Those of us who roam the woods of America hunting for deer and other big game animals all live by the calendar when it comes to the seasons. The Bible tells us of these things as well when it says, “To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:” (Eccl. 3:1) We Florida hunters couldn’t agree more! We have Turkey Season, Archery season, Muzzle loading season, Dog-toughening season, Dove Season, Gun season, and many more, including all the fishing seasons! Outdoorsmen (and women) live for these seasons to roll around, counting the days as they approach! Part of the excitement of the season is the preparations we do to get our gear ready!

 

While living in the Otter Creek parsonage sometime in the late 1990s, I got my trusty muzzle loader out the night before the season opened to check it out for the next mornings’ hunt. I would always thoroughly clean the gun and pre-load it the night before I went hunting. Muzzle loading rifles and pistols are very safe as long as you don’t put the percussion cap(s) on. They can’t fire without that little cap, which provides the hot flame that ignites the gun powder in the gun. Unlike regular guns, muzzle loaders tend to take more maintenance because the black powder burns dirtier and smokes a lot more than the newer gun powder used in modern cartridges. I would always put a patch of some sort, or a piece of paper towel in the end of my barrel to keep it from rusting when I stored it until the next season.

 

On this particular night I decided to shoot a couple of percussion caps through the barrel to make sure it wasn’t loaded from the last hunt, as well as to “dry out” the barrel in preparation for the new load I was getting ready to put in. It was around 11 PM in the sleepy little hollow of Otter Creek, with all the residents sleeping safely in their beds. I walked out on our front porch, aimed the gun in a safe direction, and fired a cap. The cap didn’t go “CRACK” like it normally did! It went “KAABOOM”, as loud as a civil war cannon!! Smoke filled the air and the sound rocketed through the little town loud enough to wake anyone within a quarter mile of the house! I had forgotten that my old muzzle loader was still loaded from the last season! My wife hollered, “Good Lord Honey, what are you trying to do, wake the dead!” I quickly went back inside the house and shut the door hoping I didn’t wake anybody up!

 

Within 20 seconds I heard cars pulling up in our drive way. I peeked out the curtains and there were two Levy County Deputies’ cars in my driveway with their blue lights flashing! I sheepishly walked out toward them with my hands raised in the air. I said with a loud voice, “I did it!” One of the deputies, standing with his hand on his gun, behind his door, with the bright spot light on me said, “Yeah, no doubt you did it!” “What in the world are you doing shooting a gun in a residential neighborhood at 11 O’clock at night?! Are you crazy?!” I told them that I was getting ready for Muzzle Loading season which started the next day, and was cleaning my gun. They replied, “Well you cleaned it, didn’t you sir!” I sheepishly laughed and said, “ I sure did!” They didn’t arrest me and told me not to be shooting in town anymore, to which I readily agreed! They also said that they would probably soon be flooded with calls from all the formerly sleeping residents! I thanked them that they didn’t arrest me and went back inside to calm my heart down after having thought I was surely going to Levy County Jail that night!

Before I fired “the shot heard round the town”, the two patrol cars had been parked in the school parking lot not even 200 feet from the front porch I was on! Had I seen them there in the dark, I would certainly not have fired the gun! They were taking a break, parked side-by-side with their windows rolled down, talking and waiting on their next call from the dispatcher when my cannon went off! I’m sure it scared the be-jeepers out of them! I can imagine in that instant when the shot rang out, they probably thought they were under attack! I am glad now that I had aimed the weapon up in the air, and not at the tree they were parked beside!

 

Life is so much like that isn’t it? Many times people do wrong things under the cover of darkness or behind closed doors and we think no one knows. God knows and sees everything we do, He says in His word, “….then you will have sinned against the LORD, and you may be sure that your sin will find you out.” (Numbers 32:23) My fool hardy shot that night was not meant to hurt or maim anyone, I was just cleaning my gun. But, the place and time I chose to shoot it wasn’t one of the brightest choices that I ever made! My bad choice was found out immediately and dealt with! I walked to their “light” in submission and humility and found mercy instead of judgment! Thank God!

 

On another note, there is a lot bad stuff done at night when hardworking, honest people are asleep. There is a whole culture of humans that sleep all day and carouse all night to do their evil deeds. The thieves and evil doers that seem to be everywhere these days usually steal or do their evil deeds at night. Jesus tells us why, “And the judgment is based on this fact: God’s light came into the world, but people loved the darkness more than the light, for their actions were evil. All who do evil hate the light and refuse to go near it for fear their sins will be exposed. But those who do what is right come to the light so others can see that they are doing what God wants.” (John 3:19-21) (NLT)

 

One thing you can be sure of is that one day God will hold them totally accountable for everything they have ever done wrong! There is a pay day coming for those that do wrong and won’t stop! It is much better to come to God’s light now and be dealt with than to await God’s final day of punishment! “So you see, the Lord knows how to rescue godly people from their trials, even while keeping the wicked under punishment until the day of final judgment.” (2 Peter 2:9) (NLT) If those that are doing wrong will walk into God’s revealed light in submission, they too will find mercy and grace, rather than the judgment of hell later!