Hi, all. Just a thought to help start your weekend.

This sign is one that my father-in-law put up on this tree just down the dirt road from their house many years ago. At the edge of their property, it obviously warned folks that there was to be “no hunting.” However, as one might guess, there indeed was a lot of hunting that went on in those woods. 

Many a night we sat at their dining table eating deer steak and gravy made from the spoils of one of my father-in-law’s own hunts out there. (And don’t forget those cat-head biscuits!) His sign warned that there was to be no hunting, yet he was doing exactly what he warned others not to do.

The point for him, of course, was that it was his property. He could hunt out there all he wanted, but there were not to be any trespassers attempting to head into those woods thinking they could do the same. It was his, he made the rules, and others were to stand by those rules.

Do you ever catch yourself questioning God’s rules in your life? We twist and turn His commands and live as though they were just suggestions. We don’t understand the dangers out there in the world, so we attempt to go and do as we please, ignoring His warnings to us.

Yes, His Word includes a lot of “do nots,” but every one of them is for our benefit.

Trespassers hunting on my in-law’s property could have faced the danger of being shot at themselves, had he been out there carefully listening for a deer to rustle the underbrush nearby. You see, his signs weren’t there just for him. That “no hunting” sign was also meant to serve as a protection to anyone reading it — to keep them safe from harm.

We may not (and hopefully will not) ever know all the dangers from which God has kept us. But if we will simply obey His warnings, remain on His path in our life, and quit focusing so much on the woodsy treks of others, life’s travels would be so much easier. His Word has been “posted.” Are we paying attention?

Just a thought. ’Til later.

Brad Campbell can be reached at mastah.pastah@yahoo.com.