Trail To Adventure

As hunters and fishermen, we are constantly taking aim at something. Fishermen at times are sight casting to fish in a river or other body of water. In order to have our lure land where we want it to, we take aim at the exact spot and let the cast go. As a hunter, it is required that we concentrate on a target before pulling the trigger or releasing the arrow towards the target. In life, if we want to hit the target we are aiming at, we need to take aim at what God has set before us.   On today's program our host, Dean Hulce, will introduce two men who are part of an outdoor products company and TV program. They will talk about the importance of taking aim in life…  not just in hunting and fishing, but in our striving for having the best life possible.

For many years there has been a saying that has gone around in the business world that says, "Think outside the box". Well that same saying has been getting more and more use in the ministry world as well. With our world changing and people being drawn in more directions that ever before, we should be begin looking for ways to reach men and women with the Gospel message. On today's program, we will visit with an old friend of our host that we met up with in Northern Texas at an outdoor hunting and fishing event. Following Covid, he had a calling to do something that would get men and women together to experience something with others. With everyone being locked in and chances of getting together with others very limited, he felt the call to do something to not only get connected, but to do it in a way to introduce the Good News of Jesus to outdoors people outside the church walls.

As hunters and fishermen, we are constantly in pursuit of something. It might be a trophy fish, bird or big game animal, or maybe just the pursuit of the next great adventure. Even others that might not chase prey in our lives, we are chasing after something: success, fame, money or something else. Whatever it is, if it's not the things of God, it is meaningless.     On today's program, we will visit with a good friend of our host. Our guest pursued a place to hunt and was somewhat relentless until Dean gave in to the pursuit.  God had a plan and eventually our guest gave in to what God had in store for him.  He accepted the gift that God had for him.

With a new year within our reach, it's a good time to hear about new beginnings.  We all face new beginnings throughout our lives, sometimes it's month by month or year by year, but whatever the time frame we are continually being shaped and changed into something new, more and more all the time. On today's program we will meet a young man who has served the Lord as a pastor in Texas. It's been a tough two years for this young pastor and he has had several new beginnings in his life. We learned of how God has brought him through some major obstacles and how he struggled through the steps to get back to where he had been.

Hunting and fishing camps are some of the best places to meet new people and make lifelong friendships. There is a special bond that is formed that changes the direction of many lives. When these friendships are bonded, God can do amazing things through those whom He puts together. Today's guest is a pastor who goes above and beyond the call of duty. While many pastors faithfully serve year after year within the wall of the church, there are a few others who work outside those walls.  This pastor works outside the church, not just in their hometown church, but all across the country to help churches reach others for Christ, through the outdoors and athletics.

Sometimes we think we have things planned out perfectly with every detail taken care of. Then God puts a stick  in the spokes of our tire, causing us to go off track and change our plans. That's the way things happened on today's program. God's timing is always perfect and when He puts things in our paths, we need to be alert to what He is doing.  So often our lives are overly hectic and chaotic, and we move at what seems like the speed of light.  It's at these times that we need to look around and see where God is moving.

There are times in every life where we come against things that would seem insurmountable. Some of these times we question if we can get through them at all. And sometimes it may be that God takes us home. Whatever we face, we can know that if our hope is in God alone, He has a plan and we can rest on that. On today's program, we will visit with a husband and wife who faced life threatening illness and through the outdoors, God not only built them back to where they were strong again, but also built their marriage strong as well as their relationship with the Lord stronger.

All of us at some time in our lives go through a painful loss. As a child, something small seems impossible to get through and as we get older small things become big things. No matter what it is that we face, there is always a way to get through. Today's guest will share a story of how he and his wife got through the untimely death of their young son and how God blessed them as they learned to deal with their loss. If you have suffered loss or are a person that is always worrying about a potential loss today's program should give you great hope and tools to live by. There is hope in the worst of situations when you give God the reins in dealing with life's worst circumstances.

There are so many times when we're going through really hard times and we begin to feel sorry for ourselves. We can allow those times to make us feel defeated and that life is unfair. But if we really look around at those around us, can we honestly say that?  I've got it pretty easy compared to some others. As we listen to today's program, we will hear from a young man with a "glass half full" attitude who has spent his entire life in a wheelchair and yet often in his life he says, "I've got it better than many others."  

There are many times where we are struggling hard to hear a voice of direction for our lives. These messages can come from many places and many people, but the messages that we hear from God Himself are the most important ones. On today's program, we will hear from a husband and wife who were blessed with an inheritance of a family property that had all the potential to do great ministry on it.  Lakes, streams, swamps and hardwood ridges make this place something special.  

In hunting and fishing, we often learn hard lessons by the proverbial, "one that got away". The buck we missed, the trophy fish that broke off either at the boat or when it wrapped around a submerged tree. Every failure that we face in the outdoors or in life is the making of a lesson that might change our lives. On today's program, we join our host and his guest as they spend a few days hunting Illinois' trophy whitetails in the Golden Triangle. Dean had spent much of his life dreaming of hunting this hallowed whitetail ground and his error in judgement cost him the possibility of fulfilling his dream.

Most all of us who love the outdoors has at one time dreamt of how we could spend every day in the outdoors doing what we love. Life can be hard. It can be unfulfilled or it can be exciting and satisfying every day of our lives. How can we get there? On today's program, we will hear from a young man who thought he had everything he could want in life. He was living like the world tells us is satisfying, but then God allowed an obstacle into his path. That obstacle nearly cost him his freedom, but God had a bigger plan for his life.

In most of the nation, we are in the middle of the fall hunting season and as we think about the game we are chasing we know that they are extremely sneaky and elusive.  God created most every game animal to be a master of hiding and they do it well. On today's program, we will meet a father and son as well as our host and his grandson who all love the outdoors and love each other. They have a passion for all things hunting. They will share the story of how the son became like the trophies he pursued by being able to hide the truth about his life and his actions. But there is truth in the bible verse found in Numbers 32:23 where it says, "be sure your sins will find you out".

There are hunting and fishing buddies who get together for time spent in God's Great Outdoors and there are outdoorsmen and women who are always looking for an opportunity to spend time with others. Not having someone to share these times together in God's creation takes away from the experience. On today's program, we will learn about a ministry that is serving outdoorspeople and sharing an important message in the process. They are building long term relationships with those they are reaching out to. We will hear about our guest's special needs daughter and her learning to love the outdoors.

All of us as hunters and fisherman have stories of the One That Got Away. These stories live on for a lifetime and often grow with each new season. The pain of loss eats at each of us more as time goes on.   On today's program, we will hear from a husband and wife team who have lived most of their adult life in some of the least populated areas in the United States. They have had to learn to adjust to a life that many couldn't handle. They felt called to this place and this life to serve the Lord.  Hunting became a big part of their life there and disappointment became part of hunting. 

Every one of us face storms in our lives from time to time.  Some are just passing sprinkles that look bad as they are blowing in and others seemingly tear our lives apart. Where we take our shelter against these storms is what makes a difference in how we survive them. On today's program, we will face different storms. First, we are in the midst of an actual thunderstorm which has a little effect on some of our sound quality and actually knocks out the power at one point in the recording. The second storm that we will visit is a disastrous one that our guests went through in their lives when they lost their young son to cancer.

Like a farmer who plants seeds for future harvest, if we know Jesus Christ, we are called to be seed planters. If we fail to plant seeds, there will be no harvest. On today's program, we will meet a pastor who felt a calling as a young boy and then spent his life living out that calling. Over the last 50 years he has spent his time planting churches across the state of Utah and then spent several years teaching church planting to a new generation of potential church planters.

Often in life, we start feeling sorry for ourselves because things haven't turned out the way we had hoped. We grumble and complain when things get tough. God never promised an easy or smooth flight, but he did promise that if we rest on Him, we will have a safe landing.

Often times we to come to places in life where some major change takes place.  Generally we can see the cause and effect of those life changes. Some changes are for the bad and others are for something very good, even though we might not immediately see it. This is the case of our guest today. Living through a near death experience that left him with very limited use of some parts of his body and forcing him to have to retire from a job that he loved, the tragedy did turn into something much better. God will often change our direction to bring others to Him, for His glory.  We can't fight it, just trust Him and grow through it.

Once in a while, we come into contact with someone who has a heart so close to our own that we wonder if we have a blood relationship. You think alike and share the same convictions in life. Well today's guest impressed on our host a feeling like that, although their accents are completely different! Our guest will share how he came to realize that he had a serious obligation to raise his kids in a godly life and that he needed to be an example to them. Today we will share those things and some stories of hunting and family memories from past generations. We think you will enjoy the heart of this young man!