A New View of this Big ol' World

A couple of weeks ago we introduced you to Eric Schoenborn.   Eric writes some devotional material for his church and this blog is a devotion he wrote and sent from Alaska while on a trip there last month.  Eric was hosting some trips at a fishing lodge helping out with the family business, "Fishing with Larry".  At the bottom of his writing you can click on the You Tube link to see about a 4 minute video of some cool Alaskan fishing and a staring contest with some of the local brown bears.


A New View of this Big ol’ World




As you read this, I am in the wilds of Alaska trying to learn how to cast a fly left handed. I’ll tell you right now that it is totally like patting my head and rubbing my belly at the same time after more than forty years of being right handed.


I love the view from the bush planes in Alaska as you cruise above the tree tops, tundra and up the sides of glaciers and over rims and mountains; gathering it all in. One trip I hope to take next summer as I again spend several weeks in Alaska is with a truly exceptional pilot who is rumored to be able to turn the plane on edge while he flies the rivers and actually spot pods of trout from the air before he lands the plane to fish on them. I’ve often imagined how impressive the earth must look from the cockpit of the space shuttle. Our place in the universe seems at times both important or massive and yet so minuscule.


The end of June, I spent time in a booth at a sportsman show for a ministry we’ve developed to reach kids through outdoor experiences. As we began to answer questions about the ministry, the reaction was nearly the same. “That is going to be powerful”, “How exciting”, “How intimidating and big that is going to be”. “Wow, good for you”. The Christian counselor that I work with from time to time even said, “It’s like you are trying to stop the world on its axis and start it turning the other direction because it is a complete one hundred and eighty degrees from the way the family is heading in our current Western culture.”


Well, I’ve never thought of it that way and I don’t think I’m going to let those statements change the way I’ve been thinking about it. I have been seeing it as simply being obedient to what God has called me to do. It doesn’t matter to me if the ministry is big or small as the affect of the ministry is in God’s hands. I am starting to see that the ministry we are helping build is simply as big as one mentor and one kid at a time. That’s it.


I think many people become paralyzed and fearful of the direction the world is going. Let me assure you that the “world” has always been going in that direction. Christians use the statement that they will “pray about it” or “seek God’s will” and those are always good things but those words have become a cop out statement to do nothing. God’s will is evident in the Word and He has written it on your heart. You only need to seek Him and turn the page to what He has written. It is time to be obedient by loving one person at a time.


I know I have used this before but Jesus answered the question about the greatest command by saying that we are to love the Lord our God with everything we have and love our neighbors as ourselves. The world will feel a whole lot smaller and less intimidating it we take this view.


In Christ Jesus,


Eric Schoenborn


http://www.youtube.com/user/FishingWithLarry#p/a/u/0/kLb758dzuZ0