The best way to keep a duck blind free of unwelcome guests is to make use of it through hunting. A potential nuisance runs from gunfire, never toward it. It is the same for our spiritual lives. A good friend of mine, Charlie Murray, who went on to be with the Lord a few years ago, told me once, “We should live for God out loud and on purpose, instead of hunkered down in a church building.” By unselfishly proclaiming Christ, your mind is not programmed to please yourself, and this eases the burden of temptations. James 3:16 says, “For where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder and every evil practice.” When Christ was on the earth, He was focused on introducing people to God, and by doing that He was void of doing anything wrong. Sharing the message of Jesus is a proven recipe for overcoming sin in our life. I have noticed that when you are bold about your faith, people tend to join you or run from you. Most people find it difficult to be bold because their past has given them a reputation that keeps them silent about their faith, even if they want the benefits of a life in Christ. Fortunately, God provides a way to start over.
Surrendering yourself to Christ through baptism is God’s way of ridding a person of his or her past evil actions, and He replaces your past with His Spirit, which enables us to lead others to Christ. It is interesting that Peter compared baptism in Christ to the waters that flooded the earth in Noah’s day. First Peter 3:20–21 states: “God waited patiently in the days of Noah while the ark was being built. In it only a few people, eight in all, were saved through water, and this water symbolizes baptism that now saves you also—not the removal of dirt from the body but the pledge of a good conscience toward God. It saves you by the resurrection of Jesus Christ.” There is nothing holy about the water itself. Baptism is a privilege offered by God to participate in the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ.
Evaluate your life and determine if you are influencing others for good or being influenced by evil. There is no middle ground. Matthew 24:28 states: “Wherever there is a carcass, there the vultures will gather.” Who are you running with? What does your lifestyle smell like? Matthew 22:32 says this about the almighty God: “He is not the God of the dead but of the living.” There comes a time in life when we need to bury the past and start over, and that is what Jesus Christ is all about. He died so that we might live; He lives so that we might die only to live for Him.
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HUNTING IN HEAVEN
LOOKING TO THE FUTURE
But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body.
—PHILIPPIANS 3:20
In December 2012, the Washington Nationals first baseman Adam LaRoche, who has become one of my good friends, asked me to come and share the message of Christ at the community center in his hometown of Fort Scott, Kansas. A few days before I was scheduled to speak, Adam sent me a text message and asked me, “Do you think there’s hunting in heaven?” Now, my dad likes to joke that heaven to him is thousands of miles of marshlands and cypress breaks without a game warden (or any kind of concrete) in sight!
To be honest, I really am not concerned about what it looks like or what we are going to do. Personally, I believe that just making it to heaven should be our primary concern. I have always viewed heaven as part of the journey toward eternity with other people, angels, and God. However, I told Adam I believe hunting is possible in heaven, based on what I’ve read and studied in the Bible.
After Jesus emerged from his tomb as a resurrected being, He appeared to His disciples near the Sea of Galilee, though His disciples didn’t recognize Him at first. In John 21:6 Jesus said, “Throw your net on the right side of the boat and you will find some.” His disciples had been unable to catch fish the night before, but Jesus led them to 153 fish that morning without one torn mesh of the net (as a former commercial fisherman, I can attest that that is quite a feat). The disciples eventually realized it was Jesus, and in John 21:12 He said to them, “Come and have breakfast.” This resurrected Christ organized and participated in the consumption of two of the five food groups (fish of the sea and bread) as described in Genesis 9:2–3. Why did He do that? Jesus wasn’t eating fish and bread to stay alive—He was now imperishable.
You need to remember that all of Jesus’ disciples believed He was dead. They were still consumed with pain, grief, and the shame that they had turned their backs on Him. They hadn’t recognized Him as Lord when He hung on the cross. However, their eyes were opened at a fish fry as they gathered around a campfire on the shore. Death did not deter their conversation. They looked into the eyes of their friend, brother, and resurrected Lord. It is no wonder that every one of those men at the fish fry would eventually surrender his life to an awful, torturous death rather than deny his Lord and Savior. There is something to be said about gathering around a dinner table to eat a meal with those you love while sharing, laughing (sometimes crying), and praying together to a God who believes in a forever family.
One of the best things about working at Duck Commander over the years has been meeting so many of our fans at trade shows and other events around the country. It’s really uplifting to meet other duck hunters and hear their stories about hunting and faith in God. It always makes me proud to learn that people associate my family with Jesus and that we’ve had a positive impact on so many. It reminds me that the Lord is using us to spread His message to whomever we can. Some of the people we’ve met on the road have become our lifelong friends, and some of the stories we’ve heard have left lasting impressions.
A few years ago, my dad and I met a couple during a trade show in Memphis. We were selling our duck calls and hunting DVDs, and the couple approached us and told us about their son. They said he was a big fan of Duck Commander and was in the hospital battling cancer. They told us his prognosis wasn’t good and asked us to pray for him. Such encounters are not uncommon for us. My dad said, “I’ll do better than that. Take me to the hospital.” It was not a typical response from him. Obviously, we can’t go to the hospital bed of each person who asks us to pray for him or her; however, my dad seemed led to do it that time. My dad prayed with the young man and made a deal with him.
“I’ll tell you what,” my dad said. “If the Almighty heals you, and you get back on your feet, I’ll take you duck-hunting with us.”
We’ve had many prayers through the years with people in similar circumstances. Sometimes in life, all you can do is pray. Most of the time, we leave and are left only to wonder what happened. In this particular case, we were at the same trade show in Memphis the next year, and a young man with a full head of hair and shaggy beard approached us. He had a calendar under his arm.
“Remember me?” he asked my dad.
Of course, my dad didn’t immediately recognize him because he looked so different. But after the man explained he was the guy from the hospital, my dad realized why he was there.
“Oh, yeah,” my dad said. “You’re going to hold me to that duck hunt.”
When duck season came later that year, the guy and his father traveled to West Monroe, Louisiana, to go duck-hunting with us. The hunt was during a driving rainstorm, so the ducks were very much on the move. Despite the bad weather, it was one of those hunts in which you could barely keep your gun loaded because the action was so fierce. Everyone was soaked from the rain, but we were smiling from ear to ear. Immediately after our new friend shot the last duck to meet our limit, the rain stopped, and one of the most spectacular rainbows I’ve ever seen appeared in the sky. My dad said a prayer, offering the Almighty thanks for the day, the abundance of ducks, and the presence of our guests.
As I drove the man and his father back to my parents’ house for breakfast after the hunt, the guy asked me, “Was that a normal hunt?” I’m pretty sure he was referring to the number of ducks we shot, but his question seemed to overwhelm all of us with emotion.
&
nbsp; “We shot our limit of ducks in less than an hour, saw the most awesome rainbow, and did it with a man who defied the medical diagnosis and was given up for dead,” I said.
In retrospect, there wasn’t anything normal about the hunt. As it says in Matthew 19:26, one of my favorite Bible verses, “Jesus looked at them and said, ‘With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.’ ” Certainly, the abnormal is sometimes normal for those who believe in Him. That particular day in the blind with the young man who battled cancer and won became known as the “Rainbow Hunt,” and it made a lasting impression in my life.
More than anything, it was further evidence to me that God is in control. Romans 8:38 says: “For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Whatever your views are about Jesus, the Bible, religion, or life in general, we can agree that life is a gift; we did not choose to be here. My belief system does not come from a religious denomination or creed. It comes from the Bible. By having heard its message, I was led to its Author, whom I believe is our Maker, universe Designer, and ultimately our Savior.
Romans 10:17 says: “Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word about Christ.” God provides everyone on our planet a reference manual through His Bible. God reveals Himself through the Bible and unleashes a power that is difficult to explain. This power can be clearly seen in the changed lives of people who come to an understanding of the message. I witnessed the transformation in my parents, and it was extremely influential in my life. For generations, the Bible has changed the vilest hearts into positive role models and has been evidence of the existence of an almighty God.
As I said earlier, my first thoughts about God came in a duck blind as I gazed upon the diversity and beauty of creation. There is nothing in nature that can be reproduced or equaled by humans. None of our computers, microchips, or cell phones can duplicate what God has put forth. Viewing the details of this magnificent earth is better than any sermon from any preacher I have heard about the evidence of God.
Jim McGuiggan, a preacher from Ireland, probably had the most influence on me in a formal teaching setting. Outside of my family, my wife, my kids, the Bible, and God Himself, I’ve probably learned more from him than anyone else I’ve ever heard. What’s ironic is that I have nothing in common with him, besides our faith in Christ. I can barely understand a word he says because he speaks with such a strong Irish accent, and I’m sure I’d sound funny to him if he ever heard me speak.
The one thing Mr. McGuiggan taught me is that the Bible is a compilation of letters written throughout human history by a living God. The love letters God wrote are special because they lead us to a relationship with an actual being. It’s hard to believe—but it’s true—that an all-powerful God wants to live in loving fellowship with all men. I remember hearing Mr. McGuiggan use an illustration of marriage to show the necessity of having a relationship with God. He made a point that the only reason a love letter is special to people is because of the bond shared with the one who wrote it. If someone’s wife carried around letters from her husband, even sang songs about him, had weekly suppers in his name, and told others about him, but never had an actual relationship with him, the moments of honor would not be special at all.
As Psalm 136:5–9 tell us, creation was God’s power expressed in love. By reading and understanding the Bible as a series of love letters to men and women, you begin to recognize the tender and mighty love of God. The Bible is not a rule book for life or a collection of fairy tales; it’s a weapon of mass instruction. It’s a love letter from God to humanity. It’s an introduction to Jesus Christ, who is God in human form. It declares to the world: God is for you, not against you. To me, the Bible is a work of nonfiction broken into three parts: from Genesis to Malachi, it’s about Jesus Christ coming to earth; from Matthew to John, it’s about Jesus’ life on earth; and from Acts to Revelation, it’s about Jesus coming back to earth. It’s all about Jesus and how we can have a relationship with the omnipotent, omnipresent, omniscient, eternal, holy, and righteous Almighty. This relationship is more important than simply joining a church or doing a few good things.
For me, a lot of answers to life’s questions can be found in Acts 17:22–28. When Paul was in Athens, Greece, he was distressed to find a city full of false idols. As he stood in front of a meeting of the Areopagus, the Greek high court, he told them, “The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by hands. And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything, because he himself gives all men life and breath and everything else.”
To imagine a God who created a world full of individuals who are profoundly different and all loved by Him boggles the mind yet brings hope and clarity to our souls. If God has created you purposely and out of love, then your life is not an accident. All people have the same origin, and as the scripture above says, we all have the same father, despite our differing DNA. I realize that believing God made all races from one man might seem implausible to some, but the idea that we evolved from single cells—or that humanity came from thin air—requires too much faith for me and offers nothing in the area of hope. I believe we are masterpieces made by God on purpose, with a purpose beyond simply existing. His authority as Creator was validated when His Son overcame the finality of death.
Whenever I meet somebody—religious or not—I start right there, with Jesus’ power over death. Like I did with my buddies in high school, when I was only beginning to become vocal about my faith, I ask people three questions: How did you get on the earth? (I believe God made you.) What are you supposed to be doing here? (You’re supposed to find and have a relationship with God, who made you.) And, finally, how are you leaving the earth? (Jesus left the earth flying without mechanical aid because gravity no longer had an effect on His resurrected body.)
One of the most frequently asked questions I get from nonbelievers is “How do you know the Bible is true?” Second Peter 1:16–21 gives us this response: “We did not follow cleverly invented stories when we told you about the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. . . . For prophecy never had its origin in the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.”
Ultimately, no one can verify the events written more than two thousand years ago because time machines do not exist. We are left with documentation, evidence, common sense, and faith. Hebrews 11:1 says: “Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.”
Perhaps the best evidence for the existence and validity of Jesus Christ as God in flesh is found in history books documenting the deaths of His closest followers and disciples. After Jesus’ resurrection, nearly all of His closest followers and apostles were martyred because of their refusal to deny Christ’s resurrection. If they hadn’t seen the resurrected Lord, I can’t believe they would have been willing to die to defend Him. Who would die for a lie knowing it was a lie? Most of their deaths are not found in the Bible, but historical accounts offer some grisly details of the manner in which they died because of their belief in Christ. If they had only said, “It was a hoax,” their lives would have been spared.
Hebrews 7:16 reveals the true reason Jesus is the priest and mediator between mankind and God and why He is Lord: He is “one who has become a priest not on the basis of a regulation as to his ancestry but on the basis of the power of an indestructible life.” If someone were truly indestructible, then those who belong to him would have a secure future and a reason to smile, even in the face of death. Jesus Christ is the sole leader of a major movement of people that began to flourish only after He died. Of course, He came back from the dead no longer able to die again. That is someone who deserves to be foll
owed by mass quantities of people.
The hope for our own resurrection comes from the same power displayed by Christ when he conquered death. Philippians 3:20 says: “But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body.” The body that Christ currently inhabits is immortal, imperishable, indestructible, and capable of enjoying a fish fry. First Corinthians 15:54 says: “When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: ‘Death has been swallowed up in victory.’ ”
In essence, when a person hears that message and accepts Christ as Lord, and reenacts His death, burial, and resurrection in baptism, he or she then receives God’s Spirit, which is the same Spirit that resurrected His Son and will resurrect us. The fruits of His Spirit are love, joy, peace, patience, goodness, faithfulness, self-control, and all other good things. Goodness comes from God’s Spirit because we’re flawed and make mistakes, which the cross took care of and through which we have a second chance. Today, Jesus Christ is still alive and well in heaven and represents those of us on earth who follow Him. Christ’s actions after His resurrection are chronicled in Acts 1:3–10. He stayed on earth for forty days, giving many convincing proofs that He was alive, before ascending to heaven, where He now acts as mediator between God and those who trust Him.
Good Call: Reflections on Faith, Family, and Fowl Page 18