It is finished...
No, this isn't a Christmas message though the focus on Christ and His finished work upon the Cross is very appropriate in late December. No, this message is about the buck.

As you may know from my earlier post, I killed my first buck in mid-November. It was a great thrill and so many people were so supportive of me in this process. I cannot tell you how touched I was by their support. The night I killed him I brought him home to show Shannon and the girls. Word spread that I had killed a big buck and friends started showing up to see the deer. We had a small celebration in my garage with close friends. Kind of crazy but very special.

As the days went on, I received a number of phone calls and emails of folks offering their congratulations. There is a neat community of hunters in Columbus and we rally around to celebrate each other's success. My hunting mentor - Ken Evans - was especially encouraging and supportive. Thank you Ken.

Blake Voltz - my neighbor and hunting club member - gave me the name of a taxidermist, Harrell Favors. I called Harrell and he couldn't have been nicer. He wanted to hear the whole story of how I killed the buck. I gave him the complete history, blow by blow, and he was truly, genuinely excited for me. He said, "Don't you worry, I'll go get the deer and I'll take really good care of him and do it just right."

At one point a few weeks ago, I sent Harrell an email from my blog of the story about the deer. His wife Jan wrote me back an incredibly nice and supportive email. She too is a hunter and completely understands the "sanctuary experience" of hunting.

She wrote this...A few years ago, at a family reunion, a male relative asked me, "Why do you hunt?" And for a moment, (just a moment) I was at a loss for words.....but when I haltingly answered, "There's no place I'd rather be a daybreak than in the woods...when the sun comes up, and rays of light filter through the trees, and the woods start to come alive with small animals scurrying about, and the birds greeting the new day and each other.....and as I look around, I see God in everything. I can almost hear his voice audibly as I talk to him." Before I could go any further, he smiled and said, "Same reason I hunt."

So time goes on and I've put the deer out of my mind. I trust Harrell and know he'll get it to me just as soon as he can.

Well, Santa came yesterday. My sweet wife became an elf and went to work to get me that deer on Christmas morning. She contacted Blake and told him what she wanted to accomplish. He - being the hunter he is - immediately grabbed it and said, "Let me take care of it, I'll call Harrell and arrange for it." Harrell, knowing the special circumstances immediately agreed to speed up the mounting. Something magical was about to happen in my life.

Shannon was so careful to conceal her elfish activities. Covert text messages, secret phone calls, etc. She had it all arranged. Blake picked up the deer last week and stored it at his house. On Christmas Eve, when we were at church, Blake was going to put the deer in the back of Shannon's car in the garage. When we were leaving to go to church, Shannon said, "Let's take your truck, my car is on empty." She feared I'd be suspicious - I wasn't. I'm proud to drive my truck anywhere - mud an all - especially to church! So we leave for church. Blake comes by and finds that her car doors are locked. He texts her and when we are riding home she is over there texting. Now I am getting suspicious. But she passes this off as some planning she is doing for a friend of hers. She goes in the house, unlocks the car and calls Blake. He is at his folks house eating Christmas dinner and gladly runs back to our house to try it again. I'm touched by his willingness to help.

So now it is Christmas morning and Shannon has kept this secret for a month conspiring with my neighbor and my taxidermist. About 10am, she says, "Richard I left something for the girls in the back of my car...go get it..."



Wow! You can imagine (or maybe see in my picture) just how special this was. I am touched beyond words by my wife's love for me and the effort she placed into making this happen. I am touched by Harrell & Jan Favors - folks I've never met but that I know will become good friends of ours. I am touched by Blake Voltz - for his love of hunting and his genuine excitement for his next door neighbor's good fortune.

We built a house a few years ago and I have a small study that is "my" space. A man's room. It is wood paneled with a pheasant on the wall, a print of a red-tail hawk (my blog is HawkSoars) and a Bucky Bowles print of quails lifting through south Georgia pines. My coffee table is a pair of benches pushed together that we used to have at our lake cabin (when we had it). These were made out of thick Mississippi heart pine from a 100+ year old barn from the farm of a friend. Over the mantle hung Robert E. Lee from my KA days at Mercer. Lee has hung in my house ever since I left college but I knew when I built this room that one day, I'd hang a big buck there. I even told Shannon that and she said, "You don't hunt Honey..." Well, the room is now finished. It is finished and I am blessed beyond words.



Soar!