Hunt for Him is not about me. Hunt for Him is about Him.
Having said that, you may still want to know something about the man He inspired to create Hunt for Him. My name is Jake Bowman and I’m completely, and ever increasingly, in love with my beautiful wife Mary and we have four precious children together, Cora, Eliza, Judah and Ezra. “You’ve got your hands full!” is something we hear on almost a daily basis. Together, we’ve embraced this observation from outsiders and affectionately call ourselves the “Handful of Bowmans”. The true meaning of this for us is that we are a handful because we are held in His hand. The handful is His, and because of this, we not only have our hands full, we have our hearts full.
As my last name conveniently implies, I’m passionate about archery, bowhunting, and the outdoors. Hunt for Him exists in response to His calling to inspire others to pursue Him above all else, to Hunt for Him. Ultimately, the best way to tell you who I am is to share with you my number one Priority in life.
In life, like building a house, the foundation must come first. The foundation is the most important part of the house, and First things must come first. The bigger and stronger the foundation, the bigger and stronger the rest of the house will be. When the foundation is strong and First things are put first, second things aren’t diminished, they are increased. Christianity is the foundation of my life. Why? Because after asking and honestly investigating the hardest questions I could possibly ask, I’ve found that Christianity offers the most reasonable and logical explanation of why I exist and what will happen after I die. It may seem odd to some but I think about death daily. Thinking about my own inevitable death has shaped my priorities more than anything else. For me, thinking about my death melts away all of the facets of this existence that are not important. Death reveals what matters in life. Death shows me what I should be aiming for, it shows me the True Target at the end of life’s range. Confronting my mortality forces the question, what really matters? What (or rather Who) should be the aim of my life?
There was a time when I was as skeptical as any other non-Christian and although I still experience times of doubt like most believers, I’ve decided to plant my soul’s flag here. Truth be known, no matter what you believe, you are exercising faith and you must decide where to plant your flag. First, I believe there is sufficient historical and factual evidence that Christianity is the true explanation of existence and second, what do I have to lose? If Christianity isn’t true, I’ve lost nothing, if it is, I’ve gained Everything.
For this reason, I’m passionate about providing a fresh perspective of Jesus that people can connect with, particularly men. I see a lot men who have been led to believe that to be a Christian they have to become boring, weak, passive and feminine. Somehow there has been a misconception in our culture that Jesus was passive and weak. How completely untrue this is! Jesus was meek, which is the opposite of weak. More on this topic later. So, who I am flows completely from my first Priority and my identity is in the One who made me. I am the clay, He is the Artist. My number one priority is to allow the Artist to finish His work and be pleased with what He has made.
With Christianity as my foundation and focus, my marriage is my next priority followed by my children. I can sum up my priorities up this way:
The best thing a man can do for his children is to love their mother, and the best thing he can do for their mother is to love God.
Life is really pretty simple, aim at loving God above all else, He will take care of the rest.