men
A for-men-only feature dealing with basic Christianity/by Lloyd Hamill HERITAGE 'of the wilderness
weasel tracks. Weasels have a blood-thirsty dis position teamed up with courage and cleverness. They’re not much bigger around than a broom handle and about 10 inches long, counting the tail. I suppose they weigh about eight ounces. But they have no trouble at all killing a full grown chicken. Like the snowshoe rabbit, weasels turn from their summer brown to white in the winter at higher elevations. Only the tip of their tail doesn’t change. It remains a jet black. I set out a string of traps, baiting them with bits of bloody meat. Day after day I’d visit my traps. Often the meat would be gone but the traps would always be empty. Finally I did trap one. I skinned it and let the pelt dry on a stretcher. Since weasel pelts are marketed as ermine I was anxious to cash in on my winter’s trapping. I mailed the beautiful little fur to Montgomery Ward in Portland, Ore. The next tractor in brought back my check. It was for 20 cents. It was during these years in the back country of Idaho that most of my present philosophy of life was worked out. O f course most of us today never get a chance for such a long period of leisure. But every man owes it to himself to experience a time in the wilderness. Maybe your wilderness will be a few minutes each day by yourself in your home or office. Maybe it will be in church next Sunday. It really doesn’t matter. What does matter is what you do with these wilderness minutes. A good many men through out history have used these minutes to come into a right relationship with God. Deep underneath our purposeful activity there is a frightening emptiness. A man needs God in his life if life is to have any genuine meaning. The big step is to first realize the need. The next step is to do something about the need. The Bible says that no man can come to God except through Jesus Christ. And Jesus Christ has assurred us that, " I will certainly not cast out anyone who comes to Me.” And herein lies the full and complete answer to man’s search for God. END' 9
f IThen a man has a yen to leave the crowds behind ** and head for the wide open spaces he has good precedent. Men over the centuries have found the solitude of the wilderness a magnificent thing. Take biblical history for example. Moses and David and Paul found the wilderness to their liking. And our Saviour Himself is recorded as often 'evading the crowds and seeking out the wilderness. There’s something about uncrowded country that appeals to men. In my own life the wilderness has left its silent brand. And it’s a brand that I doubt will ever disappear. I grew up in a gold mining camp in Idaho in the thirties. It was rugged country. W e were in a 6,5 00 foot basin between Hells Canyon and the Seven Devil Mountains. It was 40 miles to the nearest paved road. And it was just as far to the nearest church. In the winter (November through May) the only communi cation with the outside world came every other week or so when a big Diesel tractor chewed its way through the snow to bring supplies and mail. A couple of winters my three sisters and I were the only children in camp. Our school was the wilderness and I don’t think any of us have ever regretted it. One of my favorite pastimes during those long winters was to strap on snowshoes and go webbing over the white, silent mountains. I’d never meet another person and the snow was untrampled except for the occasional track of a wild animal. And at the end of each day I’d record what had happened in my diary. I’d note the direction of the wind, the high and low temperature (it got to 30° below zero), the snowfall (there was an average of seven feet on the ground during the winter), what animals or birds I’d seen. Or some times I’d simply write that the sunset was more movingly beautiful than usual. One winter I even tried trapping but I turned out more or less a failure at this venture. On my daily snowshoe trips I’d noted one section of heavy woods where the snow was criss-crossed with The King's Business/January 1958
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