March 15th, 2026 - "Wilderness Survival Guide: Movement in Nature" - Bill Fernandez

Matt Nelson: Welcome to the sermon podcast from First United Methodist

Church in downtown Bentonville.

If you have questions related to what you hear today or just want to find

out more about the ministries of First United Methodist Church, please visit us

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Bill Fernandez: Joy to be here with you this morning.

As we go into scripture, it will be Psalms 19.

We're gonna read verse one through four, and I wanna read you the theme.

Both God's creation and his word reveal his greatness.

Verse one, "The heavens declare the glory of God.

The skies proclaim the work of his hands.

Day after day, they pour forth speech.

Night after night, they display knowledge.

There is no speech or language where their voice is not heard.

Their voice goes out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world.

In the heavens, he has pitched a tent for the sun." These are the

words of God for the people of God.

Thanks be to God.

Thanks be to God.

Dear Heavenly Father, Lord, I just pray that the meditation of all

our hearts and the words from my mouth are pleasing to you this day.

Amen.

Well, last fall, Michelle started talking to me about this Lenten series, and

she said, "I, I, I've got a section I want you to consider." And she said,

"I know you fly-fish and talk about fly-fishing, and I know you camp and

travel, but I know that you have a really spiritual connection with both."

And she said, "Would you share when we get to movement in nature?"

And of course, I said yes, because how do you tell Michelle no?

But secondly, that has become a real passion of mine and Kim over the years.

You know, looking back at my life, I think about the most impactful

moments that I had, and they are all centered around being outside.

Now, my boys were born inside, okay?

I mean, I know we're in Arkansas, there's a question, but they were

born inside But Kim and I, we were married actually outside.

I think back to my youth and some of the moments that stick out to

me the most is I started riding motorcycle when, when I was four, and

I loved it, and it was just freeing.

Going to my Papaw's house in Russellville, Arkansas, and he and his best friend

would take me out in the jon boat.

We would gather worms from the garden and put them in an old Folgers can and

go out to Lake Dardanelle and fish.

Fishing at its purest.

And then when we moved to Grove, Oklahoma, I was in sixth grade.

Our first house was on Grand Lake, and my dad at the time

was a Walmart manager there.

And I remember in the summer times, myself and my sister and my mom, we

would have the boat packed up ready to go with sandwiches and drinks, and

Dad would come in after work screaming and parked, and he would go in and get

his bathing suit on, and then we were off to the lake, skiing, swimming.

And I remember in the evenings when the sun would go down, just

floating and looking at the sky.

They were amazing memories for sure.

Fly fishing really came into my life a little over 30 years ago.

I had a group of friends from Oklahoma that invited me to go spend a week on

the White River in Cotter, Arkansas, self-proclaimed trout capital of the

world And I remember that week, I didn't catch much fish, but they did.

But I remember the campfires as we were camping and the fellowship that we had,

but there was something about being grounded in that river just connected.

It was a peace and a joy that really took hold of me.

I, um, come back and quickly got geared up with my own boots and waders and fly rod.

And some of y'all may remember Jeff and Kay Brown attended church here for years,

and Jeff was an avid fly fisherman, and he took me under his wing and would

take me out and show me the ropes.

There's a lot of things, Mr. Ed has done the same thing, but really taught

me the love of the art of fly fishing.

He and Kay had a place over on the White River, and they would take us

from time to time, and I remember experiencing the fellowship with Jeff

and I in the river in the early mornings.

We would come back to the house, and Kim and Kay would have breakfast.

Generally, my boys were still sleeping in, but that fellowship time together.

And we were blessed that they would let us, from that point on, really

have the cabin any time we wanted it, and we took full advantage of it.

We would try to go over once a month, and I remember that I would be out

of the house early, and I would be in the river before the sun come up.

I wanted to be there just to see the sunrise and the fog burn off, and

I would be there for several hours by myself in solitude and at peace.

And Kim and the boys would come, and they would bring sandwiches and drinks,

and we would sit there and have lunch, and then the boys and I would fish

for several hours until they just got bored and tired, and then Kim would

sit and watch us and read a book.

And it was in those moments I would stay and fish throughout

the evening and go back.

But it was in those moments when I first started fly fishing that it

linked my walk with God Because it, it, it took me to a place of peace.

But I think more than that, it took me to a place where I could be

disconnected from the world around me.

I could be solely focused on God.

And I found myself in those times where I would audibly just

have a conversation with Christ.

I would talk about closest to Christ moments, you know, where

I had an opportunity to pour in and somebody and did, but I'd also

talk about my discipleships denied.

Maybe those moments where God put somebody in my path, but in our

busy world that we create, I may have had blinders on and didn't

recognize the moment to be a disciple.

It was a place that I could truly be unplugged from the world

and deeply connected to Christ.

About 10 years ago, it, it took another step as Kim then started to fish

and learn how to fly-fish with me.

It took us a little time before she would actually touch a fish.

But we got past that point, and she developed that same love, and

all of a sudden now some of my closest to Christ moments is when

I'm watching her have that joy.

About that time, David and Suzanne Rector came into our

lives and changed everything.

Because we took our little fly-fishing trips, and it began where we

would go on destination trips.

And we were known as the camping crew.

And what was four then now has become eight over the last few years.

Our dear friends were here earlier, Will and Erica Gardner, and we've got

a, a wonderful couple that we know in Oklahoma, Jody and Brian Lohman, have

joined us on our camping adventures, all centered around fly fishing.

We spend 10 to 12 weekends a year together camping here in the Ozarks somewhere, but

we go on a trip every summer out west.

Now, we don't glamp.

It's, it's really different.

We're-- People our age probably don't camp like we do.

We go fully off-grid, and what I mean by that, we're usually in a national

forest somewhere or Bureau of Land Management in a remote area with no

water and no electricity And no showers.

We got bougie last year, although I have to tell you, Will and Erica added a shower

tent that they can pop up on their camper.

Dave and Suzanne bought a little water heater, and we take five- we took

five-gallon buckets last year of river water, heated it up, and had showers.

And it was wonderful.

And us guys know how blessed we are to have four amazing ladies that love that

same deep connection to God's creation.

It's always centered around fly-fishing, always in the middle of nowhere.

And for me, we're always unplugged.

I look back at David's life, and there are, there are a couple of key

spots where I feel connected to him.

He's shown us time and time again when you lose focus, how it is to get

off the path and to lose your walk.

We're both sinners.

We all are.

We've all fallen off the path.

But I think my real connection to David is that in those moments,

he finds that reconnected- connectedness to Christ in nature.

So I, um, I wanna set the stage for David's ministry here.

So David, at this point, has been anointed king.

Saul is not having any of that.

He is going to keep the crown, and at this point in time, he and

his army are hunting David down.

David is on the run, and he's in hiding.

I wanna share a picture with you.

There we go.

So last year, when Michelle and I started talking about this series and

the opportunity to talk about movement in nature, she shared this picture with me.

She had an opportunity to go to the Holy Land several years ago, and this

is the place, and she got to go and take this picture, where David was hiding at

this moment when he wrote the Psalms.

I asked her this week to, to, to meet with me.

I wanted to learn more about this picture and that journey, and

we met in an afternoon, and she started telling me the story.

And church, I gotta tell you, she lit up.

The Holy Spirit was so full in her to be able to share the journey that she and

many others took, talking about walking in those same steps that David had walked.

And she started telling me the story.

She was talking about on this trip, she said it was hot, it was

dry, and we were walking through the, the jagged canyon walls.

Uh, we weaved back and forth, uh, crossing the creek before they got to this place.

She said, "Only about half of the people actually made it to the back." When we

turned and saw this place, she said it was an oasis in dry and barren land, and her

words were, "It felt protected by God." In this scripture, you can feel David's

praise and reverence for God's creation.

He's been in hiding in this place, but he felt protected by God to be

able to write these amazing words.

And in verse one, "The heavens declare the glory of God.

The skies proclaim the works of His hands.

Day after day, they pour forth speech.

Night after night, they display knowledge." This summer, had an

opportunity to experience what I think maybe David experienced in verse two.

We were in the Bridger-Teton National Forest in the middle of nowhere

Wyoming, 30 miles from anywhere.

And I remember in the middle of the night getting up and walking

outside the camper, and it was just amazing explosion of light.

I had never experienced it like that.

It was overwhelming

Throughout my journeys and our trips, there's been four words that have

been something that I was able to say, and I looked up and it was, "Wow."

And then it was, "Thank you, Jesus." See, we- we've got the wilderness

guides, and we've talked about that over the last few weeks, and I think

for me, they're a lesson in how to prepare for that journey, right?

How to prepare to receive when we get into those movements.

My good buddy, David Rector, has given me a hard time now for

10 years because I have AT&T.

The reason is I have no signal with my AT&T.

No matter where we have gone on our trips, whether it's Montana or Idaho

or Wyoming or below Beaver Dam on the White River, I never have signal,

and I love it, and I'm not switching.

No matter what, I'm not switching.

Not a ringing endorsement for AT&T, and I'm probably not gonna get a

commercial deal out of this, but it allows me to disconnect and unplug.

See, folks, we are bombarded in our lives with noise, with data,

with this chaos that we've created.

24/7, 365, we're connected.

And as I think about movement into nature and the survival guide,

it allows us to have a place and understand how we can disconnect.

See, God's grace is so amazing, folks.

He's waiting for us no matter where we are, and He's always in communication.

So when we do find that special place, I think it gives us the ability to be

unplugged, to be focused, and to receive the blessing He has in store for us.

So I'll ask you today, Church, where's your place?

Where's your place of solitude, of silence, and reverence for God's creation?

We are truly blessed to live in Northwest Arkansas in the Ozarks.

We have an abundance of natural resources, wonderful trail systems, whether you run,

hike, or bike, amazing rivers and streams.

We have the opportunity to go from this place and find that place to explore.

So that's my prayer for us all today, that you find a place where you

can be unplugged, disconnected, and reconnect to Christ like King David did.

Amen.

Matt Nelson: Thanks for listening to the sermon podcast from First United

Methodist Church in downtown Bentonville.

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