Bill circled back with the gang on last weeks topic...
Relationships Matter Part 2
Subs and Substance
November 16, 2011
Last week we talked about how relationships mattered to Jesus and they matter to us and you were challenged to create deep meaningful relationships that result in the 6 people you would want to be your Pallbearers.
This week I want to read you a story and talk about a specific and important relationship in your life.
It’s called, “That bears going to maul my son!”:
They were high in the Absaroka mountain range of northwestern Wyoming. Nearly 1 million acres, it’s an area accessible only by a 15-mile trip by packhorse. It was gorgeous country—one of the true remote wilderness areas of America. Pine trees, mountain meadows and lakes, dark and craggy towering mountains. Plenty of elk, and plenty of grizzlies.
The two men—father and son—loved to hunt in this area. Just the two of them—far from civilization. Ron Leming, Sr., had learned to hunt from his father, and he in turn taught his own son, Ron Jr. They returned to area year after year to bow-hunt for elk. "We're very close," says Ron Sr., who was 62. "These trips mean everything to me."
But on all these trips, Ron Jr., 37, was the only one who had killed an elk with an arrow. "My dad has never had the experience of getting a big bull elk with a bow," says Ron Jr., who has taken several trophy elk himself. "I really wanted him to have that."
During previous days, Ron had missed a shot when an elk was in range. On this day, Ron Sr. prayed that he would have his chance. “God, guide my arrow today."
Determined to give his father an opportunity to bag an elk, Ron Jr. hid uphill. He covered his camouflage with elk scent to cover up his human smell. For thirty minutes he imitated the bugling call of an elk. And finally a big bull elk answered and was making his way to confront the competition.
Ron Jr. needed to lure the elk within 40 yards of his father, hiding in the brush below, to ensure a good shot. "Everything looked good: The wind was right in our faces. The elk had no idea we were there. I was sure Dad was going to get a shot." The elk moved closer, and closer … and then suddenly bolted away into the forest.
Puzzled, Ron Jr. stood up, turned around, and discovered that something else had been stalking that elk: a 500-pound grizzly bear. Perhaps thinking this shape was the elk it had been following, the beast attacked Ron.
Ron Sr. heard his son yell, and looked up to see the giant grizzly chasing Ron Jr. His first thought was, That bear's going to maul my son. His next thought was a fleeting picture of his son as a baby, lying in his arms.
Instantly he stood up, aimed, and shot. Then the bear pounced on Ron Jr. The grizzly took Ron’s arm in its mouth, crushing his elbow, and shook him. He couldn’t believe the force. Somehow Ron Jr. broke free and began running for safety, but the bear caught him again. He punched at the bear, trying to keep the jaws away from his head. “He definitely fought for all he was worth,” Ron Sr. recalls. “That kid’s ‘Ford tough.’”
Meanwhile Ron Sr. was trying to string another arrow, but then he saw that the bear was covering his son. With nothing else to try, the father didn’t hesitate—he charged at the bear and began hitting the animal on the back and head with his bow.
To his surprise, the bear released Ron Jr. and shuffled away. Then Ron Sr. noticed that the bear was limping. “Ronnie yelled for me to shoot him again, but I didn't want to make him madder than he already was, so I just watched him," he says. "From the way he was stumbling, I knew I'd hit him pretty well with the first shot."
After eighty yards the bear fell dead. Ron Sr.’s arrow had barely missed his son and had, miraculously, torn the animal’s aorta.
God had certainly guided his arrow well.
“My dad pretty much saved my life there,” Ron Jr. says. “That’s the thing I cannot believe in this whole story. He stood there with a bow and made that shot at a charging grizzly bear. That’s amazing. You could take that shot a thousand more times and never do it.”
Ron Jr. had some deep bites, but no major injuries. But that didn’t stop him from going into shock. They couldn’t call for help—their cellphones didn’t work this far into the wilderness. And they were fifteen miles away from their camp, which was another thirty miles from a hospital.
Somehow Ron Sr. got his son onto a horse, and they began descending the mountain trail for six hours back to their camp. Ron Jr. ended up spending just one night at the hospital—he was a fortunate man to be in the jaws of a bear and escape with so few injuries.
Ironically, at one point during their long packhorse trip back to camp, the two men heard another bugling elk. Ron Jr. urged his father to go shoot it—he still wanted to help his dad bag an elk.
Naturally, Ron Sr. would have none of it. "I probably couldn't hit it anyway," his father remarked.
“If I got off and made it chase me,” Ron Jr. said with a chuckle, “I’ll bte you could hit him.”
?) What would you do in that situation?
I have some observations from this story:
· This father and son had a great relationship and shared life together
· They sacrificed for each other (son wanted dad to get an elk)
· Father’s love had no limit in protecting his son – even at 32 years old
I then explained that we, as fathers, all want to be courageous fathers with strong relationships with you our sons so that we can go on great adventures like this.
We also want to be courageous protectors (not typically fighting off bears) of you from the things in this world that can harm you. Some are physical harms but most are spiritual and the result of the battle we are in.
Unfortunately the enemy is not as easy to spot as a 500 pound grizzly bear! That threat would be easy. Spiritual threats are much more subtle, attractive and appealing… appealing to our nature.
So, as you mature, get your driver’s license and gain more and more freedom, don’t get the idea that our relationship is over. On the contrary, we are there FOR YOU! Even in great peril.
