Hallway of Gear

Decided last night that it was time to clean out my hunting storage room. It was nice and neat at the start of season but by last night it looked messier than a Walmart shelf after Black Friday.

After I laid it all out I stood back in amazement. I have a ton of hunting stuff! 2 pairs of boots, 2 butt cushions, 2 chairs, 2 grunt calls, 2 binoculars, a rangefinder, 3 trail cams, 2 scent sprays, 3 safety harness straps, a backpack, 1 lunch box, 2 long sleeve camo shirts, a camo t shirt, 2 pairs of camo pants, camo coveralls, briar proof coveralls, briar proof vest, tons of ammo, a compound bow and a muzzleloader.

And that's just the picture! Didnt mention my climber and the stuff I have out in my shed. (In case you now plan to rob me, also not pictured is my 12 gauge...and I won't tell you its' location!)

All that said, guess how many deer I have killed this year? Yep. You guessed it. Zero. Hallway full of gear...no deer down. By appearance alone you would assume I would have shot 15 deer, an elk, and a rhino this year. But looks can be deceiving.

In the book of 1 Samuel 16 the prophet Samuel is told to go anoint a new king from the house of Jesse. When Samuel gets there he sees Jesse's oldest son Eliab and thinks this must be the guy. Eliab was a looker. He was a man's man. And the prophet of God thought he was the obvious choice. But God had other plans. He tells Samuel "Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him. For the Lord sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart." Samuel passes over all of Jesse's sons...except for the youngest. He was a small, young kid who wasn't even there when Samuel showed up because he was babysitting sheep. His name was David. And he became the greatest king in Israel's history.

Some people seem like they have it all together. Sometimes I act like I have it all together. And I can fool most of you. But I can't fool God. He looks at my heart. He's not impressed with my "hallway of gear". I could have a 200 inch buck on the wall, 1000 talents, 10,000 followers, and 1 million dollars and if I'm not living for God, I have nothing.

So where are you? How much do you worry about your appearance and how you are perceived by people? How much do you worry about your heart and how you are perceived by God? As seen by the picture, appearances aren't always as they seem.

All that said, it would be a beautiful thing to use that gear in late season to take down a mature buck or doe! Time will tell!

-Travis Williams