hunting

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Shopping Doesn’t Mean The Same Thing For Everyone

Let me ask, is shopping a leisure activity or is shopping a hunting activity for you? 

shopping doesn't mean the same thing for everyone

There was a time when hunting was far more prevalent than shopping. … But when you think about it, now shopping has mostly taken the place of hunting. 

The days of going out to kill an animal so you could have meat for dinner have been replaced. Now we go to the grocery store and pick out a juicy steak or frozen pre-cooked ribs already sauced.

We hunt for bargains at the store. We go to malls to gather the items from the list we made before we left home.

But for some people shopping is not so much a hunt, or a replacement for gathering the necessities of life. No, shopping is more of a leisure activity.

So when you shop, is your approach more like a hunt or an activity? 

… To be fair, even hunting has taken on a more leisurely tone lately. I have a friend who just got back from hunting but didn’t shoot anything. He was 15 feet from a moose but they weren’t in season so he didn’t bag the prize. 

There was a time if you came back from the hunt empty-handed you and your family were going hungry. It was imperative that you hunted until you had something to bring home.

Still there’s a distinction between shopping as a hunt or an activity.

For me, when it comes to shopping, I’m more of a hunter than an activity seeker. I like to get in, bag that item I’m looking for and get out.

Recently, due to my wife Lily not feeling all that well, I’ve been doing most of the grocery shopping. This is not my forte, but I’m getting the job done.

Recently on one trip I had to stop a fellow shopper to ask her where I would find egg noodles (at least I was in the right aisle). 

She showed me where the noodles were and told me there were different shapes, to which I said, “I guess I’m going to have to phone a friend for this one.” I had to phone Lily to find out which shape of egg noodles she wanted. That meant using two “lifelines” on one item on that shopping trip. 

The biggest thing I’ve learned lately about shopping is that I’m a hunter. 

… Although at some places it could be tempting to turn shopping into an activity. At Costco there is such a variety of items, an abundance of products and samples to lure you in to making it a leisure outing. 

But not for me – one time I even went to the checkout with one item. The guy in front of me was astonished and asked how I was getting out of there with one thing. 

I’m a hunter, man!

The other day at Costco I picked up four items. When I got home, Lily asked what new things they had in the store. I didn’t know; I never looked. I got my four items and quickly got out. 

No leisure strolling for me. 

Lily, on the other hand, likes shopping and looking at the different items … and that’s how very differently we approach shopping.

Here’s the thing: It is a good thing God’s approach to you and me is a hunter and not just a leisure shopper. There is a song I’m reminded of that gives a picture of this. The song “Reckless Love” has a couple of lines that say, “Oh, the overwhelming, never-ending, reckless love of God. Oh, it chases me down, fights ‘til I’m found, leaves the ninety-nine”. If you ever get the sense that someone is seeking you, hunting you down, it’s God … and He’s doing it out of love. 

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: How do you need to respond to God’s love for you today? Leave your comments and questions below.

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Stop Staring!

We had dinner the other night in a restaurant that looked like a hunting cabin. I’m not much of a hunter – never been hunting, unless you count picking off barn swallows with a pellet gun when I was about twelve. I’m also not much of a fisherman. I have fished but I found it to be a bit of a snoozer for me.

moose

I took our kids fishing on vacation a couple of times when they were little. I had to carry their rods, put the worms on their hooks, untangle their lines when they got too close to each other, and take the fish off the hooks (that part didn’t happen much). It didn’t leave me much time to fish, and just about the time I got my line in the water they were ready to call it quits.

… So having dinner in this place didn’t necessarily make me feel like I was in a familiar place.

Don’t get me wrong, it was very comfortable. We sat in high wingback chairs like the kind you would find in someone’s living room. And all around were reminders that humans are at the top of the food chain.

There were stuffed animals everywhere you looked. These were not the fluffy kind you buy your kids at Toys R Us, but rather the dead kind you buy from the taxidermist.

I kind of wondered if you could order a meal by just pointing to an animal on the wall and grunting a bit. But when I looked at the menu, it didn’t offer any otter, but there was one on the wall!

The whole place was kind of rustic. There was a big old fireplace in the middle of the room and the walls looked like the inside of a log cabin which is what the outside of a log cabin looks like too. When we were shown to our table, I found myself sitting directly in front of the fireplace, above which was huge moose … not a whole moose, just a head.

This moose head came out from the wall a long way, and I couldn’t tell if he had a happy look on his face because he was friendly or because we all looked like a late night snack to him. Apparently, mooses (as I like to call them) are vegetarians so I guess he was glad to see us.

But still, it looked like he had an eye on me. Every time I looked up I saw old Bullwinkle gawking at me. I tried to avoid his stare but something about him commanded my attention.

One time, I said something funny to my wife and then looked at the moose to see if he also got it. He was still smiling so maybe he did. By the end of dinner, I was used to him watching me. I felt like we were buddies, even though he never said a word.

Still, I didn’t turn my back towards him till I got out the door. See ya next time, friend.

Here’s the thing: There is nowhere you can go where God is not present. There is nowhere you can be that He doesn’t see you. It should be comforting to know God is always there … unless you are somewhere you shouldn’t be, and then it should be unnerving.

That’s Life!
Paul

Question: How do you feel about knowing God sees you all the time? Leave your comment below.