Don’t Miss

Clint Barton; Susan Pevensie; Robin of Loxley; Legolas; Oliver Queen; Katniss Everdeen; Princess Merida. What do these people have in common? You guessed it. These are the most popular archers in TV shows, books and movies. We marvel at their skills with the bow and arrow and wish that we too can do cool archery tricks and never miss. These heroes instill in many people a love for archery and a desire to learn how to do it; I included.

I practiced archery as a teenager and have had the opportunity on a couple of occasions to teach it to kids at summer camp. One of the things that I like to do when teaching kids about archery is showing them how archery actually parallels with life.

The first thing that I like to point out is that in archery there is one goal: hit the target. Simple enough right? Take your first shot and you will find that you are mistaken. The skill of archery does not come easily. It must be practiced constantly if you have any intention of becoming as skilled as any one of the archers listed above. As you practice, you must be prepared to miss that mark. That brings me to my first point.

It surprises kids when I tell them that the word ‘sin’ is a literal archery term which means to miss the mark. Usually when kids think of sin, they think of disobedient acts toward God, and they are right to do so. And as a matter of fact, the reason sin is called sin is based on that term for missing the mark. When we sin against God, we are missing the standard that He sets for us in life. He gives us this standard in His Word, and when we disobey them we miss that mark.

So how do we get to where we don’t miss? As I said earlier, archery is a skill that needs to be practiced on a constant basis to get better at. It is the same way with life. We must read His Word and put it to practice. We must also realize that we shouldn’t have to do this on our own. But I think even the best archer in the world can mess up at times, and we will all miss God’s target too. We are not invincible to sin. But God knows that we are not skilled in that area, and He covers up our sins through the sacrifice of His Son Jesus Christ.

Archery also provides us with a picture of teamwork. One might think that archery is about individual skill, but there are many components that go into this skill. The archer must use eye-hand coordination to hold the bow and arrow and aim for the target. In addition to this, there are always two tools that the archer must use: the bow and the arrow. The arrow needs the bow to launch it to the target and the bow is nothing more than a stick with a string and is useless without the arrow.

Archery has also been used to inspire teamwork throughout history. When giving lessons, I also tell campers a story about Genghis Khan, the Mongolian ruler who created the largest empire in Asia. In one of his first battles, Genghis Khan inspired the warriors of all these different tribes to help him fight against a common foe, and used arrows to illustrate. He took one arrow and snapped it in half, saying that one man, or one tribe who fights alone can easily be defeated. Then he took a handful of arrows and attempted to do the same thing with them all together, but they would not break. With this he said that when men work together, they are not easily defeated. And through this illustration he won the loyalty of hundreds of tribes and they declared him the universal ruler, or Genghis Khan.

So the lessons that we learn through archery and apply to life is that every day we need to sharpen our skills and aim for God’s standards of living, and also that it is not something that we are meant to do ourselves. We need to rely on the help from God, and the friends and family that He gives us in the faith.

No Job Too Small

Sorry to be out of pocket again for so long. I have been mobile this past month and have had little chance to sit down and write my stories.

Last week I went to Montgomery because I was invited to attend a debriefing seminar for summer missionaries. I went there, but I had no clue why I was even invited in the first place. I did not spend the summer with a particular ministry group overseas or in the country, but rather I stayed and worked at Earle Trent Assembly as a camp employee. My duties did not even require me to work on the campsite more than half the time, but rather sitting at a computer working to update the website for the camp. It did not feel like a ministry setting as far as what the others who attended did this summer.

I went all the same and heard many stories of where people went and what they did in those places, and how God used them to be a witness to these people. It was good to hear where people went and see some of my friends from college who also went.

Even though I felt out of place, the seminar made me reflect the things that I did this summer. I got to exercise some skills that I learned from college in a job that I loved, I had an opportunity to conquer fear in building a new ropes course, I had closure time with my family, I got to be a witness for children and tell them what God did in my life and I got to see three campers come to salvation.

As I reflected I noted that my experience really was no different from those who traveled overseas and embraced a culture that was completely new to them. In fact, during my job with the camp, I had an opportunity to share with the campers about missions and told them that it was not about where they go that determined if they were missionaries. It the calling that God gives each of us and our response to it. God can call us to reach out to anyone from our next door neighbor to someone we don’t know on the other side of the world.

As I told the campers about missions, I gave them the names of three men as examples: Abraham, Moses, and Isaiah. I told them how Abraham had to be willing to listen and obey God, even in areas of uncertainty, knowing that God was in control of the situation. And Moses, who thought that he was unable to go because of some kind of speech impediment, listened and obeyed God, and God provided everything he needed to accomplish his goal. And Isaiah, an ordinary man who got to see the glory of Heaven, who felt so small and ashamed, heard God call someone to go out and speak His message, and cried out “Here am I; send me.”

Even though my ministry field was small, I feel like it has some significance in the Kingdom. There is not one thing that is not important when it comes to serving God. He is a God of detail who created everything, and nothing from the smallest atom in an element to the largest galaxy in the universe will ever go without His care.