Through the Motions by Brodie Swisher Some years ago while on an out-of-state hunt, I had the opportunity to spend some time in hunting camp with a fella that appeared to have won a shopping spree at Cabelas. The guy had it all! He had the latest and greatest in camo, complete with matching pants, shirt, vest, jacket, gloves, and cap. His camo clothes were clean and crisp, and I honestly think he was afraid to get them dirty. His high-end binoculars and rangefinder were proudly dangling from his neck, regardless of whether he was actually hunting or just hanging out at camp. He had the finest equipment. From the year’s best selling bow to the spendy Italian leather boots on his feet, this dude had it all! It was enough to make some guys in camp grunt with jealousy (not me of course!). But what I found interesting about this guy is that while he loved to dress the part, he had actually never shed the blood of any critter that walks, crawls, or flies across the earth. He liked to look as if he were an avid hunter to his peers, yet when it came to spending time in the woods in pursuit of game he was lost. By his own confession, he always climbed down from his stand before primetime to escape the woods before darkness fell. He headed in to the timber after daylight in the mornings in an effort to avoid stumbling in the dark, or becoming disoriented as to his whereabouts. He came in early for lunch and napped well into the afternoon. After hearing his story, there was no wonder as to why he failed to produce year after year on the critters he pursued. He was going through the motions to look like a hunter, yet he wasn’t willing to do what it takes to get it done. The end result was a season of regrets. Success in the woods takes so much more than simply dressing up in camo and sitting around the campfire. You gotta live it out! You have to stay in the hunt, even when it hurts. The cost of success on the hunt is great, and it will often take its toll on our bodies physically and emotionally….but the rewards are priceless! I’ll be real honest. I don’t want to come to the end of my season of life and find myself with a long list of regrets. I don’t want to simply go through the motions of this life only to be filled with regrets at the end of my journey. I want more than a life full of playing the part. I want to truly live it out. I want to be the husband, father, and child of God that I’ve been called to be now, instead of reflecting back on wasted years later. I want no regrets at the end of my race. A song by Matthew West features the lyrics… I don’t wanna go through the motions I don’t wanna go one more day Without Your all consuming passion inside of me I don’t wanna spend my whole life asking What if I had given everything? Instead of going through the motions Are there things in your life right now that need to change in order to prevent later regrets when you find yourself at the end of the journey? Live it out…No Regrets!
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The Road by Brodie Swisher On a recent roadtrip across the state of Montana I once again found myself caught up in the beauty of Big Sky Country. Having spent the early years of my life in the big city, dealing with bumper to bumper traffic and congestion, I’ve grown to appreciate the splendor of wide open spaces all the more. The picture perfect scenes of the Montana countryside make the time on the road a blessing. And this particular roadtrip was no different. The snow covered mountains reaching towards the cloudy sky was truly something to behold. But somewhere along the way I realized I hadn’t passed another car or truck in over an hour of driving. There was no one coming, no one going. The road truly was mine! But I couldn’t help but think, “There’s a lot of people missin’ out on experiencing what I’m experiencing as I travel down this road.” I was reminded of the passage in the Bible that speaks of the road of life and the brutal truth of where it leads for many people. Matthew 7:13-14 says, “You can enter God’s Kingdom only through the narrow gate. The highway to hell is broad, and its gate is wide for the many who choose that way. But the gateway to life is very narrow and the road is very difficult, and only a few ever find it.” Did you catch that? Only a few ever find it. It’s alarming to me that the Bible says “many” people are on the highway that leads to hell. It’s bumper to bumper traffic with the lives of people headed down a path that leads to death and destruction. That ought to keep us up at night! It’s time for many of us to pull out a map (the Bible) and see where we are…and where we need be. Are we a part of the few headed down the road that leads to life or are we rollin’ with the masses? Choose to go against the flow today! One Shot by Brodie Swisher I love to shoot arrows at the targets in my yard. I find great joy in watching the simple flight of an arrow. While some spend big dollars on therapy, I find mine in the backyard, unwinding at the end of a long day, flingin’ arrows. For much of the year, my shooting regimen involves thoughtless shots at targets scattered around our yard and pasture. I shoot until my quiver is empty, go retrieve my arrows, and repeat the process. However, as hunting season draws near, everything changes. I go into somewhat of a routine that involves just one shot. With my bow in my hand, I step out on the deck and shoot one arrow. Just one. No second shots, no do-overs. Just one arrow. It is a mental game and practice for the real deal. As is most often the case, you get one shot when the moment of truth arrives on big game. It’s a fleeting moment. As quick as it seems to be happening…it’s over. Those breathtaking moments at full draw are what keep me in the hunt. A thousand times each season I wonder, “Will I make the most of the one shot I get?” I often wonder the same thing about the opportunity I have with my kids. I love being a daddy. It’s without a doubt one of my greatest joys in life. I treasure the moments I have with each one of my three kids on this earth and anxiously look forward to the time I’ll have with my little boy that went to heaven ahead of us. But I often find myself wondering, “Am I making the most of the one shot I get with them? Am I a living legacy of the kind of life that God would have them to live?” You see, we get just one shot with our kids. It’s a fleeting moment. The years come…and quickly go. Are we training them to follow the ways of the world, or are we equipping them to live a Godly life that will bring glory and honor to our great God? I don’t want to find myself, many years from now, with a pile of regrets and wishing for a second chance with my kids, my wife, a friend, or family member. We get just one shot. Will we make the most of the one shot we get? “Direct your children onto the right path, and when they are older, they will not leave it.” Proverbs 22:6 Slippery Places by Brodie Swisher Several days after a recent snow storm, the beauty and fluff of fresh powder had been reduced to hard-packed snow and ice. It was slick and often brought about acrobatic-like maneuvers just in walking to the mailbox. While out walking with my boy, he asked me why I took a longer path around all the ice. I simply told him that I wanted to stay on my feet and that’s tough to do when walking around on slippery places. At his young age, he has a hard time seeing the pain of falling down. For him, it’s nothing more than an opportunity to slide around and skate. But as he grows older he’ll soon discover the consequences of walking around in slick places. Hopefully he too will learn to take a different path and avoid the places that will cause him to stumble. Life is much the same for us as adults. I once heard a pastor say, “If you don’t wanna fall down…then don’t walk in slippery places!” Seems pretty simple, right? But how many times have we trudged right through the slick spots of life and never once considered the danger until we found ourselves flailing for solid ground. Sure, it may appear to be an easier path, or a more enjoyable approach to the ride we’re on, but in the end, walking around in places we ought not be will lead to destruction. Satan would love nothing more than to cause us to stumble in our marriages, our friendships, our personal commitments, and to bring to death the godly things in our lives. Stand on solid ground my friends…don’t walk around in slippery places. “There is a path before each person that seems right, but it ends in death.” Proverbs 14:12 Overlooked by Brodie Swisher There were two days left of bow season in Montana when I arrived back from an archery trade show in Ohio. With one lonely doe tag left in my pocket I made plans to put the final wraps on what has already been a great deer hunting season. After a late night and a lazy start when the alarm went off, I was running behind. I scrambled to grab my gear and shuffled into my cold weather clothes for a chilly morning on the stand. I grabbed an armload of gear, including my video camera, a book, jacket, and pack and hurried out the door. The darkness of night was already leaving the valley as I made the quick drive to my hunting spot. As I got out of the truck I quickly put my treestand safety harness on and began to my pull other gear from the truck. It was a routine I had become familiar with after four months of persistent bowhunting. With my pack on my back and all my gear in place, I leaned back into the truck to grab my bow. The sad part is it wasn’t there. It wasn’t on the back seat where I always placed it, nor was it in the front seat. I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry as I said to myself, “I forgot my stinkin’ bow!!!” In my excitement and anxiousness for getting back into the treestand, I overlooked what mattered most. And when you pull a stunt like that on a hunt by yourself, there’s no one to blame. It was me. I messed up. I left out the one thing that I needed the most. On the embarrassing ride home I called my wife and said, “I finally did it! After 20 years of bowhunting I finally left my bow at the house!” She could only laugh as she looked and confirmed that my bow was in fact sitting right by the door…overlooked. I really don’t know how I missed it. I practically had to step over it to get out the door! I was left to ponder how many times we do the same thing in our daily life. We overlook the things that matter most. We rush headlong into the day with great excitement and anticipation for the next big thing, all the while overlooking the one thing that matters most. Countless are the times I’ve blown right past God and never gave Him a second glance when I was caught up with hectic schedules or the busyness of life. Have you been there? Are you guilty of overlooking the one thing that matters most? A relationship with God is what life is all about. To bring Him glory and to make Him known…that is why we exist. Don’t overlook Him today. Lifeline by Brodie Swisher One of the slickest tools I’ve come across for helping treestand hunters hunt as safe as possible is the Life Line system from Hunter Safety System (HSS). The guys at HSS, makers of the industry’s leading tree stand harness system, know that one of the greatest risks to treestand hunters is the journey into the stand, moreso than when the hunter is safely seated and anchored in the stand. Deadly accidents happen every year as un-anchored hunters make the ascent and descent at their stands. HSS has answered this need with their new Tree Stand Life Line system. The Life Line ensures that no matter what happens on the climb, whether you slip, fall, or just struggle in the pre-dawn darkness, you are safely tethered to the life-saving line. When I think about this life-saving gear, I can’t help but thank God that He continues to serve as a life line for His people. For those that know the Lord, life will one day be as good as it gets as we reach our final destination. But the journey getting there is tough. In fact the climb can be unbelievably brutal. There will be moments along the way when we slip, stumble, and struggle in the darkness of this world, but God is our life line. He is our anchor. We are secure in Him despite the struggles that come our way. There was a song written years ago with the lyrics that read, “the anchor holds though the ship is battered…the anchor holds though the sails are torn…I have fallen on my knees as I faced the raging seas…the anchor holds in spite of the storm.” No matter what you’re going through today, never forget, the anchor holds. The Reason by bro When I think back over all the memories of Christmas from my childhood, I recall some pretty good times. There have been priceless moments with my family that I’ll remember for as long as I live. Still, there is one memory that creeps up every year that continues to serve as a reminder of the year I failed to remember the reason for the season. I wish I could say I was younger in age at the time, but I was actually somewhere around the pre-teen years…11 years old…maybe 12. Several years had passed since I completed the hunter safety course in my state and I had massacred every bird, squirrel, and neighbor’s cat that crept within BB gun range of my yard. So on this year, a 20-gauge shotgun was on my list. And somehow despite the steep price-tag, my parents had led me to believe I was getting my first big-boy gun. However, on Christmas morning, as I rushed into the living room well before the sun ever began to shine, there was no shotgun to be found. I saw the underwear, socks, shirts, and other annual gifts, but no shotgun had been left behind. I was devastated! I was mad at the world! I marched back up to the room I shared with my brother. I woke him up and said, “You got what you want for Christmas, but I didn’t get squat!” I then crawled back into bed, pulled the covers over my head and threw quite the pity party for myself. As the rest of the family began to wake up to Christmas morning, my older sister stormed into my room and as a loving big sister would, said, “Get out of bed you stinkin’ brat! You got what you wanted, you just didn’t look hard enough for it!!!” With that, I was flooded with the emotions of excitement and complete embarrassment all at the same time. I felt like such a fool walking into that living room after my selfish display of how I thought Christmas ought to go. Many years have passed, but I’ve never forgotten my sister’s words. “You got what you wanted, you just didn’t look hard enough for it.” The truth is many of us are guilty of this very thing year after year. We fail to remember that the true meaning of Christmas is the celebration of the Savior. Jesus is the reason for the season! He is what we are looking for…he is what we are longing for…but sometimes we miss Him because we simply aren’t looking hard enough for Him. We are caught up and distracted by other things and the reason for the season blows right past us. Don’t miss it this year! He is the Reason! Alone in the Woods by Brodie Swisher Late season deer hunts often lend themselves to be a cold and lonely experience. It’s often feast or famine at this time of the season. If you have the luxury of hunting late-season food plots in December and January, you are likely in for a lively show. However, when hunting the timber on a cold, snowy day, deer sightings can often be few and far between. I remember such hunts where it seems as if there’s not another living creature in the world. The hours go by and not a critter stirs. No deer, no birds, not even a squirrel! It can be a lonely and depressing feeling. It’s on these days that I have to remind myself, “Things will get better.” Maybe not today, or even in the remainder of the season, but I rest in the fact that at the proper time, things will change. Better days in the woods are sure to come. I can’t help but think of friends and family that seem to be going through the same feelings and emotions in life. My sweet little sister, Jessica, is battling cancer once again and I have several friends in the midst of marital messes. For them, it is no doubt a dark and dreary place to be. I know they are often overwhelmed with the emotions of feeling alone. I’m sure there are days when it seems as if even God has distanced Himself from them. It’s on such days that we can only trust in the promise that we are not alone.Watch what the Bible says in Deuteronony 31:6…”Do not be afraid or discouraged, for the Lord will personally go ahead of you. He will be with you; he will neither fail your nor abandon you.” That’s good stuff! We can hang on to that promise! We can only trust that at the proper time, things will change. It may not be today or tomorrow. It may not even be in this season of life. But for those that have the hope of Christ, better days are sure to come. Do you have that hope? If not, shoot me an email…we’ll talk. brohunts@yahoo.com Breaking Through by Brodie Swisher The end of the whitetail rut signals a time for new challenges and something different in the hunting woods. It’s at this time I often switch gears and begin chasing the ducks and geese that winter or migrate through our part of the country. Recently, after finding a good supply of ducks using some backwater sloughs off the river, I made plans to set up for a morning of hunting mallards. Unfortunately, December in Montana often finds the shallow backwaters freezing up pretty quick. After just one successful hunt with open water, my return trips found me having to break ice to open up the hole. With each trip, the ice formed thicker and thicker. I surrender the season on this particular duck hole when I could finally stand on top of the ice, now too hard to break through. Have you been there before? Not on a slab of ice, but in life? Have you struggled to break through? In Mark chapter 8 of the Bible, we find the disciples squabbling over “who forgot the bread.” Jesus knew what they were arguing about and He says, “Why are you arguing about having no bread? Don’t you know or understand even yet? Are your hearts too hard to take it in? You have eyes – can’t you see? You have ears – can’t you hear? Don’t you remember anything at all? When I fed the 5,000 with five loaves of bread, how many baskets of leftovers did you pick up afterward?” (Mark 8:17-19) Much like the disciples, we too can be hardened in heart and fail to see all the miraculous things God has done – and is doing – for our lives. In such times we struggle to hear from Him, we overlook the visible ways He is moving in our lives, and we offer prayers that seemingly never leave our lips. We have become hard. Our hearts and minds shut down to the greatness of what God wants to accomplish in our lives. Left unguarded, a breakthrough becomes all but impossible. But God wants this season to pass. He wants us to breakthrough and return once again to the place where we can hear, see, and speak his goodness and glory. Do you find your heart becoming hard? Break on through! Let' em Walk by Brodie Swisher On a recent hunt for whitetail deer in the river-bottoms of western Montana, I watched as a young buck cruised through the woods in search of a willing doe. He had his nose to the ground and seemed to be on a relentless pursuit of romance. I quickly grabbed my calls from my pack and belted out the sounds of other deer in an attempt to bring this buck closer. It was more than the buck could take. In the low light of early morning the buck made his way right to my stand. When he walked into and through my shooting lane at just 8 yards, I thought to myself, “Let ‘em walk.” The buck had obviously not reached his potential. There were greater things to come from this deer. He would grow bigger, better, and would one day be all that his Maker had intended for him. He had walked dangerously close to death…but on that day, I let him walk. I also have a friend that recently came dangerously close to death after a tumble down the side of a mountain. My buddy, Allen James, and his two hunting partners slid on some ice while coming down a mountain road and went over the edge. Their truck rolled 100 yards down the mountain. Allen was ejected from the truck halfway down the hill. His body was broken and bruised, but he survived. In the days following the accident, the words “He should be dead!” came from paramedics, doctors, family, and friends. The truth is God let ‘em walk. Allen is exactly where God planned for him to be. God could have easily taken Allen’s life on the mountain that day, but instead, He let him walk. You see, there is no doubt in my mind that God wants to do even bigger things in Allen’s life. The Lord sees more potential in Allen, and He’s obviously not done with him yet. God’s got a greater purpose and plan to come in Allen’s life in the days ahead. Greater things are yet to come. So what about us? Have you ever narrowly escaped death’s grasp? Have you ever wondered, “Why am I still here?” or “What’s my purpose?”I can say with confidence, God indeed has a plan for your life. He’s not done with you yet. With every breath we breathe and every beat of our heart, God is letting us walk. The question is….are we walking with Him?“For I know the plans I have for you,” says the Lord. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.” Jeremiah 29:11 |
Brodie SwisherBrodie Swisher is a World Champion game caller, accomplished speaker, a notable writer, a skilled hunter, and all around down to earth guy! His travels take him across the country as a well known public speaker in the arena of outdoor events such as wildgame dinners, banquests, archery classes, and filming. Above all Brodie Swisher loves Jesus and he can't wait to share his passion for Christ with those he meets. Archives
September 2013
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