dealing with basic Christianity/by Lloyd Hamill
The Fall Hunt Fall air has a tang to it that no other season can duplicate. It’s a combination of woodsmoke and damp ground and leaves that have been frost-bitten. It’s a man’s smell. And it makes him want to wander through woods and mountains. I grew up in the hills of Idaho. I think fall was always my favorite time of year. Sometimes I’d just walk aimlessly by myself and smell the pungent odors. Sometimes I’d take my gun or rifle and hunt pheasants or deer. I recall the first deer I ever shot. I was 10 and hunting with dad high in the primitive area of the Seven Devils. Dad had bought me m y first rifle the year before and he had coached me well. He had taught me that a rifle is a deadly weapon and that the owner of one had a great responsibility. Long before I got my first rifle I respected a gun so much that I wouldn’t even point a toy pistol at one of my playmates. Now was my first chance at big game. The wind was gentle in our faces. W e were on the shadow side of the mountain and the morning frost still covered the ground. Then it was there. About 200 yards ahead of us a big, four- point buck walked slowly out from under a pinon tree. “ Okay, son.” Dad spoke the words softly and watched as I threw the bolt up and back and forward and finally back down. I swung the gun up, took a deep breath, let it partly out and squeezed gently on the trigger. I hardly heard the deafening roar or felt the bruising kick. The deer was down and dead. And I was a man outwardly and a small, excited boy inwardly. In the 24 years since that fall day in Idaho I’ve often thought about the way dad trained me to use a rifle. If I hadn’t learned to respect the power of a rifle I could have easily destroyed myself. I think it’s the same in spiritual matters. It’ s the unin formed, cock-sure man vvho is in spiritual danger. Like an untrained child with a high powered rifle. You take the man who has never even taken time to read the Bible for himself and you have a dangerous man. He’s probably a splendid chap to know. A good business man. A good husband. A good father. An honest, law-abiding citizen. But uninformed spiritually. Every man owes it to himself to read first-hand what the Bible says is the way of salvation. Jesus Christ said: “ Lam the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.” To know this and to believe it is eternal life.
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