Lost Again… and other circular patterns.

I stayed out too late. The sun had set almost 2 hours before and the night was totally black but for a few stars seen through a haze overhead. It didn’t take me long to realize I would get lost quickly as I set out to find the truck less than a half mile away at the edge of a remote lake. The moon was not in sight. My headlamp was only bright enough to see a few steps ahead. I wondered if my left leg took a longer stride than my right as I kept turning to the right quite quickly.

    I would never live down the future stories of me going in circles on a lake in the dark as three teenagers followed behind me. Getting lost in the deep woods is almost acceptable but going in circles in the middle of a lake??

It would have helped if the crappies were not biting so good. The kids were still talking about the foot long plus crappies we had found just as we were packing up to go. I found my little headlamp as the orange sun slipped over the edge. The fish house was packed up but we stayed another couple hours pulling up monster crappies in the dim light off my cap. I took the fish off the hook and put on new minnows. They just fished. The teens were now admitting to being cold and looked forward to feeling fingers and toes again.

The crappies are biting

A break in the haze found us looking at some stars which hang on the western horizon. I picked the one that would guide us to where the truck was parked and one of the kids said we were like the “Wise men” looking for Jesus as we kept our eyes on “Our” star.  The woods came into view and we found the small logging road with our black truck blending in with the night. I pretended to lose my keys, which wasn’t funny to the kids, then we headed home.

I remember one of my high school buddies drew an arrow on his finger pointing forward. He claimed it might as well be his compass because he never got lost. He claimed he had a perfect inner compass that always told him which direction was north! His boasting was bested and he was busted. Yep, he got lost in his woods. I have yet to meet a person who does not lose their direction quickly in a heavy snowstorm, heavy fog, or a black night without something to give direction. I have to my pack my compass, a light, some matches and a few cookies thank you).

Is not this true of so many areas of life?  

We need a star. A fixed point that doesn’t change. A bigger light than little ole me to get beyond us to who we were created to become. The saying “There is a God, and it isn’t me” is a truth hurdle that many won’t jump. The arrow on their finger doesn’t point that way.

With God, I am like one of those teenagers, knowing if I follow him I’ll get home. I also know that without him, my tracks would form many circles going nowhere.

Gary

Ice Fishing and Christmas

New ice and winters underwater world is encapsulated

New ice in northern Minnesota. Literally a thin skin on the water with unbelievable strength. Four inches of clear ice and a small car can drive on it (if there are no cracks, thin spots, snow ice, no wind to buckle it, no springs underneath, you don’t drive too fast, and other unforeseen issues)  if you feel lucky. Don’t go blaming me if you try it and it doesn’t work out. It’s a good way to meet your maker sooner than later.

I took this picture from my fishing hole. I pulled many fish out of the lake and put most of them back to get bigger.  I am always amazed at winters underwater world. I’ve seen turtles, muskrats, several species of fish, dozens of water bug species, clams, crayfish, and clouds of freshwater shrimp in one small hole in the lake throughout the winter. It’s a unique civilization under the frozen skin. Today the muskrats wanted to use my ice hole for a breath of fresh air. They scared me four times.

I’m standing on some milky ice dotted with air bubbles, expansion cracks, and a reed here and there. This is what I go by to see the thickness and stability of the ice. Safe for an ATV (probably). 10 rotations with the hand auger and I am through. Good enough and glad I walked out with spikes in my pockets to pull myself out if I fall through. This ice is very slick. It’s very cold temperatures and the ice is cracking as it freezes deeper. I took 6 pictures before the camera battery quit in the crisp air.

I’m the predator to the world under me. All I need is a temptation device and a hook. Nine succumb.

Our world is not much different. Most of the predators are visible and we just think we are smart. There are plenty of things that hook us. Some of them kill quicker than others (I bet you can come up with a list without my help). Most require a huge struggle to get out of its grasp on us (I’ve had fish get away but not many).  I’ve had fish get off my hook only to turn and hit my lure again. I’ve caught the same small fish over and over (identified by a hook mark or scar) and had to relocate it to fish in peace. We all know people like that.

Many people don’t believe in Satan or the existence of demons or a devil. Some think you cannot really know if there is really a God or spiritual realm outside of us.  I guess I’m just simple enough to believe the biblical accounts which were unchallenged in their day. Simple enough to believe there is both a God and a Satan who have drilled a hole from the infinite into our little finite world. We are forced to choose between the two. A “no” choice is merely a default choice because we are not perfect. God’s rules.

What does ice fishing have to do with Christmas? It’s really simple, however, it’s a spiritual concept. If we could become a fish and somehow communicate with all the other fish that the DNR is draining the lake and they are all going to die from winter kill one of these years, would it work? “Hey, the only way out is to go over the small dam at the end of the lake and go down river to the next lake.” They would probably eat us instead. Seems to be the way of fish. So it is with the people of Jesus day not realizing He was the way to God. His life for theirs was and is the only way out. Somehow it doesn’t fit well with the really smart people (ow, I bit my tongue).

Here are my questions. Forget what your reaction is to what I just said. Is life going to work out for you in the direction you are currently going? Will you die content (in our world we all die)  knowing love, joy, peace, and hope? Are you sure?

Gary

How do you greet the morning?

Greeting the morning

Like fire in the sky, the day came in a wonderment of colors. The clouds picked up and threw the reds at our little place in northern Minnesota. I put my coffee on the railing by the front door and snapped a few shots of the morning skyline by the drive. Nothing would be crossed off my to-do list for a while. I needed this.

The color faded to gray in a few minutes and a few snowflakes strayed from the sky. I padded into the house with cold feet from the 15 degree morning. No matter how much my new socks cost they weren’t created for replacing my moccasins.

How easy to greet the morning when you are captured by a great sunrise. I wondered what it would take to greet each and every morning no matter what my circumstances?  What dictates how I greet each morning? I have to admit I like my coffee (Just so), quite a few minutes of luxury time wandering around the house looking out the windows and checking for wildlife (Like these deer in the back yard this fall). I enjoy the process of gradually waking up before facing the days challenges.

   How do I greet the day with eagerness and a thankful attitude when I am stressed, sick, mourning loss, or I just don’t feel like it? I must admit that circumstances control me more than I would like to give credit. I guess I need a reason to greet each day as though I ordered the weather and the view.

My personal recipe for finding balance and perspective no matter what the day brings is found in my relationships. My wife, handicapped daughter, special visitors in the guest room, and God are more than just important. Without some eye to eye time however brief  is like filleting a fish and leaving the bones in (I had to get something in the blog about fish). There is discipline involved in becoming the person we could be.

Gary

The Dark Side of Light

Sitting alone in the dark on the side of a mountain

I often contemplate concepts too big to fully grasp. Sitting in the dark while waiting for the light is a part of hunting, camping, fishing, hiking, and much of the outdoor world that I love. I memorized a verse (John 1:5 in the Bible) and have thought about the multiple meanings of darkness not being able to comprehend light. Two real worlds yet one is merely the absence of the other.

I sat on the mountain waiting to hunt elk but contemplated all that was unseen. I wondered how close the nearest mountain lion, bear, and elk were. I knew where the nearest mule deer was because he had challenged me a couple hundred yards back. His eyes lit up the night in my head lamp at 15 yards away and two feet from the ground. My first thought was a big cat until he stood up and came at me. He quickly stopped and trotted away. I thanked the young buck for cleaning out my cholesterol and stood awhile to let my heart slow down. One never knows what might happen in the dark.

I’m on the dark side of the mountain watching it get light in the distance. The town below me has the sun already but I cannot see the mice scurrying at my feet or the big bird that just flew within a few feet of my head as the whoosh of the wings made me hunker down a little more.

It’s dark and I decided all over again (as I have before) that I will live in the light. I like light and all that it represents. Maybe the unknown excites the senses but sooner or later a light is shed on all things. I don’t want my mind to wander past my wife or my relationship with God. I don’t want to treat others as modeled by the reality (Really?) shows. I think I would do better meeting a big cat on the mountain than being in TV land.

As it gets light and the details of the mountains appear all around me, I think of what is in front of my darkness verse. “Through Him all things were made; with-out Him nothing was made that has been made. In Him was life, and that life was the light of men.” (John 1:3-4). Below is a picture of the same meadow, same direction, same camera and lens, a few yards away from the original perspective, with the light scaring away the darkness.

   

I’m still in the dark but the light is within a few feet of me.

I think this is a perfect picture of some who may never know a relationship with the God who created them. It’s all there but I had to walk out into the sunlight to feel the warmth of the Son (Spelling intended) and begin to shed the things created in the dark. I understand the dark side of light. It’s me. I can cast my shadows with my tongue, attitude, or any number of negative traits I seem to drag out of my back pack now and then. I have even kept some seeds of doubt, fear, greed, and I’m not telling you any more. It’s why I try to get alone with God daily, keep a journal of my thoughts and victories, and continue to court my wife (She would say when I’m not fishing).   “If one cannot see their shadow, it’s because they are still in the dark”….Gary

 

 

Ever feel like you are different?

All we like sheep…

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. My last fishing 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, while 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 several pages long. It entails doctors cutting fish hooks out of me, five days of neck traction from basketball playing accident, cracking most of my ribs from an ATV tipping off the ramps onto me, 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 buying some 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                                                                                                                                             

All alone on the sand bar, it’s raining hard in the mountains above and the lake is about to raise several feet. I wonder where this guy’s boat went. I wonder if we are related??

Who needs an Anchor?

Life is good

Deer I said to my wife as I looked out the window. “Yes” she said (I got out of that one by not saying “I wasn’t talking about you.”) Instead I said “look out the bay window”. The one fawn noticed as I clicked the camera and proceeded to watch until they disappeared into the woods.

Life is good sometimes but the good moments seem fleeting. Tomorrow or even moments later Life can be a mess.

I thought of this as I packed up my gear from a great week at Fishing camp Sunday morning. All were headed home. Some to a family who missed them while others going back to be alone. We shared the good times and shared some of the hard things in our lives as well.

I don’t know that we can or should plan things like that. It’s most often better if it just happens I think. Who goes to fishing camp for that? How does one’s escape to a rustic paradise (in a small boat) for a week become a face-off with the issues of life?

Guys slapped backs, shook hands, a few goodbye hugs and a even tears (the wind was blowing some grit in the air).  Some had found true friends and maybe found an anchor in life big enough to tie unto.

Two days of harsh wind, rain, and cold followed by a gradual clearing and calmer was not ideal but we caught fish. The anchor in my boat didn’t hold very well in the heavy winds. It was short and small like a lot of the things we tie unto in life and we still end up drifting and floundering even in the small storms.

I remember a nice anchor I had once that I tied unto with a nice new red rope. Heavy anchor, strong rope, I’m good! Threw it overboard and watched the anchor and the rope disappear into the depths. Guess I should have tied it to the boat as well.  I’m sorry some of you feel like you have been thrown away.

So after all the fish fries,  story telling, great food, and pictures; just remember there is an anchor big enough to trust. The rope has been cut between God and man. The age old story of Redemption that so many scoff at. Jesus Christ paid for a new rope with his life. He didn’t stay dead and now offers us the rope. It’s a relationship with Him not a to do list. It’s not religion or being religious. Tie on and keep tied on before throwing the anchor.

The guys were laughing at me because my anchor rope was 18′ long and the fish were in 21′ of water in a stiff wind. Sometimes I’m on a short rope with God in the storm. How about you? I would like to hear your applications. And yes I am buying a longer rope for the boat. Not quite as easy a fix for the soul though.

Gary

I’m back and going forward

last cast   

This will be a common scene on this lake as some of us will be pulling in walleye in 3 weeks at fishing camp in northern Minnesota.There is plenty of room by the way for more guys. I think there are guys coming from 5 states so far.

So where have I been lately? Like some of you I have been working 12 to 16 hour days for way too long. Gary has been a very dull boy.

I’m back and going forward! I am now freed up from a job I struggled with and am now taking time to make some more transitions in life. I took this shot a couple days ago while contemplating life with our church pastor. A fish bit as I clicked the shutter. A small walleye. Nice office view for a pastor don’t you think??? Life has more choices when we get out of our box.

Risk taker on board

A series of phone calls, several speaking engagements, 5 day fishing camp at Oak Hills camp sponsored by Christian Outdoors Fellowship of America, put house up for sale, heading to elk camp in 6 weeks, and my life is really changing. I dare not look around much less back. I’ve been studying that cloud in the background of the picture. I think it’s a sign I should go goose hunting this fall as well. Who is with me on that?

I have no idea what lies ahead. With no steady job we are facing into a cold wind during these times. Just an hour ago I was in deep study for this weekends speaking engagement and I noticed the daisies outside the picture window that flourished so well this summer. I should take lessons from them. In fact I shall be more content and bloom wherever (I’m planted) and whatever (happens).

Now I can take the grand kids fishing again…Look out guys, these girls know how to catch a meal!

What’s in your bucket?

Today I ran into a bee’s nest on the ground the size of a basketball while out in the woods. I found out I can still run fast. Dad wanted adventure as well, so we took care of the black hornet nest the old-fashioned way (no not with sling shots).

I love adventure and highly recommend it by just doing something out of your norm. Being a naturally shy person, I struck up a conversation with a businessman at the airport the other day. He was headed to the arctic circle to pass out bibles with a missionary to the people up there. What an adventure! It was his 6th trip. We only had a few minutes to talk boarding the plane. I got his first name and promised I would pray for him every day for his seven days up there if he would promise to fill me in on the rest of the story in eternity around the campfire someday. He said “Deal” and we parted.

More to come as I begin to press ahead for more adventures and see life’s truths through the camera lens and various other lenses. To answer some of your questions…No, the grand kids didn’t drive my son’s 250 hp turbo charged jet ski by themselves (yet). Yes, He gets the power kick from his mother. Yes, some of the crappies were over 14″. Yes, I’m hoping to snowshoe into the wilderness into a couple lake trout lakes and winter camp this winter and you are invited.

Gary

Wild Outdoor Adventures and Serious Fun

Nine of us embarked on a Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness Trip a few days ago. Nine of us (thankfully) came back out a few days later. High winds, swamped canoes, physical ability questions and extremely rugged territory redefined our plans. It’s one thing to look at a map and plan your adventure; quite another to look at the 40mph gusts driven whitecaps on a big lake you want to cross with your canoe. We opted to live longer and enjoy wherever we were. It was a good choice!

Dwight working the shoreline for reluctant fish

Surrounded by high rock cliffs we still had plenty of adventure, fish fry’s and extra lively discussions around the campfire. There was always hot water for hot chocolate, coffee, teas, apple cider and even instant latte’s from a pouch.

In 55 trips I had seen one tipped canoe from high waves. Trip #56 had four unplanned baptisms.  Severe wind gusts would change directions and drive the canoe sideways to the big waves and the laws of physics took over.

We can now tell you that you will sprain your ankles walking on the rocks when you cannot feel from the knees down from being in cold water too long. We were reminded that we were only visitors (very prepared ones for most things) in the wilderness.

Mark and Stuart in a campfire discussion

Nature doesn’t go out of it’s way to help you when things don’t go as planned. We concluded that God doesn’t either ( God was with us…maybe laughed a little?).

Let me share something I have learned in 56 trips into this wilderness. It Doesn’t matter. The important part of being in the wilderness is that you are there so enjoy it. On my very first trip we were sleeping (OK trying to sleep) in  old borrowed leaky tents while it rained three inches one night. The teenager in the middle of our tent finally voiced his thoughts between thunder crashes in the strobe lit night. “The water is dripping on my head, there’s mosquitoes everywhere, I’m wet, I’m cold, all my clothes are wet, I love this! This is great!”  I checked his fore head for a high temp (and then mine) and went to sleep in my wet bag.

I had plenty of time to get to the rock cliff tops and see some great sights

Nine of us are reflecting on what we consider now to be a great trip. The astounding scenery was bigger than we could contain. The friendships we made were beyond the normal “guy trip” stuff. The insights into ourselves about our own expectations of God and nature yielding to our plans (it normally works out) came to light.

We fished and explored a couple lakes rarely visited by humans. Insects that don’t exist live back there. A nectar sucking moth that hovered like a hummingbird thought my ear was a flower. Two ants were hiding a moose bone from the bigger ants. We left when the water started vibrating from heavy thuds and thought we might start imagining things if we stayed. I could go on but you might not believe me.

nice fish for lunch Tim
Lunch on a rock out in a remote lake

Just being there challenges our tension to be constantly on the go and still enjoy all the nature around us. I ask myself “why do I always need to be “Doing” something? Can I actually sit on a rock and ponder the wonders before me? Can I just sit and acknowledge the rugged beauty and have a long contented talk with my creator? Can I just be there and be content? Is it enough? What is enough? When will it be enough? Do I need another dunking?”

Gary

STA…StoryTellers Anonymous

Monster Pike from a canoe, no net on 1# test, old fiberglass rod, fish was trying to eat the canoe!!! 

I thought it was a great idea! I could start an outdoors club in our area under the guise of “Storytellers Anonymous”. Cretian Certain relatives and friends would pay us to go!!!It would probably be a great fund raiser for the next high school band trip!

I can see it now; Johnny to old aunt mae“I’m raising funds to send our band to Washington DC to play for the president” Aunt Mae “I’m not paying you kids any money do such a thing!” Johnny “please Aunt mae, If we raise $1000 apiece our dads have to go to Storytellers ananymous  for a whole year”. Aunt Mae “I’ll give you $2000 myself to see that happen” Johnny “but I only need $1000”, Aunt Mae “I want him there for two years and he can’t get off for good storytelling”

fiberglass canoe, food pack, front tackle bag, mile long portages, 30 miles into uninhabited wilderness… Don’t stick your fingers in the water You will lose them to the hungry fish!

Just my way of helping all those outdoors people hobnob and plan their next outings and socially connect with the “others”. Of course they promise to learn how to tell their adventures in such a way that words, phrases, facial expression, and gestures would make people come alive, hanging vicariously on every word that came out of our mouths. “So Real, I’m living it, I could listen forever” would be common expressions of friends, enemies, and other relatives of those involved with the secret club know as “Storytellers Anonymous” (eye roll please except uncle Fred. That  one glass eye of yours doesn’t roll with the other one and that freaks me out).

-20 below zero 3 feet of ice, fish  photoshopped to fit in picture! H… We are working on your story… STA

We would help each other with the proper embellishments due to the story. The logic behind embellishment is that a told story is not even close to the same as living it. I propose that proper embellishment can help the listener almost experience the excitement, fears, nightmares that night,and adrenaline (OK I haven’t worked the adrenaline part out yet) that accompanies good story telling techniques. One reaches a whole new level of holding the audience breathless when you believe the story yourself. Just a heads up: psychologists disagree with me on where that level is, and have strange beliefs  about the really good story tellers and where they should live

Now this is a fish story!!!

Now I know this fish was caught through two feet of ice in three feet of water on a stick with some line on it. You should hear him tell it!

Being I am posting this on April fools day, Those of you who do not know me in person but read the blogs – know I would never exaggerate on any other day(cough-hack-twinge of TGIA1st).

For another good April 1st blog, check out my niece Elena’s here
Yes the Billy Joel kid can fish.   pictured above (I’m mixing in Elena’s blog here)

Someday some of my extreme wilderness bear stories and wild rescue stories will be told here and only here. No one else has the rights to my life’s adventures so only at www.Garyfultz.com can you get it…or around a campfire at night on one of my trips. I will tell you about how a bear got our food pack hanging 15 feet in the air between two trees, grabbed most of the food and I went after the bear with a flashlight in my teeth at 2AM and got it back. True story but working on reverse embellishments or you really wouldn’t believe me. But maybe I’ll tell it like it is because I believe it!

Have a good April Fool’s day!

Advertisement: Top secret photo-shop lessons given next meeting

Gary Fultz

>Gary Fultz on…The Steak or the Sizzle? Picture truth #7

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I know the smell and sizzle carried half a mile because that’s how far away the teenagers were when they came running. All to be eaten with black beans, rice, fresh onion, peppers, hot sauce, with fresh fish in an avocado burrito shell. This is as close as I hope to get to a Hungary pack of wolves in human form.
I was on the lookout for vampire teeth showing their true nature. I heard thunder in the distance but there were no clouds. I realized it was stomachs rumbling three stages past the mumbling stage.
I looked at the sun and it hadn’t moved much since they raided the extra granola bars and jerky. I was guessing the smell, and the sizzle of the steaks would not satisfy this bunch.
No fantasies of the five adults eating the steaks while the teens watched–would come true today.

 First on the scene….steak…steak...steak!

Leverage is often used as a business term. I used it! “No one gets a steak till we get a stack of firewood waist high” I said. Poof…there it was.
“No one gets a steak till the onions and peppers are chopped and the burrito shells are laid out.”
No poof but bingedy – bang – clash “where’s the band aids? Are the steaks done yet? why am I dizzy? Pause to inhale. “Why am I growing fangs?”

I gave God thanks for the food with my eyes open and prayed the big fish would bite.

    Isn’t it odd that it’s easy to spend a lot of time, energy, and money to devour good food, yet satisfied with the smell and sizzle only, of great spiritual food?
We settle for going to church or a concert for the smell and sizzle of spiritual food and often don’t take the time, energy, or money to just get alone with God in his word (as recorded in the Bible). Pray, fast, Listen to the holy Spirit speaking to us, and finally obeying what God wants us to say and do. Jesus told His disciples who were urging him to eat some food; “I have food that you know nothing about” Then to clarify he said “My food is to do the will of Him who sent me, and to finish his work” (John 4:32-34).
I know how demanding my stomach is. It can rumble with the best of them. I often let everyone around the campfire do a little taste testing as the food is about ready over the open fire. It good, it’s fun, and it would be downright mean to the body if that’s all we did. Let’s not be “taste testers” for our soul. Are you content with the sizzle? How bad do you want the steak?
What helps you the most in your food for the soul? Make your comments below… recipe sharing is a good thing!

“Come meet with Me” The sights, the sounds, the sizzle
Gary D