From the Home Place

September 8, 2025

As I mentioned yesterday, it is archery elk season, one of my favorite times of the year! Every since I was just a boy, I have been mesmerized by the bugle of a bull elk. You can tell a lot about a bull just by listening to his call. A high-pitched call usually comes from a young bull. A deep guttural growl is most often the mark of an old monarch. A short, low pitch call comes from a lazy bull, one who isn’t really excited about the rut, yet.

Then there are the cow and calf calls. A calf call is called a chirp, short in duration and high in pitch. A cow elk mews, while a bull bugles. Yet as all experienced elk hunters will tell you, not all elk sound the same and not all calls work on all elk.

Personally, I like using a mouth diaphragm call, but I have heard plenty of guys do well with reed calls. I personally think that using electronic calls is cheating. An electronic call is a device that plays the actual call of a real-live bull or cow elk.

So now, let’s shift gears for a moment. Jesus stated, “No one comes to me unless the Father call them.” Much like calling elk, we Christians sometimes attempt to imitate the way pre-Christians talk. For some reason we think if we cuss and act like they do, they will accept us and become a Christian just like us. The problem is that seems to be true, but in my experience, it seldom produces fully devoted Christ-followers.

You see, it doesn’t matter if I’m calling elk, or if I’m calling unbelievers, my call has to sound, look and feel like the real thing. Now I can’t do that until I really understand the nature of the one I’m calling. When calling people, all ll I can do is to attempt to make my call sound very much like the real call – God calling someone to salvation in Christ Jesus. And I can’t do that without first knowing what God’s voice really sounds like.

The best any of us can do is to imitate the call of God. It is up to Him to genuinely call a person to salvation, and just like with calling elk, it’s up to the person to decide to respond to the call. Even if I was an expert elk caller, which I am not, it’s up to the elk to respond, or not. I can’t force them to answer the call and come toward me. The best I can do is practice my calls, believe in my calls and pray that a mature bull will answer my call and come my direction.

The same is true with people, we can’t force them, it’s up to the Master Caller to speak to their heart and draw them to faith in Jesus. Please hear me, your call sounds differently than my call and that’s just fine, yet none of us know which call a pre-Christian will answer. Only one thing is for sure, if we don’t call, it’s really difficult for them to respond.

So, I’m going to go practice my elk calls, and my people calls – praying someone will answer one of them.

Calling pre-Christians with you, Neal