Don’t Be Scared....

…..get prepared!  I remember one of the times I was away from home, alone and in a large national forest. It is an area known for bears, and rumored sightings of mountain lions abound.  I set up my tarp shelter and because there was a fire restriction in the forest, I could only use my stainless steel wood stove for heat and cooking. It was in the fall of the year and the leaves were changing and the air was cool and crisp.

Although I had a sleeping bag, I had purposely not brought along any type of sleeping pad to insulate me from the cold ground.  Instead, I had two, 42 gallon, 3 mil thick garbage bags which I filled with leaves and then duck taped together to keep the leaves from spilling out while I slept.

I placed my pot on the stainless steel wood stove and began making a stew from beef jerky, parched corn and a wild rice mixture.  As the food began to cook and give off a pleasing aroma, I was wondering what other creatures might be attracted to the smell of food!  Nervously, I looked all around the campsite, trying to identify every tree and stump and hiding place from which a wild animal might leap to devour me during the night.

As the night closed in around me, I pulled out my trusty headlamp and started eating my meal.  I continued to feed small sticks into the tiny fire of my wood stove, not so much for warmth but for the seeming companionship of the dancing, lively flame.  Soon, my wilderness repast was finished and I cleaned up the stew pot being careful to dump the contents left over in the stew pot into the woods a hundred feet or more from where I would be sleeping.

As I crawled into my sleeping bag that night, I was glad for the sturdy walking stick close by as well as the reassuring handle of my razor sharp knife laying by my side.  My headlamp also lay in close proximity to my hand in case I heard a noise I couldn’t easily explain and needed to have a clearer look.

With a heartfelt prayer I placed my safety in the hands of the Creator of all things and drifted off to sleep with the sounds of the forest around me.

Nothing happened to me that night and I awoke the next morning to a drizzling rain and the knowledge that later on I would be meeting up with others who would be joining me on the second night.  I found a rip in the shoulder of my Frog Togs rain jacket and using some 80lb test fishing line and a needle, I set about to make the repair.  Having finished that task, I packed up my gear and headed to the place where I anticipated meeting the rest of the group who were arriving that day.

The rest of the day passed uneventfully and I met the others without any difficulty.  The second night and the rest of the trip have passed into my memory, I don’t really remember them.  But that first night stands out to me in stark relief as if I had passed some difficult test.

Fear is a terrible thing and it controls so many of us.  What could we really accomplish in our lives if we weren’t afraid of failure or rejection?  Sometimes we just have to swallow our fears and courageously push ahead doing that thing or taking that risk that causes our heart to shudder.  When we do, we often find that we are filled with a strength that we didn’t know we possessed and that we have abilities that lay dormant until needed.  So get out there and test yourself, spend a night alone in the deep forest away from distractions and the mad pace of life.  You might just find yourself and have a great time as well!

Spiritually speaking, the scriptures remind us in 2 Timothy 1:7 that God has not given us the spirit of fear, but of power, love and a sound mind.  It is a great comfort to us that wherever we may be, whether in the deep woods or in the pressures of daily living that we can have the Comforting Presence of God Himself with us! And when He is with us, His Perfect Love casts out our fear and we can lay down to sleep or even eat a meal in the presence of fear and all its mental torments.  So, the next time you get ready to go out and face your fears, make sure that the Presence of the Lord is with you and then you will know real peace! Don’t be scared…be prepared by having Him with you.

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Thanks for reading!

James B