Stuck in a Rut

One of my hunting goals is to harvest a black bear. I set this goal even before I became a hunter. A couple years ago I was bow hunting with a buddy and as the sun was setting I heard a noise behind me. I slowly turned around and could not believe what I saw. For the first time in my life I had big black bear near my treestand. I grabbed the laser range finder and attempted to figure the distance, but due to darkness quickly approaching, my laser had a hard time getting me the distance. After a few attempts, I finally had the distance of nineteen yards. Oh my goodness, I could not believe that I had a beautiful black bear within bow range.
My next step was to connect my release to the string, and because I was overcome with bear fever, I fumbled getting it firmly attached to the bowstring. Once again after a few failed attempts, I was able to get it connected. About this time, I could hear more crashing coming through the woods, so I paused. What I witnessed next totally overwhelmed me in many ways. I saw three bear cubs running up the mountain towards their nurturing mother. I knew then this bear was a sow and I was unable to harvest her. I put my bow down and just enjoyed the moment of witnessing these four beautiful bears in the wild. Shortly later they ran off and out of sight.
I then determined to become a “bear hunter.” I then anxiously waited for bear rifle season to start, so I could go back to the mountain and harvest a bear. Well finally, the opening day of rifle season opened and I was there but surprisingly, I was the only person on the 12,000 acre mountain hunting them. It was a very lonely hunt, but I stuck it out for two days with no sightings of bears. The second evening, it started to pour down buckets of cold rain, so I camped in my truck and eventually fell into a peaceful sleep. The next morning I woke up and the rain was still pouring down, so I fell back to sleep. Around 8 a.m., I woke up in a panic because I realized the road was going to be washed out and I was in a 2WD truck.
I hastily packed up my gear and started to drive out to head home before things got worse. However, within a short distance of my campsite, the road dipped and at the bottom of the dip, was about a foot of thick mud. I put the pedal to the metal and tried to drive through the mud, but the mud was too thick. The truck stuck in the mud like a fly stuck to flypaper. My first thought was, I’m stuck on the mountain and I have not seen a single hunter for the last two days. After twenty long minutes of trying to get unstuck, I finally resigned myself to being in a pretty bad situation. Fortunately for me, two hunters came down the road and saw my predicament. I talked them into pulling me out and I was soon on my way down the mountain.
This reminds me how easy it is to get into a rut in life. What do you do to get out of the rut? A lot of people turn to drugs, alcohol, pornography, and the list goes on and on. All of these vices really do not help you to get out of the rut, but they cause you to go deeper into despair. However, there is a solution. In Revelation 3:20 the bible says, “Listen! I am standing and knocking at your door. If you hear my voice and open the door, I will come in and we will eat together (CEV).” Jesus is here to help you get out of the rut, no matter how wide or how deep. The love that Jesus has to offer is not a temporary fix, but is a life changing experience. In 1 John 1:9 the bible also says, “But if we confess our sins to God, he can always be trusted to forgive us and take our sins away (CEV).” Call on Jesus to change your life and allow him to pull you out of the rut.