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God in Every Fiber: Lessons from Nature and Buckskin

It’s been said that embellishing the truth is one of my superhero traits. My wife says about my storytelling that “He flat out lies”! A good friend of mine, who knows me well, knows that I must show a picture to prove the truth of anything I say in private or public.

So, in three weeks, you can follow along on a hunting adventure. No need to worry about my stretching the truth or whether I’m flat out lying. An experienced cameraman is tagging along with me to record what happens on this wilderness excursion. It will be a blast. Frankly, knowing I’ll have a video to confirm my experiences is a relief. Trying to explain the unbelievable events that tend to follow me can be as exhausting as the 5-mile climbs occurring on this hunt.

So, in three weeks, the vast, majestic mountains of Colorado are my destination for a muzzleloader elk hunt. The year 1825 meets 2025! I’m using my old traditional muzzleloader rifle. Yep, they used a Hawken 50 caliber, just like mine, 200 years ago!

I’ll be wearing my buckskin coat I tanned from deerskins tanned the way the Native Americans did, 200 years ago! It’s called brain tanning. The brains of the animal contain enough oil to tan the hide, turning it into clothing. Lots of time, labor, and stretching, pulling, and softening to turn a skin into clothing that will last for years. I’ll share more on a future blog.

My buckskin coat. That truly is what connects the two years 2025 and 1825. It’s actually a great functioning piece of clothing to wear into the mountains. It is warm and soft, like a flannel jacket. But what if it gets wet, or snowed on, or I have to crawl over sharp rocks or plow through thick jagged limbs? These are all elements that must be withstood to bring success to my adventure. The buckskin can handle it.

The buckskin coat goes through several steps to change from raw animal skin to a finished piece of clothing. One of the important steps to making buckskin able to withstand the elements of the outdoors is to “smoke” it.

Smoking the buckskin involves building a fire that produces lots and lots of smoke, but very little heat. The smoke infiltrates every fiber of the skin. Here’s how best to describe this process.

The smoke molecules attach to the fibers of the buckskin. It exists within every single fiber. Each fiber now becomes waterproof from the protection of the smoke. When wearing the buckskin, if it rains or snows, the clothing will get wet.

Here’s the amazing part. As it dries, it goes back to its soft, pliable, clothlike texture. If someone hadn’t smoked it and completely covered all the fibers, the buckskin would become hard and brittle. Just like your dog’s rawhide chew toy.

Apply this important step to your Christian journey today. You have to “smoke” the buckskin to make it waterproof. Position the skin above the fire, avoiding fire yet within smoke. The longer you leave it in the smoke, the darker it becomes. Why smoke? The smoke particles cling to every fiber of the buckskin, both inside and out. This “clinging to every fiber” allows the buckskin to remain soft, even when it gets wet. If the smoke is not in every fiber, then when the coat gets wet, it will become hard as rawhide (you know, like your dog’s chewbones).

Is God in every fiber of your being? Otherwise, contact with this world we live in will produce a hardened self. Things of this world rob you of God’s Love. Your hardened heart robs you of the chance to share God’s Love with others. Let God permeate your entire being, much like smoked buckskin. He wants to be in every part of your life.

I don’t want to have a hardened heart. How can we prevent this?

Mark 12:30    Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.

Jesus must be in every “fiber of our being” for us to keep from turning hard-hearted.

Let your desire for Him to be in every part of your life become the most important step in this journey. His assistance is required. Ask Him, see what happens!!

What does the world “throw” at you to make you hard-hearted? What makes it difficult to let God in every fiber of your being? Leave a comment.

See Ya! Dan Ainsworth

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Finding God in the Flames: Spiritual Reflections on Fire

What is it about a fire? We stare at the dancing flames. Whether an inviting warmth yielding campfire, a crackling fireplace, or even just a cozy, comforting candle, the dancing of the flame draws and invites our eyes to share in its existence. We staringly gaze without thinking why.

You ladies find comfort in the small flame. The candlelight dinner, with 3 or 4 candles, sets an ambience nowhere to be seen in a fast-food joint. A hot bath with scented candles takes your mind (and your thoughts), on a journey somewhere peaceful and calm. An ordinary match transforms the candle into a light giving, mood changing instrument used to induce feelings and comfort that are anything but ordinary. Though it’s just for a fleeting moment’s escape from your busy world, the flame invites you to join in. I’m picking up a smell of the vanilla cinnamon aroma.

Men, we like enormous fires. Bar-B-Que fires. Fires that will cook, burn, smoke, and grill. These are a start. Give us a chance. We’ll set the woods on fire, burn trash piles, or even set abandoned buildings ablaze.

That grill will operate fine at a temperature of 400 degrees. Men need grills offering more than basic operation. We want the grill to elevate! C’mon BBQ grill! Produce enough smoke so the entire universe can see and be jealous. Heat that joker up to 650 degrees! Then we can pour water on it just to see the steam dash away. A bonfire elevates the concept of a men’s gathering. Put a match or lighter in our hands, it’s gonna be lit!

If you want to watch our human nature at work, watch when a man creates/builds his fire. Whether it’s in the fireplace, or a campfire, or BBQ, he takes pride in how it’s started. He wants to impress everyone (especially himself). It has to be just right.

Ladies, if you want to stir up something (and I don’t mean the ashes), just go poking and meddling in HIS fire. Tell him he’s not doing it right. Uh Oh! Sparks will soon fly from more than just the actual fire!

With the fire burning, the arguments over its construction forgotten, we gaze. The dancing of the flames catches our eye. Heat from the glowing coals warms us. The smell of an actual fire and hearing the crackling and popping sounds gives our senses a way to connect with this flame. We connect in some primitive way with this fire. Our senses of sight, hearing, touch, and smell are in high gear. Shucks, sometimes we even taste the smoke from the fire. Perhaps the coffee’s aroma and flavor, or perhaps the gooey s’mores roasting over the fire, captivate us. We watch and, without even noticing, our eyes go into a trance. We stare.

One thing I’ve noticed also is how a fire brings out honest and REAL communication between people. Wish open conversation with friends? Build a fire. Such a simple task, yet it creates a desire from deep within to be real. Maybe Congress ought to have campfire meetings, instead of committee meetings.

On your spiritual journey, maybe you can stop for a moment. Take a break from everyday life. Be still, and maybe even stare.

Our scripture verse for today. Hebrews 12:29 For our God is a consuming fire.

We can use the fireplace example of fire to help us see God as the consuming fire. God is a God of unending Love, mercy, and forgiveness. He also is a jealous God (He doesn’t want you to be anywhere else, only with Him). He is a just and righteous. His Holiness is pure. His Fire will consume the wicked and sin itself. He does the “dirty work”. We just follow/stare. We focus on God’s flames of love and mercy.

God loves us. We need to show our love to Him by avoiding sin. That same fire that comforts us can also burn us if we don’t give it respect. I’d rather receive God’s comfort and warmth than his wrath.

So ask God to help you with the sin that comes between you and Him. Throw another log on the fire. Let that log represent the sins that come between you and God. That log represents the things in life that steal our joy. Giving God our ‘sins’, our problems work better than being burdened with carrying them around with us all day long. Let the sin burn; don’t join it.

Now stoke up the fire a bit. Throw another hickory log on the fire. Share this warmth and comfort with others.

How is a fire comforting to you? Tell me your thoughts. Share this with others.

See Ya!

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Overcoming Flinching in Your Faith Journey

I find myself in a quagmire. (always wanted to use that word. It means an area of soft, wet ground that you sink into if you try to walk on it. It also means a difficult and dangerous situation.) Quagmire. I know what to do, yet I do what I don’t want to do.

My goal, I know, is to hit the bullseye 50 yards away. I know how my old timer 50 caliber muzzleloader shoots. Even though it lacks the superior firepower of modern day guns, its accuracy of placing a lead bullet into the target 50 yards away is exceptional. The sound of a “pop” comes when the rabbit ear hammer hits the percussion cap. A thunderous “BOOM” followed this as the spark from the percussion cap ignites the 90 grains of black powder. The explosion inside the heavy metal gun barrel propels the bullet to its intended target (along with a sizable cloud of smoke).

 I know I only need to aim the gun, holding steady on the target so the bullet hits its mark. I know to hold steady. I know I should gently squeeze, and not harshly pull, the trigger to preserve the accuracy of my aim. I know what I want to do for a bullseye.

I know what I want to do, yet I do what I don’t want to do. I FLINCH!

 Watch this 10 second video of me flinching as the gun fires, (Then, come back to read my excuse for why I flinch). I am an experienced black powder hunter, yet I flinch. I know not to do it, yet I do it! It causes me to miss.

My excuse?…… Something inside of me senses the percussion cap explode right in my face a split second before the gun bellows out a bullet headed for the target. The fear of the gun’s recoil/the kick, the loud noise, even the fear of me missing, causes me to flinch. My profound confession to all of you is this. The fear of missing the shot makes me miss!

Paul writes in Romans 7 that he knows to do the right thing, but still continues to do the wrong. That’s got to be a miserable place to be. I’m there, you’ve been there. Even Paul himself tells us he’s been there. He’s miserable.

Paul writes, “So you see how it is: my new life tells me to do right, but the old nature that is still inside me says to do wrong. Oh, what a terrible predicament I am in!” Romans 7:23-25. TLB

But here’s the good news! Keep reading the scripture from Paul. Romans 7 continued says, “Who will free me from my slavery to this deadly lower nature? Thank God! It has been done by Jesus Christ our Lord. He has set me free.”

How do you “flinch” in your Christian walk? Let me share a few examples: Why pray? It won’t do any good. (That’s a flinch.)

 I’m seeking God’s will for my life, but I choose instead to, (flinch)

 I’m as much afraid, (flinch) of God answering my prayer, as I am that He won’t hear my prayer (flinch).

  See? If you and I can be honest, we have way too much fear/doubt/unbelief (flinching) in our relationship with Christ. Our fear/doubt/unbelief (flinching) actually causes us to miss out on God’s promises!

Our heavenly Father has His Power and His Love that He promises to give us. We flinch at every encounter we have with Him. What is so amazing about this awesome God with His power is that He gives to each of us. He doesn’t count our misses. We shouldn’t either. It is because of Him, not me. He grows me day by day to focus on Him (the bullseye) and not on all the distractions (fears, doubts, unbelief, the FLINCHING)

He will even help with your flinching. Just pray to Him!

Lord, help me use this power for Your Glory. And Lord, help me with my fears, doubts, unbeliefs (flinching). I want to be solid. Bullseye!

muzzloadershot

What makes you flinch?  Share with me and others.  Leave a comment below.