I remember as a boy working on the ranch with my dad. It was a common thing in those days to see deer in the hills around our place. Dad seemed to have as uncanny knack for spotting those bucks from a long distance, even in heavy cover.

“Do you see him?” he’d say. “He’s standing right there near that tree.”

And I’d squint and I’d strain, but try as I might, it seems like I could never see him.

“Oh, c’mon,” Dad’d say. “He’s right there!” And he’d repeat the directions and point. Sometimes he’d even grab my head and point it in the right direction.

Once in a while I’d see it, but most [of] the time I couldn’t find it. I was even tempted at times to say, “Yeah, yeah, I see it,” when I really didn’t, just so I wouldn’t look so stupid. Sometimes I wondered if he was just pulling my chain. But now I know Dad always saw it. His trained eye knew what to look for. In time I grew to be able to do the same thing.

Now, another related story:

Years ago two young men attended a church meeting and listened to a man speak at great length from the scriptures. As the meeting closed and the two young men exited the building, one turned to the other and remarked, “That was absolutely the most boring meeting I’ve ever been to in my life. All he did was quote scriptures. I couldn’t stand it. I couldn’t wait to get out of there.”

Suddenly he noticed that his friend was in tears. “That was the most spiritual meeting I’ve ever been in in my life,” his friend said. “I think I’ve had my life changed.”

There are those, especially among the young, who wonder at times why all this fuss about religion, and church and God. Be patient with them. Like the buck in the brush that you see so plainly, they don’t. And if you push too hard, they might be tempted to feign sight, or even question your honesty. There will come a time – and it’s not an ‘if,’ it’s a ‘when’ – when they like the boy will hear for the first time, and their lives will be changed forever.

And to those who haven’t seen yet or heard, may I say, “Keep lookin’, keep squintin’, because when he finally pops out at you, it’ll be the greatest sight you have ever seen.”