“The sheep follow Him because they know His voice.”
~John 10; 4
It’s the peak of the New Mexico hunting season, so I thought I’d entertain you with a hunting testimony.
The year was 1985 and I was looking forward to my Pop coming from California to hunt spring gobbler with me for the first time. This was something that Pop always had wanted to do; a life goal.
In April before the May season was to begin, I spent many an hour scouting for the big birds, but alas, had only come up with one spot where I had located any turkeys. Not good, not good. That fact made me apprehensive to say the least.
There is a line in an old Merle Haggard song that talks about “ I forgot about a friend that so and so had.” That friend was Jesus. And I too had forgotten about that same Friend!
My second apprehension concerned the fact, that even though the season ran for the entire month of May, my job prevented me from hunting but the four Saturdays. That wasn’t a whole lot of time to be with Dad, let alone succeed!
That’s when “My Friend’ stepped in to provide quality time for me and Pop; I was in the midst of building a roofed-in patio on the house and the week before Dad was to arrive, I was climbing a ladder with a 100 pound bundle of shingles on my right shoulder.
Just as I got to the top of the ladder, I lost control of the bundle, and as it fell, I tried to catch it one-handed with my left hand. The result was a fractured left forearm and the doctor said I would be out of work for six weeks! Well, Praise the Lord!
Since I am right-handed, that meant I still could carry a shotgun and pull the trigger, even with a cast on my left wing!
Opening dawn found Pop and I calling and listening for gobblers at the one and only area where I had located birds, but nary a one responded, nor showed all that morning. (By law we could only hunt until 11 AM each day).
In the following days and weeks we couldn’t locate any birds at all, and we were now down to that last three days of the season. Pop had to go to Philadelphia for two of those days, and that meant we would only have one day to kill a gobbler for him.
I used those two days to scout other places, including the Pocono Mountains north of my house by 40 miles (We lived in Pennsylvania back then). It was here that I had killed my then biggest gobbler a couple of years before.
But I struck out here too. I remember vividly driving down the turnpike towards home and asking The Lord what I should do? Immediately that Still-Small-Voice answered and told me to “Go where you found the birds.”
Well as you already know, I had only found them at one place; the spot where we hunted the first day. Why we had not gone back there before, is still a mystery to me.
Anyway, that Saturday morning found us going up the trail when at 9AM a hen-bird walked up to us then flew off. I told Pop that she was coming from mating with her boyfriend and that we should walk the way she had come.
We hadn’t gone too far when I called and a gobbler responded loudly! I put Pop in a spot and I backed off about a hundred yards behind him and called again. The gobbler shouted twice and the next thing I knew I heard a loud bang!
I walked up and Pop was sitting there and I went over and picked up a mature gobbler with an eight-inch beard. How excited we both were as we admired his trophy then thanked God for His blessing.
But “My Friend” wasn’t through with us yet. We took Pop’s bird to the truck then decided to go back up, since we had an hour to go before the season ended for good.
To make a long story short, I was blessed with a bird too and with ten minutes to spare. And Pop got the blessing of listening to the whole thing unfold. Praise the Lord again!
We had a double! Do you know that in 37 years of hunting turkeys, that is the only time that has happened to me!
Pop went back to California and never hunted turkeys again; he had accomplished his goal. The picture of us together with our trophies hangs upon my den wall, and I look at it often during my morning prayer time. It is a pleasurable reminder of hearing God’s voice and Him Shepherding us to two turkey gobblers.
My challenge to you is this; do you hear His voice talking to you, and do you listen and obey? If not, why not?
My Testimony
Larry Lightner
For: Calvary Chapel Silver City
November 2011
