That's all I got for now. I barely hunted at all, just didn't feel up to it as I was dealing with a nasty case of the flu. Got out Saturday morning for a while, and Sunday morning, really just to get my son and dog out. They both had a blast! Beaux was into the ducks, but lil capn had his thoughts focused more on snacks, beach exploration, and go-fast boats.
Definitely missed the field time with the guys, but I think it ended up good. Made me focus on what mattered most, and that wasn't the hunting.
I feel like the event went great. With me out of the way, the crew ran things incredibly smoothly. I was a very proud man! That left me free to rest, heal, and prepare myself to speak. Very cool experience for me. The raffle was really a lot of fun, and the impromptu auction for a fresh baked chocolate cake was a complete riot! I was not the only one in tears watching Ross Fields do battle with an entire table of chocolate hungry men led by Bird Works. Around $500 was raised for the ministry off of one chocolate cake!
But the neatest experience, by far, was seeing two months worth of prayers answered. Two months ago I felt led to start praying specifically for someone to be baptized at this event. I really don't know why, but it kept coming to mind and I kept praying, and I didn't tell anyone until a week and a half ago when I shared it with tropicalsun, who I had thought would be the speaker. Long story short, I ended up being the main speaker for the event instead of tropicalsun so it didn't happen like I envisioned it, but we baptized two young men!
A first for our ministry and a first for me.
The first baptism was really cool (and in all honesty, very emotional for me) - but the second was special to me. Two years ago I got the privilege of helping baptize Drake, who has become one of my close friends. Yesterday I got the honor of baptizing his oldest son Ben. The young man, following his father's example, was clearly very moved by the Lord. I promise you that no one doubted his sincerity in any way.
The batisms were one of the coolest things I've ever been a part of. It was very moving. Judging by the reaction of many in the room, and many on this board, I wasn't the only one moved, and neither were the two young men. There were some older men doing some honest soul searching. And if you're one of them, know I'm here to listen. I think what I'm happiest with is that I feel like I spoke from my heart, I think it got across, and we got to see some young men take action based straight from their heart. Real tough for anyone in that room to leave not knowing what this ministry is about. God moved in the room, and stirred us all up. Pretty darn cool.