Thanks

     As you drive down the interstate coming home from an excruciatingly long and stressful day in your 1997 rusty f-150 you happen to look up over at the dealership and catch the truck of your dreams. For a minute you can actually see yourself in the 2015 GMC Sierra. It actually goes faster than 45 MPH down hill with a stiff breeze at its back. The cab isn't about to rust away, the tires aren't bald, and the odometer doesn't say 175,000. You don't actually wonder if the bed will give way every time you throw a deer, log, or piece of paper in it. The tail gate works, the brakes don't need replaced, and it doesn't burn oil. 

     

     You finally snap back into reality just in time to catch your exit. Before long you have the work boots off, have grabbed your favorite hunting magazine, and open it up to see a 180" monster taken just down the road from where you shot your yearling doe....on the last day of the season...in the snow....after sitting all day.
     Almost sub-consciously you slam the magazine down and start to sulk. Your wife asks you whats wrong, and your kids are staring at you awkwardly. Ever had one of those days? I don't know about you, but it's easy for me to focus in on what I wish I had instead of being thankful for what I do have.
Loving wife, 3 kids, health, vehicles that run, the opportunity to get out into God's creation here in Iowa, an eternity to heaven.....then why is it we have to constantly remind ourselves to be thankful for what we do have?
     Newsflash!!!! This just in: We are naturally selfish. We are born sinners and have the amazing ability to always want to put ourselves first. That's why the Bible has to constantly remind us to be thankful. In I Thessalonians 5:18, Paul commands us to "in everything give thanks; for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus." If we spent more time being thankful for what we do have, and if we understood what we all actually deserve, we might not rush to complain/covet so quickly.
     So as another deer season gets ready to kick off, lets be thankful for the opportunities that we have to even be in the stand, that rusty truck many of us drive, and that bow you wish you could upgrade. Lets be thankful for our wives that put up with our wild mood swings from October - December. Let's remind ourselves of the awesome God who spoke everything we get to enjoy in the woods this fall into existence. Then...just maybe then...regardless of the size of the deer you harvest this year, you can be thankful for the opportunity in and of itself.
    Until next time, just GET OUT THERE! I'm looking forward to seeing what deer happen to come my way this fall and seeing what you guys harvest as well!
    Your fellow hunter,
    Mark