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Finish What You Start
"They’ll never last out the winter."
"They just don’t know what they’re getting themselves into."
"Those Americans will be gone, come spring."
"Can you believe they’re livin’ over there at Taku?"
"They’ve bit off more than they can chew, they just don’t know it yet."
Those were the words being circulated at the Trading Post, and in the small surrounding community. However, time is a great vindicator, and it proved them to be wrong. We did know what we’d bitten off; we did chew it, and we stayed until we finished what we’d come to do. But, to be down-right frank, no one could blame them for thinking that it would be more than we could handle.
We had come from warm, sunny Florida to a tiny wilderness community called Atlin, British Columbia, a tiny spot nestled near the border of the Yukon Territory. On arriving there, we set out to a location that required us to cross seven miles of glacier water by freighter canoe, and then shoot several miles or two of treacherous rapids, just to set up our permanent campsite. During the winter months it was necessary to snowmobile across the frozen lake, transfer to our pick-up truck and drive another 120 miles over ice and snow to get our supplies in White Horse,Yukon, the nearest and only town.
But we did stick it out; and made the most of every minute we were there. We soon learned, however, that many families move north into wild country every year, and a whole lot of them have little idea of what actual wilderness living really demands. They start out with excitement and enthusiasm and can hardly wait to begin their new life in the heart of the wild! But as time goes by, a great many soon discover that it’s not at all what they thought it would be like; and, before long their former dream home is abandoned. They’ve packed up and moved on to look for someplace where life isn’t such an exacting taskmaster.
It’s one thing to dream about camping on some beautiful smooth lake, listening to the call of the loon at sunset, sitting around a pleasant campfire, looking up at the star filled night skies, and relaxing as a gentle breeze fans your cheek. That picturesque scene is wonderful, and it’s truly a legitimate part of outdoor living, but it’s only one side of the coin. There’s a whole lot more that needs to be factored into the real life picture than that.
In some months of the year, and in some locations, the weather is beautiful, but it’s not always that way. For example, if you’ve settled in canoe country, it generally means having to cross wide lakes of icy cold glacier water, knowing that should your canoe capsize in the rough waves, your chances of reaching the shoreline alive are mighty slim.
Then too there’s portaging, another little chore you inherit when you live in canoe country. Portaging means picking up your canoe, loading it onto your shoulders, and carrying it and then your packs over rugged wilderness trails for whatever distance is necessary. In summer, it often requires doing it while the little black flies feast on any bare flesh they can find … and believe me … they do know how to find it. I recall one time when they were so bad that I literally threw my canoe beside the trail, and ran at top speed to a pond where a large submerged bull moose just happened to be escaping them too. I didn’t even slow down; I merely leaped as far out into the water as I could, and joined brother moose as a comrade in misery.
Add to those minor discomforts the joy of being out on a trail somewhere when heavy rains sets in. On one delightful occasion I remember all too well having to stay inside a small one man tent for three days and nights while the intermittent rain turned everything outside into mud. About all I could do was to crawl inside my shelter, slide into my sleeping bag and wait it out. Since that time I never travel anywhere without at least one good book in my pack, just in case.
If you’re really going to live in wild country, then make up your mind to the fact that it means taking the bad as well as the good without flinching or complaining. It just goes with the turf, and you just have to accept it or pull up stakes and leave. Nature has no place for whiners, complainers or wussies. It’s not an easy life, and if you’re not tough enough to handle it don’t try pursuing it. . Living a self reliant, independent lifestyle there’s always something that demands your time.
Winter, of course, brings its own set of work and responsibilities. For one thing, there’s the year-round routine of maintaining your cabin’s woodpile by falling trees, bucking logs, splitting fire wood, and having to do it at times when the snow is up to your hips and the temperature is hovering near the 45 degrees below mark. Add to that the unavoidable winter chores of continually having to obtain your drinking water. In our own case we found that we had two ways that we could go about accomplishing it. One was by getting it from a fast moving stream where the ice didn’t stretch all the way across the creek or stream. In our own particular case the creek we had to use was several miles from our cabin. Once we got there we’d join hands, forming a human chain. Then slowly we’d inch our way out onto the shoreline ice, attempting to get as close as possible to the swiftly flowing water. Once there the lightest member of the family could lean out and lower a bucket into the current. This was done very gingerly due to the danger of the thin icy crust breaking apart and dropping any of us into the swirling deadly current. Were this to happen, the current’s irresistible pull could easily sweep a person to their death by pulling them underneath the ice. This little chore had to be done at least once each week.
The second way to get water was by chopping a hole through several feet of lake ice so we could dip our water from there. When finished, we’d cover the hole with spruce boughs to keep it open until our next trip. Soon, however, the hole would shrink in size and then another hole would have to be chopped with an axe or cut with a chain saw. I still shudder to think about having to use a chain saw for that nasty piece of work.
Each fall, about late September or early October, it was time to hunt ---- not for sport ---- but to provide meat for the table. As a general rule I’d wait until the first snowfall making it easier to find and track game, and also because by then, we could hang the meat outside and the weather would keep it cool. It was nature’s ice box. By hanging it high enough the wolves couldn’t reach it, and we’d have our own home freezer.
When we first went into wild country our hunting was done by bow and arrow until we could get a suitable rifle. It became a regular routine to try to drop a moose and a bear to supply us with enough meat to last until spring. Of course fish (especially salmon) were also on the menu, but moose was our main table fare. Bear steak was also a part of our larder, (black bear, not griz). We not only obtained meat from a bear, but one bear would also provide us with about 25 pounds of fat that we could render into lard for cooking. It would turn out as white as snow and my wife said it was better than Crisco for doing her baking and cooking. I also used it on my boots to soften the leather and help waterproof them.
Hunting itself is extremely hard work, but the climbing, glassing, tracking and killing, especially with a traditional bow and arrow, is only one part of the job. After the kill is made, the really hard work begins. It will separate the men from the boys. Why? Picture yourself dropping a moose miles from your cabin, and often a long distance from any trail or bush road. (And where we were located there were no roads). It then becomes your job to get close to 1000 lbs. of moose back home by yourself, though sometimes, if you’re fortunate, you can get together with a friend and agree to help one another with your kills.
You have only a few options as to how to go about it. One is by strapping over a hundred pounds (or more) of meat to a stout pack board and carrying it out piece by piece using "Shank’s Mare" (on foot). And remember, that in order to do that, it means hacking your way through brush, crossing streams, climbing over log blow downs, and slogging through whatever it takes to get the job done. Nor did you have a lot of time to get as much meat out as you could before the wolves or other predators scented your kill and moved in to help themselves.
But there’s sometimes another way. If you made your kill near water, you would then dress out the moose or bear, cut it into as many quarters as you can, and then pack as much as you can carry to wherever your canoe or boat is tethered. It’s then merely a matter of wrestling as much meat on board as possible, and heading for home. After unloading and hanging the meat, you then need to turn around and head back as soon as you can to get as many more loads as you can. Usually, but not always, ; if you can get back to your kill within 24 hours the wolves will not have started eating it yet. The lingering human scent holds them back from beginning to devour it right away. Consequently, you try to make as many trips as possible,. as soon as possible.
Option three,you make use of a dog team or snow mobile if you are fortunate enough to have either one. The truth is that no matter which way you do it, it’s still a whole lot of work. But it goes with the lifestyle.
Somehow, when reality dawns on many newcomers regarding what wilderness living really requires, many of the wanna-be’s lose their desire for life in the great outdoors, and decide to return to their former 9 to 5 life, judging it to be the lesser of two evils.
Now, as I look back over those years, I’m continually struck by the striking similarity between those setting out to embark on life in the wilderness, and those who set out to live the Christian life. Both soon learn that it’s one thing to start out, and quite another thing to see it all the way through.
It’s one thing to kneel at an altar and say, "I now repent and accept Christ as my Savior, and from this day forward I .intend to obey and follow him for the rest of my life." The truth is, that’s the easy part, but it’s quite another thing to stay on course all the way to the finish line, never turning back, no matter how rough the road becomes. AND THAT’S WHAT BEING A TRUE CHRISTIAN IS REALLY ALL ABOUT.
If the truth be told, sad though it is, the majority of those who start out to follow Christ never cross the finish line. And that undeniable fact quite naturally raises this question, What happens to those who start out but somewhere along the way abandon their former resolve to follow Christ? Will they still go to Heaven? Or is it possible that, in spite of having once been a Christian, they nevertheless end up in Hell? Can a saved person ever lose his or her salvation?
Please understand, I’m not talking about those who claim to be a Christian even though they never made a true, bona-fide salvation commitment.. Nor am I talking about those who are saved, but living only a shallow Christian life. The ones I’m talking about are those who once made a genuine commitment to accept Christ and follow him, yet later turned back and no longer make any honest attempt to live the Christian life. I’m talking about those who even after they’ve been chastened by God have still refused to repent. If they die in that condition, will God still take them to Heaven? Is God somehow duty bound to grant them eternal life. Or is Heaven only for the sincere "Overcomers", those who refuse to turn back no matter what difficulties they might be called upon to face?
To one day enter God’s Paradise world (Heaven) does a person have to make an ONGOING effort to keep the faith and finish the course he or she once set out to follow? Does salvation require a continued effort of obedience to God, or does it all focus on one past moment when a decision for Christ was made irregardless of how a person lives afterward?
WHAT DOES THE BIBLE SAY ABOUT IT?
YOU BE THE JUDGE
I Corinthians 6:9,10 Surely you know that the people that do wrong will not inherit God’s kingdom. Do not be fooled. Those who sin sexually, worship idols, those who take part in adultery, male prostitutes, or men who have sexual relations with other men, those who steal, are greedy, get drunk, lie about others, or rob ---These people will not inherit God’s kingdom. NCV
Ezekiel 38:24,26- But when the righteous turneth away from his righteousness, and committeth iniquity, and doeth according all the abominations that the wicked man doeth, shall he live? All his righteousness that he hath done shall not be mentioned; in his trespass that he hath trespassed, and in his sin that he hath sinned, in them he shall die….when a righteous man turneth away from his righteousness, and committeth iniquity, and dieth in them, for his iniquity he shall die. NKJV
John 15:6 If a man abides not in me he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered, and men gather them and cast them into the fire and they are burned. KJV
1 John 1:7 If we walk in the light …the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin KJV
John 8:51 If a man keep my saying he shall never see death. KJV
Hebrews 3:14 For if we are faithful to the end, trusting God just as firmly as when we first believed, we will share in all that belongs to Christ. NLT
2 Peter 2:20-22 If after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein, and overcome, the latter end is worse with them than the beginning. For it had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than, after they have known it to turn from the holy commandment delivered unto them. But it is happened unto them according to the true proverb, ‘The dog is turned to his own vomit again, and the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire.’
Hebrews 6:4-6, 8 But what about people who turn away after they have already seen the light and have received the gift from heaven and have shared in the Holy Spirit? What about those who turn away after they have received the good message of God and the powers of the future world? There is no way to bring them back. What they are doing is the same as nailing the Son of God to a cross and insulting him in public. Land that produces only thorn-bushes is worthless. It is likely to fall under God’s curse, and in the end it will be set on fire.
Some would say that it is impossible for a true Christian to depart from the faith, to turn back, to deny what he or she once believed. But is that true? God’s Spirit clearly says that in the last days many people will turn from their faith. They will be fooled by evil spirits and by teachings that come from demons. I Timothy 4:1
Hebrews 10:23,26 Let us hold firmly to the hope that we have confessed because we can trust God to do what he promised…
If we decide to go on sinning after we have learned the truth, there is no longer any sacrifice for sins. There is nothing but fear in waiting for the judgment and the terrible fire that will destroy all those who live against God. Anyone who refused to obey the law of Moses was found guilty from the proof given by two or three witnesses. He was put to death without mercy. Wo what do you think should be done to those who do not respect the Son of God, who loot at the blood of the agreement that made them holy as no different from others’ blood, who insult the Spirit of God’s grace? Sjurely they should have a much worse punishment. We know that Gjod said, "I will punish those who do wrong; I will repay them." It is a terrible thing to fall into the hands of the living God. NCV
Unfortunately sometimes these issues surrounding salvation and grace are grossly misunderstood. Salvation is completely and totally a free gift given to man by a loving, caring God. "the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord." Nothing needs to be added to it. Nothing can be added to it. If we could work for the next 10,000 years to try to earn enough to purchase it, we would come up far short of having enough to pay the price. The Bible plainly tells us that it is bestowed on us solely on the basis of "grace", and grace is undeserved favor. It cannot be earned or purchased, by the recipient. For by grace are you saved through faith, and that not of yourselves. It is the gift of God, NOT OF WORKS, lest any man should boast. (Ephesians 2:8-9). There is no room for argument; that statement it is unequivocally true.
But the Bible also has more to say about salvation by grace, and what it says cannot justly be ignored or passed over. It stresses again and again that to become the recipient of that free grace we must first meet certain qualifications. And make no mistake about it,…meeting those qualifications must never be misconstrued as being a means of earning salvation! Search throughout all the galaxies of the Universe and you would never find any treasure valuable enough to purchase eternal life for even one soul! To do that it took the sacrifice of God’s only Son. He and He alone was of the sublime value required to pay that price. We must never overlook the fact that working to become eligible to receive a gift is not the same as paying for a gift by working .
Suppose that a wealthy man decides that he wants to pay the cost for two university scholarships. He will give away two scholarships as free gifts to the two students with the highest grade scores on a test that is to be given. Along with the scholarships he was including a new car and four years of room and board paid in advance for each student who qualifies to receive the gifts. Anyone may take the tests, but only the two with the highest grades will be eligible to receive the donor’s gifts Did the two who receive the scholarships obtain them because their good scores paid for the cost of the scholarships they received?
Posted by cdrnorth at September 6, 2009 2:42 PM