Chasing the Adventure
I've been hunting for three years. My father wasn't/isn't a hunter. I didn't grow up around hunting but a few years ago, I decided that I wanted to pursue this. I feel most alive when I am outdoors and so I set out to take up deer hunting. A good friend and mentor is an avid hunter and he took me under his wing and helped me buy my deer rifle. He showed me which scope to buy and even mounted the scope and got my gun ready. A neighbor is an avid hunter and I mentioned to him my desire to hunt and he let me join a great hunting lease. We lease 1,100 acres in Harris County - a beautiful tract of land with ridges, creek bottoms, planted pines and hardwood drains. I've seen some amazing things hunting - bobcats, raccoons, owls, hawks. I've seen a buck track a doe in heat like a hound dog. He ran by my stand with his nose to the ground and my yelling didn't distract him. I've seen another buck come in and watch a doe feed. He was so captivated by her that he lay down and watched her not knowing that death was looking right at him. I moved my stand to a hardwood area in between a food plot and a creek bottom. I've seen great activity in this stand including a huge buck last year that I hesitated before shooting. I wanted a better shot and waited for him to emerge from behind a tree. He never emerged, he turned and went away from me keeping the tree between him and me.

My friends have helped me and taught me along the way. When I let this big buck go, my mentor said, "Richard you have been watching too much TV where these guys watch deer for a minute or two before shooting - you usually get about 3 seconds to take your shot". Others have taught me about keeping both eyes open when scoping a deer, breathing slowly when shooting and squeezing the trigger slowly. I've learned a lot by listening - learning about the Rut, learning how deer move, learning about Trail cameras, scrapes and rubs. I've learned the importance of White Oaks. It has been an adventure.

This year has been frustrating. I bought two trail cameras and caught some really nice dear on the cameras but in the stand, I was being skunked. So most mornings this fall, I'd get down out of my stand about 9am and start to scout. I have walked miles and miles up and down creek drains. I've found deer paths, scrapes and rubs all over the place. I've found shed antlers from last year. I've savored my times in the woods on foot. I feel most alive hunting when I am on foot crossing streams, looking for signs and scouting new hunting locations. Think about it - Indians didn't hunt deer from a tree stand! They did it on foot! I make sure I stay alive by wearing orange when I do this and knowing where my buddies are at all times!

Last Saturday, I got down and found a great "bowl" in the creek behind me where it curves around a huge white oak. In fact, there are 5 big white oaks around there. I set up a ground blind and hunted it last weekend. I heard a big buck grunt (never heard that before) down in the creek. A small 4 point came out and the big buck passed back up in the woods so I couldn't see him.

This Saturday, I hunted my stand in the morning and got down to scout behind the White Oak bowl. I found a new deer trail and there were three huge deer rubs along this trail. Here is a picture of one...

This was a big tree and the deer flat out tore it up. The rub was very fresh. My blood started pumping. Just when I was about to give up (not really), God throws me a softball with these rubs..."He is there...stay patient."

So Sunday afternoon, I hunted the White Oak Bowl....nothing. I got frustrated and cold and about 5:15, I got down and headed back by my stand. I contemplated going home but something in me said, "What the heck, stay in the stand for another 30 minutes and just see..." I left my gear on the ground and climbed up with my gun and antlers.

I sat down and started rattling the horns. Immediately (about 2 minutes after I got in the stand), a 4 point emerged from my left. I scoped him and realized he wasn't a shooter and then I heard rustling to my right. I am left eye dominant so shooting left handed to my right is ideal. I swung the gun around and caught a monster coming out of the thick scrub. I knew immediately, this was THE one. I scoped him immediately and grunted at him (My mentor taught me this too - you make a MMMMMMMARK sound and deer will typically stop to figure out where the sound is coming from). He didn't stop. So, I grunted again. He didn't stop. There is a good chance this is the same deer I let go last year and I wasn't about to hesitate again. I slowly squeezed the trigger and he jumped and took off down toward the creek. He ran about 50-75 yards and stopped to look around. I thought I had missed him. Then he fell over, got up, ran to the left another 25 yards or so and fell again.

When I walked up on him, I could not believe my eyes. I had waited three years and never fired a shot. I had let a number of smaller bucks go. I was beginning to wonder if I'd ever get a deer. The enemy was beginning to whisper, "You see, you are a hack...you'll never match up..." and God was gently telling me all along, "Be patient, you are learning, you have done this..."

The deer scored 142 inches and weighed 237 pounds. For a first deer - he is amazing. Forgive the next pictures, they are kind of messy.







It has been quite an adventure and I am blessed beyond words by being so fortunate to have this as my first deer. So many things went into making this possible. The generosity of the land owner, the time my mentors put into educating me, the patience of my hunting buddies, my sweet wife's support as I left before sunup on many a Saturday, Rich for having a 4-Wheeler and being willing to help me bring the deer out of the woods, being in the right place at the exact right time and patience...lots of patience.

God met me in the woods these past three years. If you can't hear God around the noise and busyness of this life, get alone with Him. The woods are a great place for me to feel God. Crystal clear blue skies, golden leaves, the majesty of His nature, quiet and cool breezes. In this sanctuary, I've had great time alone with God and (And this will offend someone) - God was sweet to me yesterday afternoon. He kept telling me "Be patient" and then conspired events to collide this beast with me in a perfect setting.

Soar!

Savior?
I have a good friend and mentor. He is a very successful real estate developer. His brother is a successful surgeon. His other brother retired as a successful investment manager. It is a family of success. My friend has two sons - one is full-time staff with Young Life. The other son went to medical school and is practicing in Augusta, GA. His name is Grant. Grant could have written his own check but instead he chose to give up lucrative medical practice in exchange for a life of service. He started an inner city clinic in Augusta. His patients aren't glamorous - there is no insurance, there is very little commerce at all with this practice. It is a life of service. Grant told me one time that a man questioned him on this choice and told him, "Grant, you will poor..." and Grant said, "Yep, for the next forty years but I am thinking eternity and when you think eternity, forty years is a blink of an eye." Grant has it figured out and God is using him in a mighty way.

Read this below from his website...
Patient 2 – A kind inner city man with just your basic medical problems of high blood pressure, diabetes, and high cholesterol. He says everything is fine except…then he points to his head. "I don't trust nobody doctor." He tells a tale of sitting in his chair all night long and looking out his blinds every time he hears a noise. He stands alone at the bus stop. He walks alone and turns around if anyone is behind him to make sure he is not being followed. He is big and intimidating but has become imprisoned mentally. His wife passed away over 20 years ago and his son is in Iraq. "I don't trust nobody doctor," he repeats again and again.

We pray for his tormented paranoid mind that has imprisoned him. After prayer, the man gets ready to leave and then nervously speaks "Doctor…. one more thing…" I don't have time for ‘one more things.’ "There was an old lady out front who couldn't pay her co-pay. What's going to happen to her?" I inform him that people have to pay a little bit to be seen. It teaches them responsibility or something. "Well she said she could pay in a couple of weeks, but I don't know how she will be able to – Do you mind ….. I mean ….. Can I pay her co-pay?"

I have never seen a borderline paranoid schizophrenic reach out and care for a stranger like this man. I walked back in a closed exam room and wept. Is a president really going to change the world or will it be you and me and my paranoid friend. Has Christ not called us to this time and place to build His Kingdom and love His people? Are we going to change the world in the ballot box and then go home and wait for it to happen? We are his ambassadors, to build his kingdom, love a neighbor, serve the poor, and die to self.

Wow. What a story. What a shame...that more of us don't think this way. I fear America has lost this spirit and we have become a nation of people who expect the government to fix all of our problems. I fear we have become Christians who'd rather write a check to the church or to the Christian relief organization than we would roll up our own sleeves and do get dirty helping folks that are hurting. I'm convicted.

Our nation is about to be sadly disappointed when President Obama doesn't fix all their problems. When he doesn't pay off their debts. When he doesn't make everything "fair" or "right". He can't. There is only one, "The One" and it isn't Obama. It is Christ. Only in Him will the crooked be made straight. Only in Him can we be complete. Only in Him can wrongs be truly righted.

I'm thankful for my friend Grant. He is an inspiration to us all. Earthly poor - Eternally rich.

Soar!

Choice
A friend relayed this story to me last night. He attended college with a girl and was good friends with her. She was raised in a Christian home and attended church regularly. As he said, "She knew the Truth - she knew right from wrong." She began to date a muslin boy from Egypt. My friend had a long talk with her and warned her against dating him because he feared she would be pulled away from her faith. The boy treated her well but she was warned that eventually his true self and true religion would emerge.

She ended up dating him more seriously and marrying him. A few years later, his true self emerged and the rules of Islam were forced upon her. In rebellion she got hooked up with a group following witchcraft and lesbianism. She hit rock bottom. Her world came apart.

In a moment of desperation, she turned back to God and prayed. In her prayers she anguished over how her life had turned out and she shook her fist at God and said, "How could you have let all this happen to me? Why didn't you warn me?"

With that she had a sudden flashback to her college days. She hadn't thought about my friend in years but suddenly he was there again. She remembered their entire conversation, remembered what he was wearing and remembered his warnings about choosing to turn away from God.

God said to her - "You see, I tried to warn you but you chose to ignore my warnings". Now God didn't say, "I told you so..." rather, He lovingly showed her His mercy in that conversation. She came back to God and restored her faith in Him.

It is so easy for us to blame God for our problems. We choose to ignore Him. We choose to do things our own way and when we make a wreck of our lives, we turn back to God and say "Why did you let this happen?"

Our nation has turned its back on God. We've removed Him from our schools. We don't allow prayer before football games. We've removed His values from our entertainment and replaced it with TV shows promoting alternative lifestyles, affairs, drug use, teenage sex, violence and greed. As we have seen, this opening of Pandora's box hasn't made us any safer or more complete. Alcoholism, drug use, addition to pornography, teenage sex and street violence are at all time highs and we wonder why God would let such bad things happen.

God didn't let these terrible things happen - they are consequences our decision to turn our backs on Him. God didn't "let" Adam and Eve get cast out of the Garden - they chose to disobey His command and then they were exposed to their own nakedness, their own sin.

There is still time for our nation. There is time to turn back to God. There is time to repent of our selfish ways. While we cannot individually change the course of this nation's path, we can change the path of our individual homes and lives. We can turn back to God. We can stop living for self and live for Him.

I love the words from this song...
Give me one pure and holy passion, give me one magnificent obsession
Give me one glorious ambition for my life
To know and follow hard after You.

The ambition of our lives should be to know and follow hard after Him. It isn't to become CEO or to become rich or famous -- the ambition of our lives should be Him.

Soar!