Do you feel a need to work the land and
restore the habitat, plant food plots and fruit and nut trees, and create more
browse, thickets and bedding areas? Do you feel the desire to teach others
about hunting, fishing, conservation and management of wildlife and the land?
If so, that’s great because those feelings are the fundamentals of becoming
what is considered a true sportsman.
These are also the duties for stewardship
of this earth spoken about in Genesis, the first chapter of the Bible. In the
beginning, God created everything — heaven and earth in its vast array — and
then put men and women here to be stewards and managers so we would work and
care and reside over all of his creation. I have an overwhelming desire — call
it a passion — for all these things.
With that being said, I would like to
encourage you to do as a few others are doing now. Some have stepped up and are
spreading the word about how to plant seeds, and nurture them, and get them to their
full potential. A few have stepped up to show us how to open up the canopies of
our woods to get rid of the darkness and allow the light in so our woodland
habitats will come back more plentiful than before. A few are stepping up to
show us how our perception of beauty in these mowed fields and park-like wood
lots are really harmful to the wildlife we long to protect. Some are stepping up
and teaching us how we need to be more than hunters.
We need to be managers that control
population numbers based on biologically sound data, which, in return, will
create healthier and stronger species that will benefit us all. A few are
stepping up and planting the seeds of conservation, management and stewardship for
the next generation of managers. Unfortunately, only some are stepping up. We
need a lot more. The Bible teaches us that God entrusted authority to us over
all his creation, and we are called to manage his creation in accordance with
the principles He has established. We are asked to be stewards of all that God
has given us, and by doing so, we will glorify Him. As true sportsmen and God’s
appointed stewards, we need to take whatever gift or talent that God has given
us — regardless of how small you think it might be — and use it in service to
Him and others. Jesus Christ died for us so we could be renewed and would no
longer live for ourselves but for Him.
So stewards, managers and true sportsmen, I
want you to know the work we are doing will benefit us all and, if done for the
right reason, will glorify God. So let us get back to what we were put here to
do. Find your gift, step up and plant some ‘seeds.’ Jesus Christ and the power
of God’s word from the Bible have had a huge impact on my life, and it could
also affect yours if you allow it to. God bless.
