Have you ever been hunting and stepped out of your vehicle and knew that today was your day and then have it all come together? I am not sure that I can say that I have until November 14th of 2013. Let me give you some quick back story.
My family and I had moved to Iowa back in January 2013 and I had scheduled my vacation from November 6th-16th. Ten day’s devoted to chasing thick-necked, heavy racked Iowa whitetails. Now don’t get my wrong, I hunt whenever I can, but with being a pastor my schedule is pretty tied up all the time except during vacation and I could not wait for it to come around this year. I had imaginations of spending almost all day everyday in a tree-stand waiting for a love sick Iowa buck to walk into bow range. Well, to be honest it did not quite happen as I had hoped.
We found out in the middle of October that my wife was pregnant with baby Norman number three. We were beyond excited; however, my wife does not have easy pregnancies. Sparing you the gross details of how sick she gets lets just say, the height of her sickness peaked on, you guessed it November 6th.
My in-laws had pretty much moved in with us to help with her and the boys because I quickly realized I could not work, clean, cook, wash, drop kids off at school, do laundry, and take care of my wife who had been in and out of the hospital all on my own. So needless-to-say vacation was not going to be quite what I had expected and I was OK with that because there are things in life more important that hunting.
But on the afternoon of November 14th my wife encouraged me to go hunting one more time. My father-in-law had the boys so I jumped at my chance. As I parked the truck and started my half mile walk to the stand the Lord reminded me of this a in Philippians 4:6 that says, “Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God (NIV).”
He reminded me that I should be thankful for the things I am believing for even if I have yet to receive them. So right in the middle of the picked cornfield I raised my hands and will all my heart I believed it when I said, “Father, I thank you for the buck I am receiving tonight.” I went on my way to the stand and got set up and turned my camera on (I film all my hunts) and I even told the camera, you are going to see my harvest my buck tonight because I thanked God for it on my way to the stand.
Sure enough, after an eventful afternoon full of buck movement and passing some younger ones I had a beautiful ten point buck working a scrape sixty-five yards away through the timber. After a few short grunts from my grunt tube caught his attention he lowered his head and pinned his ears back and started walking heavy-footed to my location. Stopping behind a big cedar tree, he turned and stepped out broadside at forty yards. I stopped him in my only shooting lane and settled my pin, squeezing the trigger on my release I watched my lighted nock fly through the air lodging in the the off-side shoulder of my first Iowa buck. After a short blood trail, I began to praise God for the buck I had received as I walked through the cornfield to start my hunt.
