As I mentioned earlier my brother and I share hunting stands. I have hunted out of "Corey's stand" a couple times last week. This is the tiny stand hung thirty feet in the air. It also has another awesome trait. It's seat is a dinner plate sized piece of metal mesh.
Have you ever sat still for 3-4 hours on metal mesh? I think I'm going to put it into my house as the seating of choice. It's so comfortable. After about thirty minutes your butt goes completely numb and you cant feel a thing!
It is easily the most uncomfortable seat I've ever had. It used to have padding. It wasn't designed to sit directly on the wire mesh. Where did that pad go? Corey!
There was a benefit though. I was kept constantly alert due to the radiating pain shooting from my rear end and running all through my body. When hunting it's imperative that you stay alert. You may only get a 15 second window to identify a deer, decide whether to shoot, target, and shoot. Out of 3-4 hours you can not miss a 15 second window.
I also hunted at my uncle's. He was gracious enough to let me sit in his stand. This is a ground blind which is an enclosed tiny little building with plexiglass windows that slide open and closed. The chemo makes it very tough for me to deal with cold, so Uncle Jim let me use his insulated blind which has a heater and a padded office chair to sit in. As I sat there with my coat, gloves, and hat stuffed in the corner and my feet propped up in my padded chair, it was harder to stay awake.
I was too comfortable!
Can I say that we live our lives 99-100% of the time in our comfort zones? Unless something like cancer violently rips us out of our comfort zone, we choose to live our lives the way we want, in safe warm, cozy little blinds.
In Mark 10 Jesus tells the story of the rich young ruler. A wealthy young man approaches Jesus and wants to follow Him and be a disciple. Jesus after a series of questions, tells the man he must go sell everything he owns and then come back. It was the one thing the man could not do. He couldn't sacrifice his wealth. That was his comfort zone. For many of us it is ours too.
Jesus demands total radical obedience in order to follow him. Abraham called to leave his home, Apostles all lost their lives for God, David steps out to face a giant, Joseph in prison. The bible is full of examples of radical obedience, outside people's comfort zones.
If you haven't felt uncomfortable doing something serving God lately, you're not being obedient. It might be giving up something you have a hard time, it might be serving and loving unlovable people. If you want to walk on water, you have to get out of the boat.
You can go too far and enter a danger zone. This isn't foolish reckless wanton abandon of all common sense. It is intentionally sacrificing you're own comforts for the Lord.
If you're listening, God is laying something on your heart that will be uncomfortable to do. Are you willing to do it? If so you will be blessed.
FYI - I think I'm done with the hunting stories.
1 comment:
Great post. I like how you tied your ideas together at the end. If you're interested I know The Sportsman's Guide has these 15' Ladder Tree Stand for just around $50. I hope this helps and doesn't come off too much like an add or something haha. I have one and its a fantastic stand for the money and I figured you might be able to benefit from that link. Good luck and keep up the Lord's work!
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