Rambo or Barney Fife

Some will remember two completely different characters that bring to mind two completely different characters. Rambo (Sly Stallone) was a perfect picture of a perfect physical specimen, while Barney Fife (Don Knotts) was the exact opposite. One feared nothing, while the other was scared of his own shadow.

Some years ago I traveled to Ontario Canada on a hunting trip. Bear hunting! (How stupid is that?) The "bush" was thicker than "The Big Thicket" in east Texas. Small trails led deep into the woods. Upon arrival at the camp, my hunting guide, who was a bear of a man himself, led me down one of those trails approximately 3/4 of a mile into the bush. He showed me a stand in a tree about 15 feet off the ground. Boards nailed to the tree trunk were to be used as a ladder to climb up the tree.Once in the tree, the stand was a piece of plywood approximately 2 feet by 3 feet. That was where I was to sit and wait for a bear to come along the same trail that I had just walked to get to the tree. We then returned to camp to get dressed for the hunt.

With so much camo on that I would never be found in the woods if I were to get lost; my back pack full of everything I could possibly need if I did get lost; my rifle, knives, ammunition, and tons of other stuff, in case I got lost; I climbed in the back of a pick up and headed out... to the woods. My guide stopped the truck about 1/2 mile from the small trail that I was supposed to walk down to get to my tree stand. As I watched him drive away, reality set in! I looked like Rambo, but I felt like Barney Fife.

On the outside I looked fearless, but on the inside, well, that 's a different story. I don't think my senses had ever been as keen as they were that late afternoon. Every sound turned my head. The light breeze sounded like gale force winds. The crackling of a branch under my feet sounded like a giant tree crashing to the ground. My heart was in my throat. The sound of my pulse thumped in my ears like a bass drum. I was alive and I knew it.

I recall another time when, walking down an alley on the south side of Chicago, the Rambo, Barney Fife thing occurred. Only this time the opposite was true. I looked like Barney Fife, but I felt like Rambo. My mission was to share the Gospel with some kids who were drug addicts. I had met their parents, and/or siblings in a drug rehab center where I held weekly Bible studies. My senses were alive; my walk was with purpose; lives were in the balance. Being obedient to the great commission carries with it a boldness and power that is unmatched in any activity, on any level. Knowing that the God of all creation is walking with you, dispels all fear. As I look back, I was more alive then than I was in the woods of Canada.

By the way, I did bag a bear. But greater still...some drug addicted kids gave their hearts to Christ.

Because He is, I am, ALIVE!

Proverbs 28:1 says "The wicked flee when no one pursues, but the righteous are as bold as a lion."