"Arkansas Straight Cooners" is what the ad said in Field and Stream magazine. When I was a freshman in high school, every day in study hall I would look at the ad and dream about having a good coon dog. I loved "coon huntin". The ad said, for only $40, they would send you the dog that you describes.More importantly, they guaranteed the dog would tree coons. If I was not satisfied with the dog, they would send me another one. The only thing standing in the way of my having a good coon dog was $40. I can't remember exactly where I got the money, but I did. I enthusiastically mailed the money, the ad, and my description of the dog I wanted.
The first thing mother said when I got off the school bus one afternoon was, "They called from the train station in Fulton, your dog is here". I cannot describe how excited I was. Mother, my brothers, and I loaded up in the car headed for Fulton. We were all excited.
She was a healthy Black and Tan coon hound just like I ordered. They had shipped her in a very sturdy wooden crate. We decided to wait until we got back home to remove her out of the crate. We loaded the crate in the back seat of the car and headed home. The one thing that disappointed us was, it cost $37.50 shipping charges, which would come back to haunt me.
The night was perfect. My dad and I got Julie, what I named my coon dog, out of the truck. We were in Neil Roach's woods just down the road from where we lived. We had given Julie a couple of days rest to recuperate from her trip. Boy, she sure was pretty and very healthy looking. After being in the woods for about thirty minutes, we stopped to listen if Julie was on the trail of a coon. I called out to encourage her. I just knew in a few minutes she would be on the trail of a coon. Dad felt something bump his leg. Julie had run into him when he stopped. She had been following us the whole time. My heart sank. What was wrong? She didn't look sick. I told dad that maybe if we shined a coon and carried her to the tree she would start hunting. Well, it wasn't long before dad shined a coon. I coaxed Julie to go to the tree. All she would do was look at me. I told dad to shoot the coon and maybe that would excite her after she saw the coon hit the ground. He did, and we spent the rest of the night looking for Julie, my Arkansas, guaranteed, straight cooner. It was guaranteed, she was gun shy.
We finally got home. I hurriedly looked for my Field and Stream magazine. There it was plain as day "100% guaranteed". If not satisfied we will send you another dog. This was reassuring until I kept reading. The small print that followed, even at my young age, told me I had been taken. The small print read, "Buyer incurs all transportation cost to and from our kennels". I remembered the $37.50. I was stuck with no way of redeeming myself from the laughter of our neighbors and my friends.
I still wanted a coon dog so badly. I talked to some local hunters that I saw every day at Mr. Shaw's store. One sold me his dog, but before I cautiously sealed the deal, he brought his dog over to a tree and said, "Get im". This dog started barking and even tried to climb the tree. This was broad daylight. There was not a coon in the tree, but I liked his enthusiasm. I bought him and carried him out that night. No one ever told me that a coon dog would lie to you. Every tree we came to that lying dog would bark.
I learned, at a young age, some people would deceive you and lie to you.
I am thankful that I do have something that is guaranteed to be true. This is God's word. God has given it to us, and it is the truth because it is impossible for God to lie. (Read Titus1:2 and Hebrews 6:18) God's truth is a truth that will set us free. (John 8:32) God even tells us to use this truth to fight the devil.(Eph.6:14)
God also warns us about the devil and his lies. (John 8:44) He also says Satan himself can transform himself into an angel of light.(2 Cor. 11:13-14)
Everyone of us at sometime or other have been lied to or deceived, which leads us to check the details more closely in our earthly matters. But what about spiritual matters, are we cautious with these also? Remember, Satan can appear as an angel of light. He can deceive us if we don't know the truth. That 's why in Eph. 6:14, we are told to gird our waist with truth.
Yes, the truth can set us free and can also save us money, $77.50 to be exact. As we live God's truth in this life we will still have heartaches and trials, but we have that home in heaven guaranteed and without any shipping charges. Christ has us covered. He paid it all.
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Have a good day!
Rick Hepler
