Strangers And Pilgrims

One of the purposes of WayPoint Survival is to teach stewardship and responsibility toward the wonderful Creation that we have been given.  The buzzword in today’s world is sustainability but really it’s just old-fashioned stewardship that is being talked about.  We know that we should always leave our world better than we found it and this means responsibility toward future generations.

When you are in a survival situation, especially if it’s a long term event, you need to be thinking about tomorrow, next week, next month and even next year.  Over-harvesting of resources whether it be edible plants, animals or natural building materials leads to an overall depletion of those things necessary for life and means that you will soon have to move to another area, which may not be possible depending on your health or injuries; you know, the reason you’re in a survival situation in the first place!

The native Americans who lived in our country would often move to an area and live and hunt until it was depleted of most of it’s resources and then they would move to another area.  They were not always the romantic, earth sensitive people that they are portrayed in modern film and novel.  They were like most third-world peoples in that they used up what was local, then being nomadic, would move on to another area where game and resources were more plentiful and would actually follow the migrations of herd animals like buffalo etc.  Because there were relatively few of them compared to the size of the country, the region that was depleted would have time to recover.  Nowadays, however, there are far more people living on our planet, and we must be careful of the natural resources around us.

When you build a campfire, for instance, always use dead wood.  For one thing, it’s cured out and burns better.  Freshly cut wood from a green tree is filled with sap and just doesn’t burn as well and sometimes, if the fire isn’t hot enough, won’t burn at all.  Secondly, you are clearing out dead brush that can lead to forest fires burning uncontrollably and are creating more living space for the other plants that could grow there.  Additionally, clear cutting an area for your campfire needs is just not wise.  Soon the area around your camp will be bare and you will have to go farther and farther to find firewood.  You might as well start out in the beginning of the survival or camping situation and just use up the dead wood around you and leave the living trees alone.  The only time you would need to use green wood might be when building a long term shelter and you need some poles that are strong and flexible or if you are making a place for your food over a fire so that you can set your pot or billy can on the green wood over the fire to cook or boil your food.

Remember, we share this planet with many others and we want our children and grand-children to have the wilderness experience that we love so much.  So be a responsible person that carefully and thoughtfully uses the natural resources around them, stewarding it in such a way that the environment is able to sustain you and those around you for generations to come!

As Christians, we are taught that in this present world, we are just strangers and pilgrims on our journey to Heaven.  We are just passing through.  Whatever your way point is today, make sure that you are being a good steward of the world and the resources that God has given you.  He wants us to be a caretakers of His Creation and that means being careful to treat it like the natural treasure that it is.  A Christian doesn’t have to be a “Tree-Hugger” or “Wacko Environmentalist” to be a good steward.  Even though we know that ultimately this world is destined to be destroyed by a consuming fire in which even the very elements themselves will be destroyed with a fervent heat, we don’t know when that is going to happen.  So, we must take care of the world that we have the best that we can.  God cares about our world and the scripture says that He is going to destroy those that have been destroying the earth!  Don’t be part of that crowd.  Be a good steward of what He has given you, even in a survival situation, and not only will there be resources for the tomorrows and the succeeding generations, but when you are judged in Heaven for the way you lived your life on Earth, you will hear “Well done, good and faithful servant!”  I know those are the words I want to hear and so even though I’m just a stranger and a pilgrim passing through, I’m going to try and live as a responsible and sustainable steward of God’s world.

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PS. We have just added a Facebook Page, it’s WayPoint Survival.  Look us up and send us a friend request!  You can also check out my other websites where you can set up training for many of these skills at www.waypointsurvival.com and look at and order my custom knives at www.benderknifeworks.com.

James B.