Don’t Pull That Trigger

I recently took a concealed weapons handgun class and did really well. I surprised myself after all these years that I could still pull a trigger without shooting myself in the foot. I know a pastor that said he did that one time, but that’s a whole ‘nother story.

When I was handling a 9 mm weapon, my own pastor was showing me how to hold it, and where to point it, and what to do and not to do for my safety, and I’m sure his own as well. I have been around guns all my life, because my dad took us rabbit and quail hunting when we were kids.

The first thing Dad always taught us was never point a gun at anyone, loaded or unloaded (I’m sure he meant the loaded gun--not the loaded person.) The next thing he told us was to make sure the safety was on even if the gun wasn’t loaded. The next thing he taught us was to keep our finger off the trigger until we sighted our target and check the sights. Then he told us to make sure everything and everybody was out of the way before we shot anything. By the time I took all those precautions I’m sure I saved many a rabbit’s life because they made it to their hole in the ground before I got around to pulling the trigger.

With all these precautions in mind I taught my son to shoot. He was a marksman in the military. I hope someday to be able to defend myself or those I love in a terror situation. That’s the main reason I took the course.

But, there are other triggers in life that can be just as dangerous as any weapon. What triggers are in your life? What triggers a headache—a storm front coming through? What triggers your tears—a loved one’s passing? What triggers your anger—dropping something on your foot? And most of all what triggers your love—Someone loving you first?

You know God did that for you on Calvary with His Son. He was the trigger with all the power to target you with His love and forgiveness. He set the target so that only Jesus could make the bull’s-eye. Then Jesus hit the target for the whole world. I can only hit the target of His love when I accept Him as my Saviour and ask Him to forgive me for missing that target of His glory. I still fall short so many times. But you know He is always there to help me up again and keep shooting toward the target of His love for me as well as you.

So go ahead and pull that trigger with His hand in yours and you won’t miss it near as much as you would doing things on your own.