The Pheasant Hunt turned out to be a great hunt, we had a more people than expected which made it more exciting and fun. For two of the youth Sportsmen it was their first CTO experience and first bird hunt. We also had 2 new CTO Guides (volunteer leaders) come along bringing their Bird Dogs for us to hunt with and enjoy the CTO experience.
In order to keep our hunt safe, a high priority for Cross Trail Outfitters, we split up into two groups. Going out in the field one group at a time giving everyone a chance be safe and to take a shot.
The CTO Sportsmen (the boys) managed to harvest 12 pheasant and afterward learned two different ways to clean and remove the meat from the birds. Each youth got a chance to do this so that in the future they have theses skills, afterword’s we got all cleaned up and headed to Bear’s house so that we could have lunch and Campfire.
Sometimes when working with the CTO Sportsmen Bear will challenge them to address current events happening in our world. Today’s campfire was one of those times. Bear asked us if we had heard about what was happening in Hollywood about how some men were treating women and children? Everyone knew what he was talking about. We then read Luke 8: 16-18 where scripture discusses things being done in the secret / hidden will be brought into light or made known.
We discussed how when we want to do something that we know is wrong we try to keep it from those that we know will disapprove. That this is sin! Sin always wants to be in the dark, hidden away, especially from the people we want to gain approval from. We then reflected over our own struggles and saw the similarities between our “sin” failures, and those of others we know.
But how does God deal with this sin? Especially if you are a Christian how will God react to your sin?
He will bring it into the light! Why? Because He loves you! Because He wants you to have the opportunity to reconcile yourself before Him and your brothers and sisters within the Body of Christ! And as men of God how are we to react to our brothers and sisters? We are to show them love, understanding, and forgiveness to help them return to the righteous path that God has for all of us. Unfortunately that isn’t how we as Christians always react to our fallen brothers and sisters. A lot of the time we shun and turn our backs in them. Bear pointed out that when we do that we give them up to remain fallen, and that’s definitely what God doesn’t want of His body. Then Bear asked us to reflect upon our own shortcomings and where we might have tried to hide in the dark then he encouraged us to bring it to the light through prayer. Remember if God trusts you to bring sin into the light He is also trusting you to help in your siblings healing. Don’t let Him down! we are our brother’s keepers you know.
