By Tom Claycomb III
I recently had a unique hunt. Charles Allen, owner of Knives of Alaska, called and invited Ron Spomer and myself to come down to his ranch and do some deer, hog and duck hunting. Then on top of these three hunts we were also going to squirrel hunt. There’s a lot of thick timber in east Texas and Charles told us that he had primo squirrel hunting.
There are multiple methods to hunt squirrels, but the best/most fun way is how Charles had us hunt. We’d split up and meet a few hours later at a designated spot. He advised us to move along super slow and then set in a likely spot for 20 minutes to let the squirrels come out. The mature trees had rotted out hollows for them to live in. I’d hit my squirrel call to prompt them to stick their head out to see what was going on in the neighborhood.
A lot of times we’d see them on the ground feeding or scampering in a tree. We’d then try to sneak in for a shot, but a high percentage of the time they … well, acted like squirrels and twirled around limbs, never holding still. When they stopped for a millisecond, you had to be ready.
Hunting in pairs is beneficial. Squirrels will invariably climb around to the opposite side of the tree. In those instances, have your buddy noisily walk around the other side so the squirrel will crawl back around, allowing you a shot.
One day Besty did a YouTube interview of Charles. In the interview he advised parents to train up their kids to be good hunters by starting them on squirrel hunting. He went on to tell how the skills he learned as a kid squirrel hunting prepared him for later big game hunts. He learned to ‘still hunt’, be ready for a shot when the opportunity arose, etc. This is true for a lot of skills we learn as a kid. Be smart, use life’s lessons to teach your kids skills that will benefit them for the rest of their life.
Christian Tip #7: Do you ever feel like you don’t know how to pray? Do you even say the right words to touch the God of heaven? Last night I was feeling like this. Last week in our home group a few parents brought up their kids. So I said, “Why don’t we fast and pray for them?” At the same time our church gave us names of Israeli hostages to pray for.
With the above said, Katy and I were fasting/praying. I told Katy that sometimes before I can really pray, I have to remind myself who I’m praying to. I’ll ask myself who am I praying to? Some wimpy god? A god that can’t hear my prayers?
No! I’m praying to the God Most High! The Creator of the ends of the Earth. The same God that made the majestic bugling bull elk. The same God that created the cutthroat trout that God that made the majestic bugling bull elk. The same God that created the cutthroat trout that shimmer up the swift mountain streams. The God that made the mountains and the awesome sunrises/sunsets. (All of the above he created out of nothing, mind you). God already knows His attributes; I just need to remind myself of who I’m praying to. Then I’m ready to pray. I’m ready for warfare.
But that night I didn’t feel like I knew the right words to say and what if I wasn’t even actually praying according to His will? So I read to Katy these three verses:
Suddenly I saw the spiritual correlation with the above truths and something in my personal life. When I first started writing I had an awesome editor: Vickie Holbrook. When I got off work early, I’d run down to the newspaper office and hang around with her. One day she said, “Tom, I’m about to edit your article; want to watch and see what I do?” and I pulled up a chair beside her.
She leaned over and said, “Does it get you upset when I edit your articles?” She leaned in close and said, “It does, doesn’t it?” She then leaned back in her chair and shared some sage, old editor advice. “Tom, what I do is to remove anything that will distract/confuse your message. I’m the picture frame on your article. The picture is the star of the show. You don’t want a priceless picture in a shoddy frame. I won’t steal your voice. My job is to make you shine.” I’ve since valued good editors.
I suddenly saw the spiritual correlation. Scripture teaches us that Jesus is my Advocate. My Mediator. The Holy Spirit is making intercession for me, praying on my behalf for things I don’t even know I need. I don’t need to worry if my words aren’t perfect. I’m thinking Jesus deletes out what shouldn’t be in my prayers. He rearranges it in the correct format before it is presented to God. Jesus is my Prayer Editor and the Holy Spirit adds in what’s needed. Now when I pray I just pour out my heart and let my Personal Prayer Editor reformulate everything to perfection – and the Holy Spirit throws in what I missed.
PS: A few weeks later one of the hostages we were praying for got released. I’ve got a pretty good Prayer Editor.
For more information about anything in this column, contact Tom at [email protected].
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