You know, a lot of the troubles we have are due to our own workings..
My hunting buddy Roy and I were out in Kingston. We were meeting there to go hunt a property I got permission to hunt. Roy noticed a property off Hardin Bridge Rd that had a big sign at the gate "BANK OWNED", he had looked at that property for 20 years and thought... finally, we can hunt it. We drove over and went onto the property and began to hunt, thinking that as usual, bank owned, foreclosed property is no problem, it was recently bush hogged and a little rough, not maintained with no buildings.. well.... it was a problem because part of the property, by a large creek was not bank owned but private owned and by a guy who is hard nosed, however it was not designated or posted.
In about 15 minutes a guy pulled up talking on a cell phone. He told us that we were on private property, that it was not his and the B owned property had just ben closed on a few hours earlier. His partner, the owner of the property by the creek asked him to get our tag numbers and detain us because he had called the police. The guy who was there saw that we did no damage, (I had dug a piece of iron trash and had fixed the hole so well that I could not find it when he told me the owner said to put it back). The gentleman who came over told us what the other guy said and then told us, "do me a favor and just leave". It turns out that he is on the city counsel in Kingston. We thought maybe that would be the end of it but... alas, this was not the case.
Yesterday I got a call from the police chief who left me a message to call him. I called and he asked me about it, I told him who I was and that we meant no harm and thought it was a foreclossed property. He had not wanted to do anything about it because he realized it was really not an issue. However the owner had called him twice and forced the issue. The chief said that he, the owner, was determined to prosecute us but that he did not want to do it. He said that my attitude was a determining factor. He told me that he was going to wait until Monday and talk to the owner again and if he persisted that he, the chief, was going to tell the owner that he wasn't going to do anything and if he wanted to push it he would have to take it to the magistrate court. We were thankful for that.
I was worried about it. My wife is a CPA and has big clients in Kingston, like the Governors House and a man who just bought about half of the property in Kingston... I did not tell her and I certainly didn't to embarass her by having my name in the paper.
So... today I went out to take pictures of the BO sign and the property and of course the sign was gone... and, laff, Roy was coming down the road too, and he lives down in Cobb county. We talked a bit and I went over to Ladds Farm Supply to get some rock salt to make ice cream with my grand daughter. (Ladds is also one of my wife's clients)... this was a bad thing in the making.
I was driving back home and I prayed to the LORD to please deliver me out of this mess.
This is where it get's good.... I stopped at the store near my house to get ice for making the ice cream. When I walked in the store who would I see but Chuck, the guy who had pulled up and who had told us to leave the property. I went over and thanked him and pulled him aside to update him on what the owner and the chief had said and done. He was very sympathetic and said that he didn't know what he could do as a counselman but that Monday he was going to talk to the chief and to the owner for us... we talked a bit and after asking, I got permission to hunt his proprty, which is about 50 acres in a GREAT location for CW stuff. Then, while we were talking who would pull up at a gas pump but the landowner... Chuck, the counselman, and I were standing outside the store talking and the owner walked up smiling and glad to see him... I shook his hand, introduced myself, (he didn't know who I was), I told him my name and that I was one of his troublemakers, he didn't get it so I explained that I was one of the people who was on his land. We talked, I apologized, he accepted, said that he was not going to pursue it.
Don't try and tell me that the LORD wasn't in that... He was all over it!!
I asked if thre was any possibility of gaining permission to hunt his land, a little bold there I guess, he said no because he is a collector and hunter. He said he has about 3,000 minnies and nearly everything short of an actual soldier. He said he even has both an actual Confederate and a Union uniform. He did agre to let me see his collection.
So, in the end I wound up going from having an enemy to having a new friend and having 50 acres of new prime hunting ground.
Maybe God works in mysterious way but one thing is certain... He works for his children.
When I told Roy he said, "what a coincidence..." I told him it was no coincidence but rather it was The LORDs doing.
I cannot begin to tll you all the times He has rescued me from myself, all the times He has protected me from the consequence of my own doing, how many times He has blessed me in the face of my disobedience. It is so true that... we love Him because He first loved us.
I have learned that our Father gives to us because He is a giver, because He wants to. He has always blessed me. I want to publicly thank and praise the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, Who has given us all we need in Christ, Who has made our Lord the Lord or Lords and King of Kings and there is a good reason that one day we will cast our crowns at His feet, for we will only have crowns because of Him and His grace.
As I said in another post, He is strongly leading me to learn to pray. Something I have neglected for my entire Christian life. I can sit and read a Christian book, especially the Puritans. I can read my Bible. I can talk about Jesus and the things of the LORD but prayer is a chore for me, and I think for us all. Prayer that gets through, that prayer that pushes through. Not the bedtime prayer for the LORD to forgive us and help us to do better tomorrow, not the 1 minute prayer that we hurry through.
Pray for me that I will go ahead and follow His leading. Pray for me that I will walk in the Spirit and not in the flesh.
Thanks for listening.
Julien
My hunting buddy Roy and I were out in Kingston. We were meeting there to go hunt a property I got permission to hunt. Roy noticed a property off Hardin Bridge Rd that had a big sign at the gate "BANK OWNED", he had looked at that property for 20 years and thought... finally, we can hunt it. We drove over and went onto the property and began to hunt, thinking that as usual, bank owned, foreclosed property is no problem, it was recently bush hogged and a little rough, not maintained with no buildings.. well.... it was a problem because part of the property, by a large creek was not bank owned but private owned and by a guy who is hard nosed, however it was not designated or posted.
In about 15 minutes a guy pulled up talking on a cell phone. He told us that we were on private property, that it was not his and the B owned property had just ben closed on a few hours earlier. His partner, the owner of the property by the creek asked him to get our tag numbers and detain us because he had called the police. The guy who was there saw that we did no damage, (I had dug a piece of iron trash and had fixed the hole so well that I could not find it when he told me the owner said to put it back). The gentleman who came over told us what the other guy said and then told us, "do me a favor and just leave". It turns out that he is on the city counsel in Kingston. We thought maybe that would be the end of it but... alas, this was not the case.
Yesterday I got a call from the police chief who left me a message to call him. I called and he asked me about it, I told him who I was and that we meant no harm and thought it was a foreclossed property. He had not wanted to do anything about it because he realized it was really not an issue. However the owner had called him twice and forced the issue. The chief said that he, the owner, was determined to prosecute us but that he did not want to do it. He said that my attitude was a determining factor. He told me that he was going to wait until Monday and talk to the owner again and if he persisted that he, the chief, was going to tell the owner that he wasn't going to do anything and if he wanted to push it he would have to take it to the magistrate court. We were thankful for that.
I was worried about it. My wife is a CPA and has big clients in Kingston, like the Governors House and a man who just bought about half of the property in Kingston... I did not tell her and I certainly didn't to embarass her by having my name in the paper.
So... today I went out to take pictures of the BO sign and the property and of course the sign was gone... and, laff, Roy was coming down the road too, and he lives down in Cobb county. We talked a bit and I went over to Ladds Farm Supply to get some rock salt to make ice cream with my grand daughter. (Ladds is also one of my wife's clients)... this was a bad thing in the making.
I was driving back home and I prayed to the LORD to please deliver me out of this mess.
This is where it get's good.... I stopped at the store near my house to get ice for making the ice cream. When I walked in the store who would I see but Chuck, the guy who had pulled up and who had told us to leave the property. I went over and thanked him and pulled him aside to update him on what the owner and the chief had said and done. He was very sympathetic and said that he didn't know what he could do as a counselman but that Monday he was going to talk to the chief and to the owner for us... we talked a bit and after asking, I got permission to hunt his proprty, which is about 50 acres in a GREAT location for CW stuff. Then, while we were talking who would pull up at a gas pump but the landowner... Chuck, the counselman, and I were standing outside the store talking and the owner walked up smiling and glad to see him... I shook his hand, introduced myself, (he didn't know who I was), I told him my name and that I was one of his troublemakers, he didn't get it so I explained that I was one of the people who was on his land. We talked, I apologized, he accepted, said that he was not going to pursue it.
Don't try and tell me that the LORD wasn't in that... He was all over it!!
I asked if thre was any possibility of gaining permission to hunt his land, a little bold there I guess, he said no because he is a collector and hunter. He said he has about 3,000 minnies and nearly everything short of an actual soldier. He said he even has both an actual Confederate and a Union uniform. He did agre to let me see his collection.
So, in the end I wound up going from having an enemy to having a new friend and having 50 acres of new prime hunting ground.
Maybe God works in mysterious way but one thing is certain... He works for his children.
When I told Roy he said, "what a coincidence..." I told him it was no coincidence but rather it was The LORDs doing.
I cannot begin to tll you all the times He has rescued me from myself, all the times He has protected me from the consequence of my own doing, how many times He has blessed me in the face of my disobedience. It is so true that... we love Him because He first loved us.
I have learned that our Father gives to us because He is a giver, because He wants to. He has always blessed me. I want to publicly thank and praise the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, Who has given us all we need in Christ, Who has made our Lord the Lord or Lords and King of Kings and there is a good reason that one day we will cast our crowns at His feet, for we will only have crowns because of Him and His grace.
As I said in another post, He is strongly leading me to learn to pray. Something I have neglected for my entire Christian life. I can sit and read a Christian book, especially the Puritans. I can read my Bible. I can talk about Jesus and the things of the LORD but prayer is a chore for me, and I think for us all. Prayer that gets through, that prayer that pushes through. Not the bedtime prayer for the LORD to forgive us and help us to do better tomorrow, not the 1 minute prayer that we hurry through.
Pray for me that I will go ahead and follow His leading. Pray for me that I will walk in the Spirit and not in the flesh.
Thanks for listening.
Julien
Hey Julien,
It is really that easy!