What I Saw Out the Back Door of Church!

Fifteen folks with guns. Aimed not at each other, but at little orange discs made of clay. 

For those of you unfamiliar with “trap shooting,” it’s like target practice and is designed to hone skills for later in the year when hunting ducks or geese. The little orange discs are launched skyward from a mechanical “thrower” and the participants take turns attempting to turn them into dust particles that fall back to earth. Some folks are “lights out” and really good! Others, like me, most often leave the little orange discs unscathed, later to be gathered and used again next time! We console ourselves with the idea that we’re “helping the cause” by reducing the number of boxes of clays we need to purchase for the next shoot :)

That’s “technically” what I saw on the five acres out back of our church building. But what I really saw - beyond the obvious - was the truth of God’s statement in Genesis 2:18: “It is not good for man (or woman) to be alone!” You see, this was our first trap-shoot outing of the spring. More importantly, it was the first time most of us were able to get together with anyone who doesn't live in the same house since the COVID-19 lockdowns began a couple months ago. What I saw went WAY beyond the normal fun of competition or of enjoying a perfect Minnesota spring evening. I saw the smiles and heard the laughter that comes from being together instead of being alone! 

God created us to be in community, to be interdependent rather than independent. He designed us to need each other instead of needing just ourselves. As we’ve seen so vividly highlighted these past few months, it is not good for man or woman or teen or child to be alone. I thank God for that trap shooting evening and the blessed reminder of just how good it is to be together!