Gone Hunting

I am not much of a hunter.  Actually, I’m not any kind of a hunter.  I don’t go hunting – not for animals.  I don’t have anything against those who do; it’s just not for me.  There was a time when I thought I wanted to go hunting.  I was six.

We were visiting in Brantley with Mama’s side of the family.  It was late fall and the days were getting shorter and cooler.  There were peanuts galore for us to boil and eat.  Things just couldn’t get much better. 

And then I heard Mama’s uncle asking my brother if he wanted to go hunting.  Squirrel hunting.  I wasn’t supposed to hear the invitation, but I did.  So I begged to go along.  And then I begged some more.  So Mama’s aunt laid down the law – they would take me with or they would not be going.  Period.  I was thrilled.  I could not wait to find myself a cute little squirrel.

So, off we went into the woods.  Uncle Reese, David, me, and – a pellet gun.  A gun.  A gun!  Why do we need a gun to find a squirrel?  So I asked.  What on earth?  We are going to KILL a squirrel?  Shoot it?!  No way.  I am going to tell just as soon as we get back.  I was beside myself.  I thought we were hunting for squirrels, not shooting them out of trees!  I was as livid as a six-year-old can get.

We kept walking until we came to an area that was a little less dense, a little clearer, with a few stumps scattered around.  Uncle Reese told me to sit on the stump and watch for snakes while they went hunting.  Well, that did it!  First they want to KILL squirrels and then they expect ME to sit around and wait to get bitten by a snake.  No way.  I kicked up a pretty big fuss.  I cried and wailed so long and loud that they finally gave in and took me back to the house – where I promptly told the whole awful story, much to the chagrin of Uncle Reese. 

He ended up getting that whole, long what-on-earth-were-you-thinking speech.  My brother was mad about the ruined hunting trip.  I was mad because I believed that I had been duped.  Everybody was mad at somebody for something.  And then Aunt Sissy said, “Well, it’s all over with now.  Let’s just have some pound cake and we’ll all feel better.”  Pound cake.  My kind of antidepressant! 

There have been many times in my life when things have gotten all out of whack because of misunderstandings that took on a life of their own.  Sometimes there was ill intent, but usually not.   Some things are too big and complicated to get fixed with a piece of pound cake.  But absolutely nothing is too big for God.  He is the best problem solver there has ever been. 

And Jesus answered them, “Have faith in God. Truly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and thrown into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says will come to pass, it will be done for him. Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours. And whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone, so that your Father also who is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses.” – Mark 11-22-25