November 28, 2012   

Today's Photograph . . . . Until Then, We Must Anticipate Them   (Raymond R)

Bible Study Verses

Acts 27:18-20

We took such a violent battering from the storm that the next day they began to throw the cargo overboard. On the third day, they threw the ship's tackle overboard with their own hands. When neither sun nor stars appeared for many days and the storm continued raging, we finally gave up all hope of being saved. (NIV)

Action Point
It was early December and the late cow elk season was just getting underway. Hundreds of hunters spread out over northern Arizona. The lower elevations of the northern country drop as low as five thousand feet where the mountainous range can reach elevations of twelve thousand feet. A well forecasted snow storm was headed for the area. 

Most of the hunters took the necessary precautions, warm clothes, heating supplies, and plenty of food. However, some either did not know of the impending storm or were under prepared for its arrival. Soon the winds increased to seventy-eight miles per hour and roughly twenty inches of snow dropped in a short period of time. In the end some thirty hunters had been rescued and two bodies were found in the largest search and rescue mission in Arizona's history. 

(Brett M) 

Thoughts 

Paul was being sent to Rome to appeal his case to Caesar. Ships generally did not travel in the winter months because of storms and changing wind directions. However the decision was made to make the trip, now in October. In an attempt to set port in Phoenix which was a mere 38 miles from their current location, they were stuck by a severe storm which pushed them some 600 miles off course where they shipwrecked at the island of Malta.

  

Storms are a part of life. We have plans to do certain things and storms interrupt those plans. We have plans to do certain things for the Kingdom of God and storms interrupt those plans and drive us off course. However the storms take us off course from the plans we had, not the plans God has. He knew about the storms coming, they did not take Him off course, only us. 

We should embrace these storms realizing that God is in control, not us. That He has a plan for our lives and that plan will contain many, many storms. Our only safe harbor from those storms will ultimately be in Heaven. Until then, we must anticipate them, plan accordingly as best we can, pray for endurance, and ultimately accept God's plan for our lives and be thankful.  

Sportsmen's Tip of the Day

Specialty tools for hunting can get expensive. Try using a drywall saw available at any hardware store, as a bone saw. You can find one with a very sturdy handle for half to one third the cost of a bone saw.