Greetings Brothers and Sisters in Christ!

Welcome to another edition of Following God’s Trail. This is the time of year when everyone is getting outside, enjoying some wonderful weather, some good hunting and fishing. I don’t get to fish much, but I love to go visit the woods. Whenever I am in the woods, whether I am hunting or not, I feel so close to God. My most recent visit was, however, a trip to go turkey hunting. It was my first attempt, and it was pretty neat. I saw a few birds, but didn’t get a chance to shoot.

“Putt, putt, putt, putt” “Gobble, gobble gobble” “Putt, putt, putt putt” “Gobble, gobble, gobble”. Such is the conversation that takes place between the hen and tom as they are entering a courtship for the day. The hen makes her putt and cluck sounds to draw the attention of the tom, and he is enticed by the thought of finding a mate. Such is how the game is played between the two, and they talk turkey to one another until they meet in the middle somewhere. It is the job of the turkey hunter to imitate the hen sounds to draw the Big Boy closer in order to shoot him with a bow or gun. The hunter even takes a couple of hen decoys to use in order to fool the tom into thinking it is a real hen. The object is to sound and look realistic enough to entice the tom into shooting range and to keep him there long enough to execute the shot. It requires patience and practice, and the hunter has to be pretty good in order to fool the tom, but with much practice, it is very possible to do.

Jesus told His followers "Beware of the false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves” (Matt. 7:15). I think this could be a good comparison to the scenario mentioned above. The term actually came from the prophets of the early days who wore animal skins. While there were true prophets, there were others who made claims to be real prophets, but they had simply dressed the part and were acting in a way to draw an innocent person into their web of deceit. They would act as innocent as sheep in order to feed off of unsuspecting people. Satan has his false prophets out there just waiting on us to fall prey to them and succumb to their evil tricks.

The warning from Jesus was important because he later told them: "Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves; therefore be shrewd as serpents, and innocent as doves" (Matt. 10:16). He was speaking to His disciples and told them His expectations. They would be sent out to be amongst the regular people, and they were expected to use a degree of cleverness when trying to reach the people; however, they were not to be dishonest. Jesus expected them to always be honest and holy when they witnessed to people. It is possible to be clever and not be deceitful.

Finally, the apostle Paul wrote a similar warning in his writings. "I know that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock" (Acts 20:29). I think this is a pretty straight up warning. Paul was trying to protect the people with the warning because he knew that he would never see the Romans again. He wanted them to be prepared. I think we should always take the same warning to heart because savage wolves do come after us in many ways. It seems that troubles of some kind always seem to find their way into our lives to try to interrupt or destroy our walk with God. It does seem that the closer we walk with Him, the harder Satan throws out the wolves. We must always remember that Jesus was, is and will always be the Sheppard to take care of us, His flock. If we continue to draw near to Him and have faith that He is watching over us, He will take us through the hard times. He will help us fight off the wolves that try to attack.

Hopefully, the decoys that Satan puts out to tempt you into moving away from Jesus will be just that - decoys. Hopefully, you will realize that it is simply a minor road block and will rely on Jesus to show you the way past the decoy. Don’t be like the gobbler who allows the hunter to draw him off track with false sounds and decoys. Be smart enough to turn away and find the Real Thing, Jesus Christ.

Jesus loves us and will always be there to help us if we simply ask Him. It isn't something that is hard to do and all we have to do is open our hearts and speak to Him. He is waiting for us. Stay safe as you go about your way.

Love in Christ,

Kimberly "Canam" Fox

By Kimberly Fox

Dr. Kimberly "canam" Brinson is a native of Camden County, Georgia. She teaches 6th grade Language Arts at a middle school in St. Marys. She recently completed her doctorate degree in Instructional Leadership and Curriculum through NOVA Southeastern in Ft. Lauderdale, FL. Kimberly is an avid 3-D archer and enjoys attending 3-D competitions with her compound bow. Kimberly is an NFAA certified archery coach and enjoys teaching archery to potential students of all ages. She is also on the Pro Staff for Shoot Like A Girl, which is a company that helps teach women about the aspects of archery. Kimberly has enjoyed the great sport of archery since 2001. Her greatest archery moment includes finishing 3rd place in Shooter of the Year with the Archery Shooters Association and a few significant placings at national archery tournaments and local events as well as Florida State 3-D Champion in 2008.

As far as hunting, Kimberly is a licensed Master of Hounds with United Kennel Club and is certified to judge raccoon field trials and bench shows. For many years, coon hunting was a well enjoyed sport by her, and she helped work several dogs to championship status in licensed coon hunts and coon hunting for pleasure. Kimberly also enjoyed training and running Foxhounds to chase fox and coyotes. This was a short-lived hobby because it was very time consuming and quite expensive. Throughout her life, Kimberly has deer hunted. The initial experience was running deer with hounds; however, for the past few years, she has participated in still hunting with a rifle to a slight degree. Building food plots and scouting are Kimberly's favorite parts of deer hunting. She has not harvested an animal while still hunting, but she intends to hunt from a treestand this upcoming season instead of in a blind. Hopefully, her luck will change. In theory, she is a rookie still hunter.

In her spare time, Kimberly enjoys reading, playing seek and find computer games and hanging out with her husband, Evan. She also enjoys spending time at her church, Harbor Worship Center in Kingsland, GA and writing weekly devotions for Talk Hunting.

Credentials:
Shoot Like A Girl Pro Staff
BowTech Pro Staff
Carbon Express Pro Staff
Fellowship of Christian Athletes (FCA) Huddle Coach
Talk Hunting Magazine Staff Writer and Editor
TH Weekly Devotions Writer

Comments(2):

1. following god's trails

   the wolves are always at our door and through him he shall lead us away from danger and tempation. thank you kim.

   Sunday, May 08, 2011 brad

2. So true...

   Just catching up here, Kim. Great point; we must always trust God, even when things aren't going all that well. Those are the times we need Him most, to keep us on the right, and righteous, path. Evil can be very deceptive and we must continue to trust The Good Lord to guide us. Thank you so much.

   Monday, May 23, 2011 Jimmy