A Couple Days in The Woods

This last week has been pretty awesome. Last week Friday I get a call from my buddy Chad who says he is heading out to another friend's property on Saturday to cut down some trees and wanted to know if I was interested in joining the fun. Well...given my passion for power tools, the sound of high revving two-cycle engines and flying sawdust, of course I said "Yes"!

So Chad, John (the friend with the property), Joe and myself spent the day on Saturday clearing some of the dead fall and cutting down a huge old oak (it was dead for quite some time). This old oak was definitely huge. John's saw has a 36" bar and it wasn't even close to going all the way through the trunk of this woodland behemoth. It felt great to just be out in the woods, hanging out with friends and accomplising a mission together. It's important to clear out the dead wood so that the young trees have enough light and space to be able to grow.

Then a couple of days later, I packed my bags and headed for the woods of western Wisconson to spend some time clearing dead fall of another kind. I spent Monday afternoon through Wednesday morning in a prayer cabin at Wilderness Fellowship to be with God in solitude to clear out what has been "dead" in my own life. No sound of chainsaws, no smell of two-cycle exhaust. Just me in a cabin in the woods with my Bible and couple of good books to spend quality time alone with God without distraction.

You see, we occasionally have to take a look at our lives and clear out the "dead fall". We need to seek to remove from our lives whatever is impeding our truly living out God's purpose.

I learned alot from those days in the woods. The most important thing was how much I really need God and how easy it is to allow distraction and the busyness of life drive a wedge between God and myself.

So...if you ever get the chance, spend some time in the woods, get alone with God, let Him clear the dead fall from your life so you can know Him better.