There are several ways to improve yourself in life and specifically your hunting skills. A typical way we learn and improve is through trial and error. We learn from our mistakes and our successes.
An often overlooked and much less painful way to improve is learning from someone else’s mistakes and successes, from a mentor.
Having a mentor is a major benefit and can help us learn many hard lessons faster and with much less heart-ache!
Mentors can be a number of different people from men or women, friends and family, to a well-known and influential person. The Bible talks about having mentors and even advises it. Proverbs 15:22 – “Plans go wrong for lack of advice; many advisers bring success.”
Picking the right mentor can be challenge sometimes.
You want to make sure the people you choose to influence your life want you to succeed even more than you want to succeed. I have had several godly men and women placed in my life by God that have served as mentors. A few awesome mentors in my life have been my father and mother, Jason & Hope Littlefield, my grandparents, Jim & Cyndi James, and author Jason Cruise.
My father and my grandfather both have shown me by example how to lead and support a family. Both men have similar roles in my life; however, both have taught me very different but important lessons.
My dad led me towards Christ my entire life. He always placed his children’s desires in front of his own, taught and shown me how to be a great father, and is the man that introduced me to the outdoors. He taught me how to hunt, how to fish, and how to have a great time doing it.
My Grandpa taught me similar lessons of what it means to be a man of God in private and in public. He supported me in all my adventures, shown and taught me good work ethic and the basic things all men should know how to do, and also taught me about fishing and guns.
Jason Cruise more recently has become a mentor to me after being selected for an internship under him. He led me through ways of becoming a better writer, starting an outdoor ministry, and getting into the outdoor industry. Without his guidance in these areas I would not have made the vast improvements I have recently made.
I listed a few men as my mentors; however, I have had women also be major influences and leaders in my life.
My mother Kristen-Hope Littlefield, who has lived a life of service, taught me countless lessons on sacrifice and God’s unending love.
My grandmother Cynthia James lives every day to be a blessing to someone, even in the midst of having breast cancer. Both women have contributed more to my life than I can ever thank them for, and both have been extremely influential mentors in my life.
Beyond all the people I have named, the greatest mentor of all is easily Jesus Christ. He lived a life filled with love, compassion, and forgiveness the way we all should. He has shown us how to live and what to live for. Jesus was not a mentor of merely words; he was also a man of action. He led by example.
Jesus served others his entire life, knowing that the only reason He existed was to die, go to hell, conquer death, and pay for the sins of the world. Jesus, who never sinned took the sins of the entire world upon Him and paid the ultimate price for them so that we have the opportunity to spend eternity with Him if we are willing to accept Him as our Lord and Savior.
This is why Jesus is the Ultimate Mentor; He led by example and sacrificed everything so that we might succeed in life and enter into eternity.