There is so much I don’t know.
I had no idea, for example, that deer bark. Seems I’ve heard about male deer snorting or grunting while pursuing a female, but …. oops, wait a minute … maybe I’m thinking about human guys.
Well, anyway, I didn’t know that deer ever barked like dogs.
But now I know because a deer recently barked at me. Oh yes, it did, and the upside, I suppose, is that I’ll now never be without an interesting tale to fill any awkward conversational lulls at social gatherings.
Here’s how my barking deer encounter went down …
On this particular morning, I had taken my Bible and my coffee out to a little pasture on our farm to begin my day with God as the sun was rising. Not quite as glorious as a beach sunrise, but close.
There’s just one thing about trying to pray when I’m outside like that: I find it hard to close my eyes because I don’t want to miss anything—a hawk soaring overhead or a deer tip-toeing by.
Or, even more importantly, a snake heading my way or a wild hog intent on rooting my face off. (Hey—don’t make fun of my city-girl fears.)
But, I really do need to close my eyes when I pray. If I don’t, my thoughts zing around like a little ball in a pinball machine and my side of the prayer conversation with God probably sounds a bit like Dustin Hoffman’s character in “Rain Man.”
The morning of my bizarre deer encounter, I had closed my eyes and was trying to focus my pinball prayers when I heard a crazy barking noise getting louder and closer.
I was sitting in our little Mule utility vehicle, ready to put the pedal to the metal if a psycho pit bull emerged from the trees.
But, lo and behold, out of the woods came a deer, woofing like a St. Bernard.
“Whaaaaaaaaat on earth?” I thought.
The deer screeched to a stop and stopped barking when it saw me. It stared at me; I stared back.
“If a deer barks, what else might it do? This cannot be normal,” I thought as I cranked up my little Mule. If the critter moved toward me, I was prepared to get out of Dodge in a hurry.
Fortunately, the deer turned around, recommenced its barking and darted away.
“What just happened here?” I thought.
That’s when it occurred to me, as it does fairly often, that although it seems I’ve been alive a really long time, there are still so very many things I don’t know. Some of those unknown facts might be important, or at least useful; some, like my new deer factoid, not so much.
But whatever else I don’t know, I do know this: Nothing is more important than knowing God, His word and His ways. If I know anything or anyone at all, I want to know Him.
Many brilliant people devote their lives to understanding the wonders of our natural world while completely ignoring the One who created it all.
Certainly, creation is full of many amazing things to discover, but it seems rather pointless if we never come to know the Creator.
I want to say with the Apostle Paul, “I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord” (Philippians 3:8).
God promises that those who truly seek Him will find Him (Jeremiah 29:13). What in this world could be more important than that?
“So let us know, let us press on to know the Lord. His going forth is as certain as the dawn; and He will come to us like the rain, like the spring rain watering the earth.” Hosea 6:3