Ever feel like you are different?

While traveling in Colorado I took this shot because, well, I relate somehow.

One Sheep is different but still part of the flock. I guess what makes me feel different the most is when I act impulsively. Maybe it’s a part of being on the high-end of the accident prone scale. Add a  risk taking high adventure personality to the mix and the insurance agents in our little town put the “closed” sign out when I get out of my car.

A few days ago I was fishing. darkness was closing in and I was in a hurry to make a meeting. Last cast to meeting was calculated to the minute. Roar up to the landing, lift the motor and hit the beach, back the trailer into the water, jump in the boat run it up on the trailer, fasten everything and go.

Reality: Roar up to landing while motor is being lifted (ahead of schedule-“Yes”), jump out and back the truck into water, run after boat in the water (almost had to swim for it) as the wind is not blowing in to shore anymore. Pull boat to shore, kick boat (toe still hurts), wade boat out past trailer and dock it manually (water forgot to freeze at that temperature), Hook up and go to change clothes .

I’m not sure when these things started but I still remember missing my tree pretending to be Tarzan at age seven. Tree tops kept breaking off because I was trying to bend it into the next tree at eight (we learned to identify the “bad” species very young). I learned to look for spikes and wear shoes in the old barn after using a hammer to pull a board with a spike off my foot.

The mishap list is actually pages long. It entails doctors cutting fish hooks out of me, five days of neck traction from basketball, cracking most of my ribs from an ATV, cutting both arms to the bone and through the nerves (saw blade came off), and tipping both a boat and a couple of canoes in big water. Who would want to even be around me? I grew up wondering why people thought they could trust God for safety and a whole lot of other similar questions.

I’ll let you in on a secret. I’m the sheep in the picture furthest to your left (I know, add delusional to the list). I know where I’m going and who I am following (read John 10:10).Which one are you?

So here I sit behind the computer coughing, wheezing, and looking at kleenex stock as I’m sure that company is doing well judging by my stack alone. My next outing after deer hunting will be ice fishing. I found my long skis so I can disperse my weight on a couple of inches of clear ice to be the first guy out there fishing. That has worked most of the time but that’s another story.

Gary