reawakening

So this week is game hunting week, or big game week, or something like that. Xan told us the theme had to do with that, game and hunting and such. So far this week we've had men come on two different nights to talk around that subject, Monday night and tonight; I can only imagine what tomorrow night and Saturday hold, although I hope I have an idea.

Both of these nights so far were great, in fact today was an amazing day overall, but I'll save both Monday night and a great adventure from this afternoon for another post because just tonight has enough weight of its own.

Well tonight three of our shooting guides came over for dinner. Actually one of them, Steve, we knew was a shooting guide and have been anticipating him coming over for probably a month and a half or so now, so it was great to finally have him over. All three though are amazing men with great stories, both about hunting as well as life in general, which they shared generously. They also generously shared their prizes: Steve, Mark, and Charles had brought various kinds of meat that they had killed. Tonight was the fullest we've ever seen our grill, though it has been put to great use before. There was all kinds of meat- wild turkey, elk, quail, pheasant, and chucker. They had been prepared various ways: a lime marinade, a wine and soy sauce marinade, bacon wrapped. And all of it was delicious. It was amazing, some of the best food we'd had all summer. In fact it might have to be the best overall because of the fact that the men who cooked and ate it with us were the ones who killed the animals. On taste alone the salmon steaks that Dean, a man that visited several weeks ago, brought from Alaska were probably a bit better, but they didnt have the overall story that this meat did.

Anyway, the guys cooked meat they had hunted while sharing stories from hunting trips, several about Charles' dog Chester ("the greatest dog in the world!", for those of you who have seen Disney's 'The Kid') then we gathered around a fire to hear more of the personal side of what hunting means to these guys and why they do it, etc. We also got to hold and pass around several s that they had brought to show us.

As the men told stories and talked to us about different things related to s and hunting and shooting, Xan asked the four of us what we were thinking or feeling about all of it. Though I didn't use this word at the time, I described feeling a sense of reawakening to a love and a passion for s and this type of thing. I've never hunted before, nor had much desire, but I have shot s a bit and had some exposure to it all, but never gotten nearly as much as I wanted. And over the years I've always been interested in the subject, watching everything I could on the history channel and just learning about s and shooting. In fact that was one thing that was evident tonight, a couple of times actually.

One example is that though I wanted to hold and see all the s they had brought, I stopped at a particular one once I had it in my hands and never let go of it the entire night. After one or two , I was handed a that I quickly recognized as a Winchester repeater. I was in awe. This is one of my favorite s, there is so much history involved with it. I held it up, looked down the barrel, ed the lever several times, marveled at how light it was and admired how powerful it is despite not seeming that long. I told Campbell it was one of the s that ruled the Old West and in fact that if it had come out a few years earlier it would have had a significant impact on historical events like the Civil War. I loved how it looked and how it felt in my hands. I never really dreamed I would hold one, but now all I could think was that I had to own one, or at least shoot one sometime.

For some time now shooting has been on my mind a lot and even the idea of getting back into it regularly as soon as I can. This desire has been deepened and more solidified with these men coming tonight and sharing about themselves, about shooting and hunting, and especially with inviting us into it, drawing us into that world. Tonight was amazing, and I can only imagine, and can't wait to see all the rest of the things God has for my heart in this area, and in others over the rest of the summer.