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The Pioneers

Develop or be the first to use or apply a new method

Intro 

The Top Ten - survival tips

Pioneers often end up off the beaten track in unknown territory. Imagine you find yourself in a survival situation - don’t worry we have it sorted for you. Here are our top tips to get you moving, thinking and surviving:

10. Breathe. Don’t rush but take some time to focus and start thinking clearly

09. Gathering stage. Start to prepare for shelter. If there is a crash site then don’t wander too far from it. 

08. You need to find clean water. FAST! 

07. Work on getting a fire ready and lit, don’t pick up wood from the jungle floor for this, too wet and will frustrate you, look for dry hanging branches, tinder and kindling working to larger pieces. 

06. Start thinking food, don’t be squeamish, if it wiggles it could be just classed as protein so do it. (Avoid mushrooms, completely!) 

05. Don’t get situation blind, look around you, points of refence, work out where you are and keep thinking and observing what’s going on around you. 

04. Be careful. Work hard at not injuring yourself, but plan for it just in case. 

03. If you start to panic go back to the plan, don’t forget your survival plan. Stick to it. 

02. Forge a weapon, you may not be the only ‘thing’ trying to survive! 

01. Keep your head, stay calm and keep thinking, don’t quit, no surrender.

Would you do anything differently?

The Pioneers – what we’re talking about:

Are you a risk taker? Do you get tired of being stuck in a rut? Want to break out?

Are you someone who likes to dream the impossible, come up with ‘out-there’ ideas and see if they’re possible? Maybe you used to dream like this but over time that ability to think big and let your ambition fly high has been cut down a little.

A mate of mine ages ago gave me an incredible picture, he said this: ‘If there is a storm, everyone runs for cover. I want to be that man who runs into the storm, all or nothing. The risk of the lightning, the invitation to feel alive.’ 

I knew what he meant - of course I am not suggesting you do this, but in picture language this is profound. When proper storms hit, the normal response is to board up the windows and for us to go as low as we can, to hide, wait, survive. 

This picture from my mate was different. Running into the storm is reckless, erratic, dangerous, risky, edgy and wild. That holds a certain appeal in contrast to much of today’s sanitised thinking, where we end up removing all the risk and edge from our lives. After all, I never dreamt of sitting on a sofa for the best days of my life, sat looking out the window as opportunities and moments pass by. No, I imagined being the hero, the wild man, the adventurer and the space monkey, the risk taker, the man who got behind a cause and went for it.  A story is told of an older man, a simple man, who received a message from a pioneer, to move his wife and camp and go to a land he had never seen. It was a huge risk and would mean he had to recklessly trust that message, especially along the path to his journey’s end, but he decided to be that man, that pioneer, and to put his faith into action and on the move. His life was huge, never the same again. 

Action:

So, what about you? Do you have a pioneer heart? Has anything blunted that passion? Or is it still alive?  Who are you today compared to who you dreamt of being? Is there a space monkey pioneer inside of you that’s restless from being held back for too long?

Pioneers are the ones who go ahead and show others the way – today, look for opportunities to step out boldly in faith and lead the charge for others.

Reflect on these words from Proverbs 3:6 In all your ways acknowledge Him,

And He shall direct your paths.