Introduction

As a wee little lad I went to lots of archery shoots with my dad. His nickname, and back in the 70's and 80's his CB handle, was "Crooked Arrow". He got this nickname because during archery shoots if there was a particularly difficult shot that involved lots of brush and obstacles my father would smile and pull out a crooked arrow. An arrow that hits a tree or branch because of a poor shot or possibly an unseen obstacle would sometimes end up with one or more bends in the shaft. Technically these should have been discarded. My father who has always been a real penny pincher as well as quite the pack rat, would keep the ones that were still relatively straight. This may seem like a silly story but the neat part for me was the typical result. Smiling the entire time my father would step up to the mark and let fly with that old bent arrow and somehow it usually not only made it to the target but also into the bulls-eye. His friends would step up next and one by one using their nice straight arrows they would try to find a safe path through the heavy brush. Many times my father was not only closest to the mark but was also the only person not searching the surrounding area looking for errant arrows!

I love to look at everyday life and find connections to God. Sometimes the connections are simple and straightforward. Other times you need to navigate around the obstacles to find those special nuggets of truth. In those times just like my dad's crooked arrows you may need to look at life at some odd angles to get past the junk in the way.