Trace Adkins released a song in 2020 titled ‘Mind on Fishin’, a rather lighthearted ditty about skipping church to hit the lake and wet a line. It’s a fun, quirky song that also opens up the opportunity for conversation about which is really the greater detriment; skipping a Sunday service to enjoy His creation or begrudgingly attending said service when your heart and mind are on other things. The chorus goes as follows:
“I’d rather be on the lake with my mind on God
In the middle of his creation
In an old Jon Boat with my Zebco rod
For some private conversation
There might be a few people talkin’ bad about me
When they see that I’m a’missin’
But I’d rather be on the lake with my mind on God
Than in church with my mind on fishin’”
These lyrics have resonated with me for a number of reasons, and they seem to be a near perfect representation of where I have come to stand in my personal relationship with God in recent years. As someone who grew up in a bible believing Christian household, going to church every Sunday (and Wednesday) I have found myself over the years drifting further and further from the notion of “organized religion”. One thing that I have always maintained, however, is my personal relationship with Jesus Christ. While far from perfect, it is one thing that I have never completely shied away from. There seems to me to be a debate among Christians in the church about just how advisable it is to knowingly and deliberately neglect regular church attendance, and there is a lot of merit to both sides of that debate. My intention here is not to brow beat the church or bible thump the non-believer, but to share my own personal experiences and perhaps bring us all to a better understanding of what it really means to Praise and Worship the God of our Creation. I also don’t want this to be misconstrued as a sort of dichotomy, that you need to either go to church or go to your own quiet place. I think like in many parts of life there is a time and a place for each. Neither should be discounted nor disregarded, but rather should be utilized accordingly and in conjunction with one another. Sometimes you need the community of your brothers and sisters in Christ. Sometimes you need solitude and solace in time alone with the Lord.
This will be a somewhat strange and unfamiliar topic of conversation for me to have, so bear with me as I try to process and evaluate and translate my thoughts and feelings into words as I go. Like I said, I grew up going to church and being heavily involved in the church, finding salvation at a young age and getting baptized when I was 17. I’ve always loved Jesus and have never forsaken my faith in God despite having been challenged on that faith on multiple occasions as the bible attests that all of us as Christians will be. That being said, I haven’t always been the most vocal and open about my faith, and I certainly haven’t been perfect in my walk with the Lord. Now, obviously nobody is going to be perfect, and the whole idea of grace and mercy is that God knows that we’re not going to be perfect. We are also called to live our lives in a manner which glorifies Him, and that is not lost on me in the slightest. I think it’s important to note that each and every one of us are different and we all see things differently, and we approach every situation differently as a result. There is no cookie-cutter concept that fits seamlessly into the lives of every person when it comes to our walk with Christ, which is an important element of this topic for me.
I am reminded often that Christians are called to gather together in His name and the importance of fellowship amongst Christians is heavily stressed throughout the bible, particularly as a recurring theme in Paul’s letters to the church in the New Testament. Ultimately, the church is the congregation of people, not necessarily the building in which they gather (although we do today call those places ‘churches’) and in Matthew 18:20 Jesus says, “For where two or three gather in my name, I am there among them.” The church is also meant to be a hospital for the broken and not a club of exclusivity for the righteous. There is tremendous value in gathering with fellow Christians in terms of renewing our individual faith, coming together in prayer and in worship and studying the scripture, and also in conviction and accountability. In fact, it has been through an account of conviction that I have come to ponder this topic and spend a lot of time thinking about it that I have been inspired and motivated to write about it. It is not lost on me that there is significance in physically attending church and gathering with my fellow sinners in His name. I also firmly believe that it is just as easily possible to attain that same significance outside of those four walls. Our admission or omission from Heaven will not be determined based on our Sunday attendance record (can I get an amen!?!).
As I said previously, this is meant to be a sharing of my own personal experiences, but I wanted to set the table with a prefacing of what I have heard all too often about the importance of physical church attendance. Anyone who knows me knows that while I am incredibly comfortable and open and honest amongst my own friends and family, I am not someone who can be described as a ‘people person’. Interacting and communicating with strangers and people with whom I am unfamiliar can riddle me with anxiety and angst, and my own life experiences have taught me to naturally approach these situations with my guard up. I am consciously aware of my own social awkwardness, and so it is difficult for me to open up in these sorts of settings for fear that I’m going to do or say something goofy and weird. Because of this, I have found it difficult to try and mesh in with churches and congregations apart from the one that I grew up in. Now, I could and probably should face my fears in that realm head on, and I do not disagree with the idea of regular church attendance.
Recently a step I have taken in the direction of that church attendance has been through taking advantage of the opportunity of modern technology, which allows me to tune in to my church’s online livestream on Sundays. Obviously that doesn’t have the same level of impact as physically being present and being able to fellowship with my church family, but at the very least it gets me into the Word on Sunday. I consider myself fortunate to have been able to maintain my own personal closeness to God through my own avenues, which I understand is not something that everyone is able to find. My hope and prayer in sharing what I suppose one could consider my own personal testimony in this area is that it helps others find what could be their avenue to that personal relationship with Jesus, whether you are a church-distant believer or someone who struggles with that belief to begin with.
People talk all the time about how God has blessed each of us with our own gift, so that we may use it glorify Him, and that gift is different for everyone. It could be through music, writing, teaching, mechanical inclination, serving others, you name it. There are countless manners in which people can serve and glorify God. Some people just seem to naturally be social butterflies, perfectly incapable of meeting a stranger and able to make friends with anyone. Some people are natural born leaders, able to take charge of a situation and command the respect of the people around them. When these skills and gifts are applied appropriately, they can serve as a shining light of God’s Glory. I have struggled my entire life with figuring out and understanding what my gift is. I’m not a people person, so anything that involves talking and interacting with strangers is difficult. I joke all the time that I don’t have a musical bone in my body, although I do love and enjoy music I just have never been able to comprehend it. I sort of have skills in a lot of different areas, but I’ve always considered myself a jack of all trades and a master of none. I can do simple vehicle repairs/services like oil changes and even replaced an alternator once. But as for the real nuts and bolts of how engines work I get lost very quickly. I do like to write, but it is incredibly difficult for me to translate my thoughts and my ideas into words on a screen or on paper, and I don’t know if I would consider myself a “good” writer (I’ll leave it up to you as the reader to decide that about me).
From a young age I have been enamored and extremely passionate about the outdoors, hunting, fishing, hiking, camping, etc. Anything that gets me out of the house and into God’s Creation motivates me and excites me beyond comparison. If I had to point to something as being a gift from God, I’d say it probably revolves around this passion for the outdoors. I’ve always said that I’m simply not cut out for office work; that I need to be outside in the elements to find my own peace and happiness. As someone who is incredibly comfortable in my own solitude it feels like a natural pull toward things that I can do on my own, like throwing my kayak on the water and floating around with a fishing pole or climbing up in a deer stand with my bow or rifle. I enjoy challenging myself in the outdoors and learning new skills and activities whether it be learning to pursue new game or visit new places.
It is also in these moments that I have truly experienced the awesome power of God in my life. I can recall one particular morning on opening day of deer season I was sitting in the stand as the sun came up, feeling the eerie yet comforting stillness of the woods around me. As I sat there the season’s first snow began to fall silently around me. It was a serene moment that moved me to the verge of tears as I was reminded of God’s wondrous design. On the flip side I’ve also sat on the stand during an opening day thunderstorm, shielding my face from the rain and questioning my own intelligence for sitting on top of what is effectively a lightning rod in that scenario. I’ve found myself on countless occasions walking the banks of a stream or lake and just being so moved to set my fishing pole down, have a seat and engage in raw conversation with God about the goings-on in my life. The wilderness is my quiet place, it is where I am able to put the rest of the world on pause, if only for a few short hours. Out there I’m able to leave all my worries and reservations in the truck, freeing my heart and my mind to focus on that conversation with Him. Some of my most memorable experiences in the woods have not involved so much as seeing an animal, and I do not take that for granted. In fact there have been several times where I may have taken my rifle or shotgun into the woods with me, deluding myself into thinking I went out there to hunt, but in reality that was an excuse to get away from the hustle and bustle of my life so that I could have that intimate connection with Jesus.
Admittedly, those conversations with God have not always been particularly pleasant or positive. Typically, I come into those experiences with more questions than I have answers, and at times it has felt more like lashing out than it has constructive prayer. I will attest however that while it may be a theologically incorrect form of prayer, it is certainly better than no prayer at all. I’ve been angry, confused, hurt, and uncertain about what my future holds. It has been in these times that I have presented my troubles to Him and sought His guidance, whether it be relationship problems, loneliness, job struggles, or simply not being able to understand His plan for me and asking where it is that I need to be going next. I believe that the rawness of these conversations is something that God anticipates from us, and of course He is prepared to work us through that. It is through that emotion that we can recognize the genuineness of our prayer. Sometimes it feels easier to utilize God as a punching bag, to vent our discontent about our own uncertainty, but it is through these moments that He is able to speak to us. Just as a parent having to calm an unruly child amidst an emotion fueled temper tantrum, God allows us to release our frustrations. Once we are able to get it all out and calm down He is then able to speak to us with that reassurance like only the loving Father He is can.
In conclusion, I believe that while fellowship and gathering together as a church body are paramount to our walk with Christ, it is equally as important to allow ourselves the opportunity for solitude and peace. We need love and support of our fellow believers, and we need to just as available to love and support one another. Again, the church is a hospital for the broken, and we need to get to that hospital for regular check-ups. But at the same time, we need to be able to have that personal connection with God and develop our one-on-one relationship with Him. I believe that it is in these intimate moments that we are able to seek Him out and evaluate our gifts and how to use those gifts to honor and glorify Him. So I would encourage the non-regular church attender to take an opportunity to find their way to church a little more often, and I would encourage the church body to exercise a little understanding for when one chooses to hit the lake or the woods or wherever their quiet place may be instead of the church pew.
The Hunting Lodge 