Fire Piston...Finally! by Matthew McNeil

It works!

What is this? I'm glad you asked. This is the wonderful, glowing fruit of an arduous trial and error process that resulted in a piece of wilderness equipment that I’ve sought after for a couple of years now—a fire piston! It’s a little tool made up of a piston and a cylinder that fit together to form an air tight seal, and as the name implies, it’s used for fire-starting. On the low end, they cost no less than $40 and can sometimes exceed $200 on the high end. What makes this one so great is the fact that, after watching a video online (and tweaking the design a bit), I made it! It works by compressing a quantity of air into a space too small to contain it when you hammer the piston down into the cylinder. When you do this, the air inside it rapidly heats up. Add a tiny piece of tinder to the mix—a piece of charred cotton fabric, or wood punk (you know, that dry, decayed wood you’ve seen in the woods that almost resembles a sponge)—and voila! You now have a glowing ember that can be deposited into a tinder bundle and blown into flame. You just need to try one out sometime! As a matter of fact, plan on being at the Rugged Spirituality event November 4-5! Then you could give it a try!

For more info, call our office at 336.667.7177 or check out our website (www.uplandsreach.org).

You can also like the official Uplands facebook page (www.facebook.com/UplandsReachConferenceCenter).

What's the Bait in Your Trap? - by Matthew McNeil

What draws you away from God is the bait in a trap

The devil is so real, as are his snares.  He is putting up the greatest fight for young people now that I have ever seen.  Here is the scarier part:  he has a specific snare JUST FOR YOU.  A friend of mine, Isaiah Tuck, brought this notion to mind a few weeks ago, and this past Saturday my wife and I saw C. S. Lewis’ The Screwtape Letters performed on stage; needless to say, I’m still thinking about it.  Pictured to the side is a trap that many of you will recognize.  This trap is not meant for bears, small rabbits or even fish.  Its intended victim is an unsuspecting mouse.  Different prey require different snares.  The same is true for you and me.  What are some snares that you have seen used by the devil to keep people from God’s will for their lives?  Some blatant ones would be drugs, alcohol, and pornography.  You may say, “I’ll never be caught in any of those snares,” to which the devil knowingly grins and replies, “You’re right, but THIS ONE will do just fine.”  No, you may not be given to the aforementioned traps, but what about the need to have material things?  What about the house you live in, the car in your driveway, or the job that seems to give you access to all the things you want?  If God asked you to serve Him in a way that caused you to have to give up your accustomed way of life, would you be willing?  I want to be free to follow Him wherever He leads, and if that means not having any or all of life’s luxuries, I say, “so be it.”  This world isn’t my home anyway...

But you say, “That trap won’t work on me either.”  OK, so you can’t be tied to anyTHING (unlikely), but what about anyONE?  Oh sure, he or she is quite the catch (hmmm...), maybe even “the one;” all your friends and family love this person, and he or she is all you can think about.  Is he?  Is she?  A boyfriend or girlfriend, or even a spouse or child for those of you who are married, isn’t a bad thing at all; however, placing more importance on that person than on God is sin—it’s idolatry.  Does Satan have you trapped in worshipping a loved one more than the Lover of your soul?  If it’s hard to gauge yourself by that question, try this one:  who do you consider most when it comes to how you spend your time, God or someone else?

Sadly, if none of those snares work, the devil has another one that WE carry on us at all times—ourselves.  Whether it’s pride, or the fact that we’ve bought the lie that God doesn’t really have our best interest at heart, unwillingness to surrender to God’s will means we’re trapped by ourselves—handcuffed and hands tied when it comes to living life the way our Maker has called us to.

Love not the world (1 Jn. 2:15).  Is it any wonder why the LORD tells us not to love the world?  It’s because its ruler is Satan, and if we buy into it, we’ve taken the bait.  The devil is fighting—fighting to keep you lost if that’s your spiritual condition, and fighting to keep you ineffective if he has already lost you to the Savior.  “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about seeking whom he may devour” (1 Pet. 5:8).

...And the Company You Keep - by Matthew McNeil

What "lens" do you see the world through?

A while back I became obsessed with apologetics, which is knowing why you believe what you believe and being able to defend it.  Suddenly, I thought I had the power to prove someone to salvation.  However, something started happening, and I was at a loss as to how to go about handling it.  Even after I presented the best evidence there was to believe the Bible, people still refused!  They would merely reinterpret the evidence I would present, and make it actually hold up their beliefs.  It was as if they had a filter for their brain; whatever jived with what they already believed got through the filter, and anything opposed ricocheted off of it.  That’s when I learned about something called worldview.  I’m not talking about particular world religions, though they certainly fit under the category of worldview.  I’m talking about a system used for interpreting reality, or better yet a lens through which reality is viewed.  Just like a prescription lens changes the way one sees everything around him, one’s worldview affects how one accepts the facts.  For example, Evolutionists believe that since many creatures have similar physical features, they must have come from a common ancestor.  Creationists understand this to show that they didn’t come from a common ancestor, but rather a Common Creator.  Suddenly, one has to start asking the question “Do the facts really make this truth claim, or is my worldview influencing how I see the facts?”

I know some of this is a little deep, so let’s head back to the surface for air.  Everyone gets their worldview from somewhere; no one is born with a particular worldview.  Where do they come from, you ask?  One source is the people with whom we surround ourselves.  Proverbs 12:26 says that “The righteous is more excellent than his neighbour: but the way of the wicked seduceth them.”  In the Hebrew, the phrase “more excellent” has to do with being a guide.  So another way of reading it would be that “The righteous is a guide to his neighbor, but the way of the wicked leads them astray.”  Check out these other scriptures on the subject:  Proverbs 13:20; 16:29; and 27:17.  Who are the people who influence you?  Perhaps a better question is, who do you greatly respect?  It doesn’t even have to be someone who is alive.  You could have read something from someone who died long ago, but whose ideas live on.  Where will this guide lead you to in eternity?  Something to think about.

Pinpointing Your Personal Landmarks...by Matthew McNeil

Can you point to specific places in your life that made
a distinct change of course in your life?

What are some landmarks in your life?  A few in my life include the day I trusted Christ as my Savior, the day I married the love of my life, and the day my little girl came into this world.  Landmarks mean something.  They mark a turning point in one’s life story.  They say that a change has occurred, and things will never be the same.  One of the most prominent landmarks in this guy’s life was Boot Camp at Uplands Reach Conference Center.  It was there that I fell in love with my Savior all over again.  I was given a passion to serve Him through serving others.  He showed me how important His Truth was in my life—and it made me want to share that Truth with others.  He helped me see that living my life just calling myself a “Christian” was merely survival, that encountering Him everyday in His Word and allowing Him to live through me, now that’s LIFE.

Every road I’ve taken in life since then has been determined by that landmark.  And while the specific details of my story are unique to me, their cause isn’t.  Dozens of other Boot Camp alumni could tell you just how the LORD used Boot Camp to give direction for their lives (feel free to do so below).  Do you have such a defining landmark in your life?  Would you like one?  Visit the Uplands Reach website to find it.

Stayin' Alive at Uplands Reach - by Matthew McNeil

Survival Real-Estate at it's Finest

Check out this survival shelter my buddy Jackson and I built using four sticks, an emergency blanket, three zip ties, and a few logs and stones for weight!  We’re in the thick of finalizing the wilderness activities that will be going on with our teens this summer, and things are looking awesome.  Stay tuned as we practice more survival skills like firecraft, locating wild edibles, and obtaining clean drinking water.  If you want to be part of these activities, register for Teen Camp and sign up for the “Rugged Spirituality” MOD.  More info can be found at www.uplandsreach.org.

Premature Spring Fever? - by Matthew McNeil

Ahh...nothing like feeling the wind on your toes...

Is anyone besides me starting to catch a little bit of spring fever?  My eyes are catching on everything that’s green, and I’m already making the hopeless transition to Chacos and t-shirts, ridiculously denying the fact that March is the harshest of winter months around here.  So if you happen to see a URCC Staffer running around this summer missing the tips of his toes due to frostbite, try not to point and laugh.

Tip of the Day...

"DON'T SMASH YOUR FACE!!!"

So I was working out this morning with free weights, and this is what the instructor said on the video I was following.  “Practical,” I thought, getting an early morning laugh out of it.

Something was nagging me, though.  I slept too late to study my Bible and then workout like I normally do.  It’s like the LORD was saying, “You made sure you got your workout in, but what about your time alone with Me?”  Life crowds in so quickly, and if we’re not careful, spiritual things can get run over by our plans, our goals.  Am I saying I shouldn’t exercise?  No.  But if I can get out of bed to exercise, I can get up earlier to meet with Jesus EVERYDAY.  Am I going to go back and get in my Bible today?  You better believe it, especially since you’re reading this!

What "good things" are distracting you from Christ?

Are there things in your life that sometimes bump God out of the picture?  Find out what those things are.  You may need to totally remove them from your life—if it’s something you know is wrong—or you may just need to get things in the right order, like getting alone with Jesus in His Word and then working out.  Do what you have to do to get things right...and DON’T SMASH YOUR FACE.

Written by Matthew McNeil