Missed by a Week…

Last week, I wrote a blog post about my year of being 50. I shared about various goals and progress made. I also admitted the one goal on my list that I didn’t achieve or begin….Learning to shoot a gun.

Growing up, I just always thought “guns were bad.” However, my grandpa and his brothers hunted. That was fine. My brother-in-law hunts and has thus taught both my sister and their son how to shoot. As I became an old lady…I mean, as I matured…I realized that as a single female, I probably should learn to shoot “just in case.” [Even as I typed that, I uttered a prayer that ‘just in case’ never transpires.]

For those of you who read my blog, you know I’m a Christian and that I am active in my church. Joy, who currently teaches our Sunday Bible study class, shoots…well. She serves on our church’s security team. She has taken several of the ladies in my class to learn how to shoot before they purchased a gun. This past Sunday, as she was talking to a couple of the other licensed gun owners about their meeting and shooting practice this coming Saturday, I uttered, “I want to go!”

Rather than taking a total novice to a meeting of trained women with guns, she offered to take me for a 1-1 tutorial. Now, the teacher in me knew that was a much more appropriate setting for me to learn how to shoot a gun. Plus, I had plans already on my calendar for Saturday. Plans were made, and the week began.

I enjoyed learning how to shoot. My eye protection kept fogging up, so I’d have to wipe and start again. By the end of my 30-minute (or less) tutoring session, I hit the target a few times. It was apparent that I needed to have many more practice sessions to gain mastery, but most skills require practice. When we called it a day, my hands were a bit numb from the power of the gun, my arms were a bit stiff due to the tension placed on them to hold the gun steady. As I showed Joy’s husband my targets when we returned, he offered encouraging words. Then, getting in my car, I smiled. Check another goal off the list, and I had been able to enjoy conversation with a friend which was a bonus blessing.

As I thought about today’s lesson and target practice, I pondered several things {Hmm, that’s probably why my previous blog was called ‘Miss P’s Ponderings’.} First, I remembered when my friend, Marge, was going to teach me to play golf. Their family was avid golfers, so I thought, “Why not learn?” Wisely, she took me to the golf course that the “intense” golfers didn’t frequent as much. I had fun. In the end, I never became a golfer. Her son, Todd told me, “Jodi, I think you laugh too much to be a focused golfer.” Yes, that comment made me laugh.

The next thought focused on guns themselves. An invention that can protect. It can provide. It can do good. However, it can also kill, maim, and destroy. On one side of the debate, people scream for gun control and more strict laws and guidelines. The other side counters with the second amendment. Me?

We do deserve to bear arms and protect ourselves, our family, and our property. Yet, in my 25 years of teaching, I had one former student die accidentally with a gun wound in 2012 and another died from a self-inflicted wound in 2017. Guns…. Powerful weapons which can be used for both good and evil. Some people say, “Guns don’t kill people; people kill people.” True. However, sometimes it happens by accident. At times, it’s because of depression. Does that lessen the power of the gun?

Of course, as my brain is programmed to do, I saw an analogy between a gun and a person’s life. Both are created for a purpose. Both can be used for good. Yet, both can also do harm.

When God sees me doing harm or not doing good, does He wonder if I should have more safety features on my life? Does He think His creation is evil and should be banned? Thankfully, even in the midst of my sinful choices, He sees me through the blood of Christ who took my sins upon Himself. I thank Him for loving me even when I fall short of hitting His target.

And…I pray for all those who have been hurt by guns…may God give you comfort, strength, and peace as you walk this journey. A journey prompted by a gun used by someone in a way that doesn’t fulfill its correct purpose.