The Outdoors. The mighty, beautiful outdoors. What a magnificent creation it is.
As kids, we grew up outdoors. Why did we stop? What got in the way?
Some of us grew up. Some of us moved away. Some of us just do not have the time to do the thing we once loved as a kid. Being outdoors.
Nowadays, kids are glued to their video games, cell phones, and electronics. To ask them to go outside is like speaking a foreign language. They have no idea what to do when they are forced to step away from the controller and slapped in the face with sunlight and fresh air.
If you have kids, you know the struggle. Maybe the struggle is with yourself. Maybe YOU can not let go of the controller. Maybe YOU need the slap of the outdoors.
WE have been there. We know what it is like to lose your roots of being an outdoor sportsman.
I got caught up in the world of PlayStation 3 and military role-playing games.
I remember racing home from work, to greet my beautiful wife to hurry and eat dinner, so I could call my buddy to get online for our “play date”. A military online game of strategy and teamwork across the internet. We strategized and worked together to build a military force to conquer “the world”.
One day, with the controller in hand, earpiece in the ear and ready to begin my conquest. My wife looked at me and said: “When are you going to be done?”
“Done?” I thought. I am 28 years old, married and a homeowner. What am I doing right now? Nothing. I am not accomplishing anything. Nothing of value. Nothing that is going to further my life, my relationship or able to pass down to my kids (to come).
That day, I realized I was missing something in my life. The outdoors. It was calling me.
Remember being a kid growing up? Remember what it was like to be outside after school? Playing until the street lights came on.
Growing up learning to do things outside. Building forts, building fires, catching bugs, fishing, hunting (at that time, lizards with a BB gun or pretending to be on safari chasing lions over the Sahara) or camping outside with friends in the backyard.
REMEMBER those days? What happened to those days?
WE GREW UP! We got jobs. We got busy. Life got in the way.
What if we brought those times back? What if there was a way to have those times again but this time we get to share those with our kids? What if we taught our kids how to do those things that brought us joy in our lives? What if our kids taught their kids and generations to come? What if?
We are doing just that. We have kids now. At the time of writing this (2017), our kids are 4 and 2. They are too young to do a lot of the activities, but we are honing our skills now to teach them when they get older.
Our goal is to document our journey back to the outdoors. Back to learning and teaching the skills our fathers, grandfathers and their grandfathers taught generations before us. How to use the land, live off the land, survive in the land and how to enjoy what God has created for us.
You may be thinking, “I never was taught any of this as a kid.” or “I grew up in the city and do not know any of this”.
WELL, YOU’RE IN LUCK!
Our goal is to not only help just our kids but to help you as well.
This site is going to be for you. It is a learning journey for everyone. We are not claiming to be experts, nor are we even close to knowing everything about the outdoors. We are documenting our journey as we learn and share it with you so you can learn right along with us.
Think of this site as a community of Dads, showing other dads (or just men in general) how to get outdoors and know what to do when you begin to explore God’s creation.
We are born again Christians and hope to use this site as a ministry to bring God back to the heart of the Outdoor Sportsman. To raise the next generations to come to understand their role in the conservation and preservation of God’s creation biblically.
“And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.” -Genesis 1:26
Let us together grow.
Let us once again become the men of our ancestors.
Let us be taught.
Let us teach.
Let us be responsible for the generations to come.
Let us make a difference in the lives of our children.
Let us be role models.
Let us be manly men.
Let us forge the way.
Let us correct the path.
Let us be outdoors.
Let us be what we are called to be.
Let us make the stand.
Let us be the voice that needs to be heard.
Let us be ADVENTUROUS.
YOUR Adventure Starts Now.
Adventures of a Christian Dad. – Josh F.
When I think about outdoor adventures, I almost always go immediately to my childhood memories. I grew up in Oklahoma and I grew up outside.
We had a TV, but it had only three channels and sometimes they came in clear enough to watch.
Every day was an adventure. Whether it was going down to the creek to catch fish, bugs, snakes or whatever critters were out that summer day. In the cooler months, it was deer season. Oh, how I love deer season.
One of the first times my dad took me deer hunting is probably one of my best memories. He put me in the fork, of a snow-covered cottonwood tree that morning. Climbed up the same tree higher up above me. We hadn’t been there fifteen minutes when a doe and her fawns came by. Of course, I stuck out like a sore thumb, but that doe was curious. She walked up, licked the toe of my boot, and snorted so loud I about fell out of the tree. At that moment, I was hooked.
Looking back, I realize how blessed I was. How my father taught me about God’s creation and that God created the earth for us.
God has blessed me with two kids, ages 4 and 2 (at the time of this writing in 2017). Now it is my duty to show them God’s creation and what an adventure it can be.
Take your family outside and just pick a direction. It’s an adventure in God’s creation and he made for you to explore.
What are you waiting for?
Your adventure starts here!
Adventures of a Christian Dad.- Wes A.
