Who is still in the running? by Gary Fultz

WHO??

I would hope that we all set some goals to accomplish in 2011. Who is taking the proper steps to meeting them?
I want to know how you are getting it done? What kind of things have you put into place to make sure you stay on track? Who is still in the running?. Make a comment at the bottom or on face book

A good goal: Hit the early morning running

My first strategic maneuver was to get up earlier in the morning and hit the ground running. I needed to get something done right away and not fritter my morning away. This has helped immensely. Part of my getting something done is to make a short list of the main things I want to accomplish for the day as well as the projects I want to work on if only for a short time. I wanted to get a blog out at least once a week for starters and then expand if possible to two times a week. How am I doing?

I wanted to make sure I kept in communication with the kids and grand kids. It's easy to just let time go by even when you think of them all the time. Take time for conversation and try to get some adventure in as well. As you can see a van ride can be an adventure all by itself!


 I have kept my promise to God so far in 2011 to spend time with Him each day. I remember some song lyrics that go like this: I met God in the morning. When the day was at it's best. And His presence came like sunrise....

His presence came like sunrise

All day long His presence lingered.
All day long He stayed with me...
And the song continues



2011 I have determined would be full of adventure and quite a bit more fun than the last few years. I love to hunt and fish and that would be a part of it. I want to share my adventures with others and take others with me when I can. So that is why I invite teens fishing and others as well. Adventures in traveling, fishing, cooking, music, public speaking, writing, and building time with my wife. How am I doing??

Yes the mystery of adventure calls me

Last of all on my goals list is to determine another course of career and action to get there. The last two years have been a long winding and rough road physically and emotionally. so I look forward to another chapter in life. I am determined to savor this year and not let the  hardship and pain go to waste as I hope the Gary you meet on the road is at least a little different than last time we met.
I hope for a more intentionally adventurous and fun person in this Gary.

Rope Ladder

Climbing the rope ladder on the kids swing set out by our deck is a lot like 2011 and the goals you and I have set. we have to brush off the snow and take steps to get to the top of where we want to be by the end of the year.
    I'm still climbing on each of my goals. How about you?
I have a couple of guys who ask me how I am doing in my goals, I need the accountability. Who do you have for accountability?
I have a journal to record my goals, thoughts, accomplishments, dreams, and insights into life. Would this be a good tool for you?
I spend time alone with God each day. Two times or more a year I pick out a conference or retreat to go to for strangers to have input into my spiritual life.
I want to allow God times to change me and guide me in this ever changing journey we call life. I want to know God and His (much wiser) perspective.

           How do you allow for God to form your thoughts, intents, and character?

At the end of the day

At the end of  each day and each year what does it matter and who cares? Is there beauty in your life? I believe it is essential to honestly ask these questions. We all get the same 24 hours in a day but not the same motivations. Why am I motivated to spend time just visiting with my wife? Just to talk and know how each other is doing? One cannot have a good marriage without it. Do you still visit with your spouse?

    So how are you doing on your 2011 goals as the first quarter is coming to an end this month?
To become a better writer I take a lot of advice from Kristan Lambs blog .
My next conference is lead by Leary Gates a friend, writer, speaker, social net-worker, and entrepreneur.
I often go to camps for new and expanding perspectives. I am hoping to get more involved with Christian Outdoors Fellowship of America and be a part of sharing the outdoors with others in this way.
I am also putting some of my music on Music xray for anyone to hear some of my origionals.
This is a small part of what I am doing, How are you getting to your goals?

Make a comment on how you are doing!

Thanks 

Gary D

   

Angry Beaver -- Picture truths series #2 By Gary Fultz

Vicious beaver

Here I was, minding my own business on an absolutely calm evening with the lake all to myself. I was catching a load of crappies from a canoe barely drifting through the moon lit evening. I just about tipped the canoe when the water was torpedoed by this angry beaver. This beaver demon was acting out the lake equivalent of road rage. Evidently the lake was not big enough for the two of us even though it is almost a mile long. This big old beaver stalked me wherever I went and would get by the canoe and slap the water with his tail. It sounded like someone was throwing big boulders off a cliff into the water. He was acting like he overdosed on sugar maple trees!

I finally went after him because the crappies quit biting. The beaver dove and disappeared; the frogs started croaking “jaws” music as daylight was gone. Even the moon was trying to get behind a cloud as its normal aura was being disgraced. A strange sense of evil settled about me so I quickly turned to look for the landing.

I began having visions of the beaver eating my only wood paddle as I picked up the pace to get to the safety of shore, all the while pronouncing blessings on the early beaver trappers in this country. Crappie fishing might never have been discovered without those trappers. I realized that as the light was fading so was my grip on reality!

       

Strange things happen in the dark! Our mind adds to the strangeness, and literally if unchecked, the mind can become completely irrational. I don’t remember feeling fear for my life or anything (and I wouldn’t admit it if I did), but that beaver surely became a monster in the water that I didn’t want to agitate anymore. I would really rather face a bear than a vicious underwater monster that eats big trees for a living! Lately I have solved the problem by bringing three paddles!

These are the things people laugh about by day and yet experience by night. What is it about the mind that can manufacture embodiments of fear in dark places? Is it possible that darkness has its own powers? Could it be that the absence of light is a camouflaged environment for evil? Whatever people think about the darkness, it’s easier to do wrong in the night. It’s easier to deceive and be deceived in the dark. It’s easier to imagine that unseen and undiscovered evil feels ok in a totally darkened and depraved mind.

What a shock to discover that our inner being is naturally a dark place without light as we are born that way! The sin condition (and a totally darkened mind) has infected all mankind and has deluded our thinking, reasoning ability, and our ability to see truth in this ever present darkness. We in essence have become the monsters while pretending to be the angels to the rest of the planet! Why? Because it’s easy to deceive ourselves in the dark, and think we have some light in us that can be fanned into a source of light.

All over scripture, light is associated with the presence of God and darkness is associated wherever God is not present. Look it up; 2 Samuel 22:29 says “the Lord turns my darkness into light”. Psalm 18: 28 “My God turns my darkness into light”. This is a thread from cover to cover and part of Gods daring rescue of mankind through Jesus, to let God’s light shine in our inner being through the person of Jesus! “In Him was life, and that life was the light of men” (John 1; 4)

Light came into the world again

        

When we believe in Jesus we let Him, and all He is (The way, truth, life, and light itself) come in, Jesus says to the Father “We’re in! The Holy Spirit is already starting to clean up! Let’s see how many no trespassing signs we can take down!” “Let’s see how many dark places we can light up.”

About that beaver; He is back at the lodge telling the little ones a bed time story about his latest dangerous mission, driving away a terrible threat to the beaver kingdom and their way of life. The little beavers ah… in unison as he brings out a piece of a canoe paddle and lays it on the mantel.

Truth: 1) I took a picture of an angry beaver, he followed me everywhere and ruined my fishing, and I have a bit of an imagination sometimes.

2) God is light, we are not.

3) If there is light in us; it’s Jesus himself shining through us (that’s a lot of lumens).

4) I really was catching a lot of crappies till that beaver started stalking me!

              Gary D

Day is Done by Gary Fultz

                                                                                         Nice photo Hutch!

    A beautiful sunset marks the end of a perfect evening on the water. You shiver as the big Timbers start to moan at the end of the tamarack swamp nearby. It's so still that you can hear your fingers squish a couple of big Minnesota  mosquitoes honing in on your face. Down the shoreline some type of animal is wading and splashing the water; probably a coon washing some clams, crayfish, and anything else edible. You long for one more cast with a spook in the reeds for that huge bass that swirls huge water as you drive away.
    Fisherman, adventurer, solitude seeker, beauty connoisseur, and gaggle of other descriptive words come to mind when the universe lines up for a perfect finish...and you are there.

    Some people are never there!

 It takes initiative and sometimes hard work to be in the sweet spot of your passions. I have it easy! I love adventure, wilderness solitude, on the spot breath taking scenery, and the competitive nature of the food gatherer. I hunt, fish, camp, winter camp, bring my camera, and drag a few people with me.  

   One month into 2011...Where have I been this year? Where am I going to be? Are my physical disabilities going to stop me or just modify how I get there? Am I going to just blog or have something to blog about? Well...so far so good! Just to start the year my lovely wife went out on the lake with me..several times! hence the picture.

    I'm thinking a good caption is "I out-fished him!" She is thinking...well she wouldn't tell me what she was thinking but I know it wasn't "I hope he teaches me how to clean fish".
    Back to "being There"...It's way more than chance as the movie suggests. There is something to Dina Craik's quote as well "It's never too late to be who you might have been".
   Ahhh...We are back to fishing again aren't we! We fish for goals, ways to accomplish goals, who we want to be, what we want to do.
I'm telling ya...Spend some time on the lake, Spend some time with God walking around in his artwork, set some goals that need a clear vision, good organization, and some steady work to obtain.
   If you want to just fish, I can make it happen...otherwise take some steps toward becoming who you want to be to get to where you want to go. I'm going to say this several more times...
    Take a walk
       have a talk
          get right
            stay tight...If you can do it alone it's too small!

Proverbs 16:9 The mind of man plans his way but the Lord directs his steps
Here's to walking on water...my sweet spot (Minnesota-February-with a jigging stick)

Who doin it?? What's your ideal sweet spot?
Please make your comments below

Gary D
          

Goin fishn...confessions by Gary Fultz

" I'm going fishing" It's biblical you know...Peter said it a few days after Jesus was crucified. Personally I don't need any excuse to make that kind of announcement in our house...Amen?
    We all go fishing in one way or another. It's no different  illustration for our lives than the old "Scavenger hunt" so many youth groups do for a fun time. Are we not always looking for something...bigger? better? fun? challenging? learning? growing? outwitting the competition? enjoying the hunt? ...we are fishing! Yes.. you tweeters and bloggers are fishing! (admit it).
    I am a very simple man and getting more adamant about it. Bought the sign and the T-shirt and thinking about the business..."Gone Fishn".
    Some of us have passions that run deep. Mine do...just ask anyone who knows me (I have a list of those people and everyone else is stretching the truth!). Hi...ummm. I'm Gary and I like to fish.

 It's taken 55 years to get towards the tipping point where I can sometimes say I am in control of my passions. I am driven toward but not driven by....Fishing, hunting, photography, wilderness adventure, story telling, and hobnobbing with people who do!
     I know that family, jobs, and other relationships are vitally important and it has been my  most important relationship (with my creator - Jesus Christ) which has led the quest to harness (not balance...that tower tipped a long time ago) and excel in the passions I was created to have.
    I have a few roads "not taken" in life but I have to say not as many as most people when it comes to adventure and risk taking ventures in the wild (I have been where that link takes you by the way).This brings to mind one last point before I head out of the house to go stand on the ice and fish with some guys who don't know yet they need to go fishing today....Why take the easy route? After 55 trips to my beloved BWCAW area (these pictures were taken there), I have learned and relearned the greater value by far lies in going where most people will not (at least 55% of the time).

From this campsite...I have watched the sun rise
   
   
  fog lift...
sun turn to...rain...to sleet...to snow...from 60 degrees to 19 degrees in 48 hours. caught limits of wall hanging walleye, pike, and lake trout, watched a monster whitetail buck jump off this small rock cliff into the lake and swim between the islands and disappear. We were left with what-ever was chasing him. Around the corner a moose charged out of the brush and swam by one of our canoes. Nearby my brother caught and released a 36" lake trout (his first ever and no camera), notched the paddle to measure later (I'm compiling 4 trips worth of stories from this campsite alone as it's one of our favorite way-points to many other adventures). Oh...I forgot to mention that there is a little lake nearby with no trail to it (bull through the heavy brush with a canoe in tow) to find more big pike (our smallest is about 8 pounds so far) and another hair raising moose story for another day.
   My wife and I were on a couples trip when 2.5 million trees were downed in 100mph winds.  One of our teen trips rescued a drowning man in a rapids area, A guys trip helped 2 guys out who had stages of hypothermia, lost packs, and a holy (literally) canoe from trying a waterfall (they thought it was a rapids (deadly whoops...). A Youth Directors Training Trip was bestowed huge amounts of food. Seems a couple of guys who decided two days out of their 10 day trip was enough adventure (benefits of four inches of heavy snow mixed with surfers from California)....there I go... story telling again!
    My point is this...harness your passions to accomplish the things God has created you for. To know Him, acknowledge Him in all you do, who you are and who you are becoming, and help others in this adventurous journey we call Life. Jesus said "I am the way the truth and the  life..."
    So now I'm Goin Fishn...gonna take somebody along...

you like trout?
Gary D