Let no one deceive himself. If anyone among you seems to be wise in this age, let him become a fool that he may become wise. For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is written, “He catches the wise in their own craftiness.”

1 Corinthians 3:18-19 NKJV

It’s been a while since I talked about it so…..let’s talk about archery! Specifically how movie archery is not the most efficient way of shooting. Although, shooting like a movie did probably teach me more than 20 minutes of shooting the “correct” way today.

The movie in question is James Cameron’s Avatar. Amazing graphics, beautiful cinematography, and the performances of the actors were solid. Now the archery in the movie was none of those things. Granted it looked cool, but it definitely wasn’t what I knew. The arrows had only two feathers but fletched (put on the arrow) like a three-feathered arrow. I couldn’t tell if they were using recurve bows or longbows. And I definitely don’t recommend using your bow as a melee, hand-to-hand combat, weapon to hit things with. It is a precious tool and weapon, just not that kind of weapon. Try an ax or a bat.

But the most curious thing about the way the Navi (the big blue aliens in the movie) did archery was their draw. I hadn’t seen it before or a style that looked similar to it. There are different draws around the world, and I use the more common draw (the European three-fingered draw), but using your hand with your hand’s back facing you was new to me. So, after researching that it was in fact not real and only intended to look alien, I did what any logical person would do: I tried it.

Now I didn’t do it exactly like they did. The Navi had super long arms and practically drew the arrow all the way back to their jawbone. Also, they only had four fingers. I have five. So three fingers were much stronger than two. I pulled the bow back and let it go. It was weird, and I had to adjust my aim way to the right because of the new distance the draw created between my face and the arrow. But I’m glad I did it for a few rounds. 

You see, because I was shooting in a different, “incorrect”, way, I really had to rely on the bow. It was my constant, my anchor, the driving force for the arrow. Literally, after three rounds of firing the Avatar way, I just learned to relax and adjust my aim. I got results like the first picture. A pretty good grouping. But even better than that, when I went back to the correct way of drawing, I could feel the ways I wasn’t relying on the bow. I was able to relax more, shoot quicker, and consistently get more groups. The second picture is the group I ended on.

I was also with a friend, and she didn’t comment on my shots at any time. She commented on my bow. Whether I was shooting the Avatar way, or the way I knew, to her, the bow sounded and looked powerful. Despite how I changed, the bow was still the bow. It still did what it was meant to do.

As usual, God told me that this is how He is. That when He asks us to be a fool to be wise, He’s asking us to trust Him to be Him. Whether we do things “correctly” or “incorrectly” God is still God. He’s the one with the power, We have to work with Him and trust Him to do His part, no matter what. So many times in the Bible, when God asked people to do something, it wasn’t the smartest thing to do. It wasn’t the fastest way nor the correct way. It was His way. 

David trusted God to fight a giant with stones. Esther and Moses trusted God to face kings and speak against rules. Paul trusted God and stayed in jail, even when the door was open. Peter trusted God’s vision and opened the door for many non-Jewish people which was not the norm at the time. All of these great stories had people do things God’s way. They trusted Him with the arrow and it flew. They may not have seen the mark at the start or did not understand or know if the arrow could hit its mark, but in the end, the arrow hit its mark. In the end, God is God.

So, as you go throughout your week, don’t worry about doing things the correct way. Ask God if you’re doing things His way. Let Him show you and teach you. Be a “scound” (Navi for moron). In the end, that moron was a hero. And in the end, God is still God, and He sees you. He sees you.