan, then you get moving.
Procrastination is the biggest enemy of reading the Bible. If you wait until you have time it will never happen. Make a plan, make the time and get started. The best time to start is now. No more excuses.

The most important thing to remember is, it is not the amount you read but what you remember. Don’t just go through the motions of reading the Bible just so you can check it off. When you read, take your time and allow what you have read from the Bible to go through you. Put it into practice in your life.

James 1:22
Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.

Survival experts tell us the difference between those who get lost and survive and those who don’t is actually mental. Those who survive don’t give up. Same applies to our Bible reading. It is very easy to get busy, to become sidetracked, or get behind and then just to quit.
If you make the commitment to stick with it, I will guarantee you that this is one habit that will completely change your life.

S.O.S. part 2

Getting lost can be scary. Anyone who has been lost can testify to that fact. But if you keep your wits about you, you can be found. Survival expert, Bear Grylls, gives three pieces of advice to make it safely back to civilization. 1. Get your bearings. 2. Make a plan. 3. Get moving.

Last week we started to look at how these three actions apply to the Bible. We started talking about getting our bearings, understanding why we can trust that the Bible is best road map for our life. Last week we looked at the uniqueness of the Bible. We looked at some basic facts about it.

Today we will look at the external and internal evidence for the reliability and accuracy of the Bible being God’s very word to mankind. Please know that we are barely scratching the surface of this topic. If you would like more information please feel free to contact me.

Well, let’s look at some external evidence for the reliability of the bible.

One of the ways we look to see the accuracy of an ancient text is to look at two different things. One is the date when it was written compared to the date of the earliest known manuscript. The fewer years between the 2 can tell us how accurate it is.

Second thing we look at is the number of manuscripts there are present today. The more there are, the more you can compare to see if there are any discrepancies.

One of the best-known books, one that is considered to be the most accurate by scholars is Homer’s “Iliad”. It was written in 900 b.c., the earliest manuscript is dated around 400 b.c. That is a time span of 500 years. There are also 643 known copies of the original. That’s pretty impressive for a book that was written almost 3000 years ago. Scholars believe it is a very accurate piece of ancient literature.

So what about the Bible, how does it compare? If the “Iliad” is the “golden child” of ancient texts, how does the Bible compare?

We already established that the Old Testament has been the same for thousands of years. No one argues about it. It’s the New Testament that draws the most fire. Here are the numbers. The New Testament was written between 40 and 100 a.d. The earliest copy that has been found dates to 125 a.d. That is only 25 years after the original was written.

What about the number of copies? If there is only one, then we could still discredit the Bible’s accuracy. 25 years is still long enough for mistakes and inaccuracies to be present. How many copies do we have? Well over 24,000 different manuscripts are known to exist. Those are just the ones written in the original language of the New Testament. We also have 15,000 other copies of the scriptures that were translated into different languages starting around 150 a.d.

The Iliad is considered fairly accurate. Only about 5% is considered to be inaccurate. If you were to read the Iliad, which I tried one summer and quit on page 2, if you were to read it you could be positive that 95% of it is still just like Homer wrote it 3000 years ago. When scholars looked through all the manuscripts for the New Testament, only ½ of one percent (0.5%) is called into question. So as we read our Bibles we can be sure that 99.5% is exactly like the original author wrote it.

What 0.5% boils down to, is about 400 words. The vast majority of which are differences in spelling. None of which have any negative effect on the message of the Bible.

There is more we could look at, but because of time probably need to move on. But from what we have looked at so far, we can say without a shadow of a doubt based on external evidence that the reliability of our bibles is greater than any other ancient text. That what we hold in our hands today is essentially the same as what was written almost 2000 years ago.

What about the Bible itself, what does it say? Listed here are several verses to look up and read. Luke 1:1-3; 2 Peter 1:16; 1 John 1:3; John 19:35

All these verses have one thing in common; they are the eyewitness reports of those who were there. The majority of the New Testament was written while the people who witnessed the events were still living. It would have been very easy to say, “No, that didn’t happen. I was there when that took place, that’s not how it went down”. Or the opposite could have happened. Those who heard it would say, “Yes, I was there, it took place just like that.”

Not only were the New Testament writers reporting what they saw and heard but they were also putting out a challenge to those who were opposed to them. They were in fact saying, “You were there to; if this isn’t true, then what is the truth?”

When the writers of the New Testament were confronted by those who did not believe what they were saying they responded by saying, “you don’t have to just take our word, but all the others who witnessed it as well. Even some of you doubters saw what took place. If you don’t want to believe us, then listen to what your own people are saying.”

Not only was it written by eyewitnesses who saw what was happening when it was happening. The Bible itself claims to be the very words of God. More than 3800 times authors introduce a passage or topic by saying, “thus says the Lord” or “the Lord spoke.”

We have just scratched the surface of the reliability and accuracy of the bible. The external and internal witness is clear, the Bible claims that scripture comes from God and is accurate, reliable and useful for our lives.

2 Timothy 3:16-17
16All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, 17so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.

S.O.S.

Where is Bear Grylls when you need him?

Inn the post before, I told you about the time I made the dumb choice to continue running through the Colorado wilds even after I realized I had missed the trail? I thought I knew where I was going but quickly found out, I was lost.

Honestly, I don’t mind being lost. It has happened to me on several occasions. There are times when being lost appeals to me. Playing hide and seek, or needing a break from work are a couple good reasons to get lost for a little while.

Most of the time, I get lost because of a choice I made, the choice to go my own way instead of following the established trail. We have this plaque in our house it says… “Don’t go where the path may lead, go where there is no path and leave a trail.” That sounds pretty pithy, doesn’t it? It really sounds cool, doesn’t it? Makes it seem like we are very adventuresome. Makes it sound like I am right up there with Daniel Boone, Lewis and Clark, Zebulon Pike or John Muir.
Actually, it’s pretty dumb. Our intention should never be to get lost on purpose. Not only does it cause ourselves to be placed in harm’s way, it causes our family unnecessary grief. The look on my dad’s face when I got found was enough for me to always stick to the trails. Best way to keep from getting lost is to follow the map.

Sometimes we get lost on accident. Not a choice we make just happens. I love watching the discovery channel. A couple of my favorite shows, besides “Mythbusters”, are “Survivorman” and “Man verses Wild”. I won’t pretend I could do what those two guys do. It would be fun to try, except for some of the things they eat and of course Bear’s habit of drinking his urine. No thanks.

I know Bear Grylls has faced some harsh criticism for being a faker. Honestly, he should. They should have been upfront with it all the time…it’s a TV show not real life. There are camera crews, sound men, light crews and support people and someone is standing by to make sure nothing really happens to him. It’s pretend but the advice he gives is good advice. His intention is that hopefully, you won’t have to use it but if you do you can survive being lost.
Here is his advice if you ever get lost. Three things to remember… 1. Get your bearings. 2. Make a plan 3. Get moving.

I am going to break those three down and talk about how they apply to the Bible, the ultimate road map of life.

We may think we know where we are going or how to live our life right, but if not careful we will end up getting lost. That is why God has given us his word, the Bible. The Bible is God’s road map for our lives.

Of course there are some people who have a problem with that. There are those who think it is a book written thousands of years ago and has no value for today. That couldn’t be further from the truth.

If we, whether we believe the Bible is God’s Word or have accepted Jesus as our personal leader and forgiver of our life or not, if we would live by the principles found in the Bible, or just by Jesus’ teachings, the world would be a much better place. We would not have to lock the doors to our house. We could leave the keys in the car. We would not have to worry about our kids getting kidnapped. We wouldn’t have to fear that our life savings would go down the drain because of other people’s greed. There would be no war, no hate, and no fear of terrorist attacks. The world would be a better place if we would all just live according to the teachings of the Bible.

It can free us from our past, prepare us for the future and guide us in the present, but only if we allow it to be part of our life. It can keep us from getting lost if we do what it says.

When Bear says, “get your bearings” he means, go to high ground or climb a tree and see if you can figure out the lay of the land. Try to determine which direction is north and which way would be the best way to get back to civilization. Concerning the Bible, it’s kind of the same way, before we can use it for the greatest benefit in our life, we need to understand it. We need to see the bigger picture. We need to understand its history so we can see its value for today and tomorrow. So let’s get our bearings.

The Bible is a very unique book. This week I want to share with you some basic facts that show its uniqueness. Next week we are going to jump into the evidence that is proof that the Bible is the Word of God.

Our Bible was written over a time period of 1500 years, by 40 different authors, kings, peasants, philosophers, fisherman, poets, scholars, shepherds, doctors and rabbis. Parts of it were written in the wilderness, in dungeons, on hillsides, in a palace, and even on a military campaign. It was written at different times, in times of war and in times of peace.

The writings took place on 3 different continents, Asia, Africa and Europe. It was written in three different languages, Hebrew, Greek and Aramaic.

The Bible is divided into two sections…the Old Testament and the New Testament. The Old Testament is the history of and the teaching for the Israelite people. The books that it contains are the very same books the Israelites have used for thousands of years. Jesus even used it while he was on earth.

There are many lessons we can learn from the Old Testament. But the primary purpose of the Old Testament is to tell of the coming of Jesus. Everything about it points to Messiah that would come to save mankind.

The New Testament contains the gospels, story of Jesus life, his teachings, death and resurrection. It also contains the history and teaching of the first church and also one book of prophecy.

The Bible covers hundreds of different topics but agrees in complete harmony. It is read by more people and published in more languages than any other book in history. It has changed history more than any other book ever written.

Psalms 119:89
Your word, O Lord, is eternal; it stands firm in the heavens.