My January 24 column in the Jamestown Gazette, "When Tommy Invited Me to Church," is a fictitious and humorous story that contains a truth. Many hunters and fishers approach their passion like it's a spiritual pursuit. We easily find something in common between the peace and solitude of a treestand and a designated spiritual place such as a church. "My church is in the woods,” as Tommy says in this story. But like many of us, Tommy had an incomplete idea of what a church is. A church usually is not a place of solitude, so we don't usually go to church to be alone. We go there to worship in corporate union, which we don't do in a bass boat. And a church is not necessarily a place of peace and comfort. We hear the word of God preached there, and it is sometimes brings us no peace or comfort. It's often convicting.
I'm not saying we shouldn't worship God in a treestand, and I'm definitely not saying church is the only place where we should worship. Christ does not give us compartments in which we neatly place everything in our lives. He is sovereign over every aspect of our lives so, in a sense, we should worship God wherever we are and in whatever we're doing.
As you read "When Tommy Invited Me to Church" you may see more than one contrast between what Tommy said he believed and what he really did believe, based on his words and actions. You may indeed worship God in your treestand or along a trout stream, but don't be limited to that. And don't be limited to worshiping God in church either.
To access more of my writing on hunting topics, go to the home page of my blog, Mission: Hunter.
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