It was a pleasant September day, the kind of day meant to be spent in the company of friends. Several of us had been invited to spend the day at Rob Applegate's place. Rob and Marilyn opened their home to us and we spent an enjoyable time looking over Rob's collection of guns and his shop until the ladies called us in for a snack. After having eaten into Rob's private store of Colby cheese and washing it down with cold beverages the men took off to Rob's private shooting spot while the ladies went in search of antiques. It promised to be an enjoyable afternoon.

Everyone brought a reasonable collection of guns and copious amounts of ammunition. It was a real pleasure to share this time with fellow shooters. Everyone made me feel welcome and let me try their various pet guns. There were Linebaugh built Rugers, Gary Reeder built Rugers, Smith and Wesson's and assorted long arms. Rob had a gong set up around 200 yards and one set up at around 25 or 30 yards (if memory serves me) The farther gong soon became the target of choice as we took turns terrorizing it with all manner of calibers and weapons.

In the middle of all the fun and camaraderie I kept ribbing Gary about his "tupperware" gun that he was packing on his hip. Amongst all the custom revolvers, old Smiths, old Rugers and such, his G-g-g (I can't even get myself to type the name!) plastic gun seemed out of place. Being a fine Christian gentleman he took the kidding as long as he could, then he did the unthinkable, he made me shoot it! He handed me the pistol with a clip full of nondescript hardball ammo and told me to give it a try. I aimed at the 200 yard gong, squeezed the horrid trigger.....and rang the gong! That didn't seem right. The horrible trigger, the ugly gun, the cheap ammo, and yet I hit the gong! In fact, as I worked my way through the clip full, I hit the gong more often than I did with any other gun! Life's not fair!

Later, as I reflected on the experience, I got to thinking about how that g-g-g-gl-glock was a lot like some people. It had nothing attractive at all about it. It was soulless plastic poured into an ugly square mold, and yet it did a fine job of what it was to do. If given the pick of the tailgate of all the guns brought to that shoot, I'd probably never have picked out the g-g-g-gl-glock. In stead my eye would have been attracted to any one of the various "sexy" guns that had been brought along. The Smith 29 with the 10+ inch barrel, the Gary Reeder .475, the Linebaugh .45, the Old Model .357 Ruger - they each had some aesthetic appeal that would have taken my fancy. But the fact remains, the g-g-g-gl-glock shot better for me at that distance than any of the rest.

You see, we as humans, tend to judge things by their outward appearance. Our eyes often deceive us, because we believe that whatever pleases the eye must be good. But God looks upon us differently. When the prophet Samuel was searching for a man to replace Saul on the throne of Israel, he went to the house of Jesse like the Lord had told him to. Jesse called his sons before Samuel and Samuel looked on them with human eyes. Here's what the Bible tells us about what happened that day.

We, too, must learn to discern and to seek the heart, not the appearance. Although I hate to admit it, that Glock of Gary's is a fine shooting gun. It has a lousy trigger, but despite that, it gets the job done and that's what counts. May I do the same for my Lord.