A Life Well-Lived, Part 9; Antelope Hunt

Me: Timothy! You need to write an essay for this contest I just found! The deadline is tomorrow, so you’ll have to hurry! You’re the only one in the house who fits the age bracket, and the winner gets an all-expense-paid guided antelope hunt in New Mexico! Plus a shoulder mount!

Timothy: (instantly in fight or flight, with an antelope-in-the-headlights look, breathless) “What do I write about?!”

Me: “The theme is ‘Hunting – Sharing the Heritage.’ Make it about character! Character qualities you learn from hunting!”

He spent the whole day typing, then called me over for a grammar and spell check. When he finally clicked “send,” he smiled and announced, “I am going on an antelope hunt.”

Whether he knew it or not, Timothy’s confidence was based on Psalm 1: the person who meditates on God’s instructions day and night will prosper in whatever he does. 2 Chronicles 26:5 says, “…as long as he sought the Lord, God made him to succeed.” Bible memorization and meditation (chewing on every word of the verse and asking God for insights on how to apply it) was a part of our morning routine. Even if we took the day off school, we still memorized a verse!

At 16, he wrote these entries in his Bible study journal: “Meditate on 1 verse every morning on my way to work.” And “I need to start meditating at night more. Spend more time meditating on a verse.” He knew scripture meditation was the key to success, and he wanted God’s blessings on his life.

Timothy won the essay contest, bagged the antelope, and the shoulder mount hangs on the wall today. If you want to hear the long, exciting version of the hunt, his dad is happy to tell it to anyone who will listen! The essay, with all of its 16 year-old eloquence, is printed here, just for fun: http://www.oklahomastationsci.org/Safar…/safari_Dec_09.pdf page 11. (The magazine actually added a few typos that weren’t in the original! Makes me want to edit!)

“Let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom…” Colossians 3:16 “If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.” John 15:7