Good Morning,
The day began with a hot cup of Door County Irish Cream Coffee, prayer and a quiet moment. It is time to write.
Today I celebrate my birthday. I have made plans to take our oldest dog Gibbs to a game farm for a hunt. He is old like me and and now is deaf. So hunting with him is pretty difficult to do. I have enlisted the help of my two nephews to hunt with me and Gibbs. The goal is to give Gibbs a great time as he retires from active hunting and now sleeps a lot. This is a family outing and I can count on those two young men to throw some lead at the birds that hopefully get flushed. I will walk into that field knowing that this will probably be the last hunt for Gibbs. He has been faithful from start to finish. Gibbs has been at my side for thirteen years and has been there through shoulder repairs, retinal surgery, two knee replacements, 42 days of covid as well as so many hunts that I would have to say number more than I can remember.
Psalm 20:4 May he grant your hearts desire and fulfill all your plans.
Of all of our dogs he is the only one that broke my heart. We have an annual pheasant hunt for our family every on New years day. The year that I had my two knees replaced was the only year I did not go. It was cold that day as well as slippery. A man using a walker for support is best kept at home. My nephew Nick had been raised to hunt over our dogs. of course to hunt pheasants, it is best to hunt with a dog. Nick came to the house to pick up Gibbs. He was greeted with enthusiasm. Nick had taken Gibbs on a couple of duck hunts while I was tied up with work or some other reason I was not able to go. Gibbs would hunt well for him.
This was different. That day as Nick opened the door, Gibbs followed him. I stayed inside and waved. It dawned on Gibbs that I was not going with them. He stopped and came back to the door. Nick and I both looked puzzled. Nick called him to come along and Gibbs would look at him and then me. He did not want to leave the temporarily crippled guy at home. I had to take my walker outside in the snow and call Gibbs to follow. I opened the truck door and he went in. I prayed with Nick and sent them off to hunt. Real men don't cry, but a hay fever attach hit me and my eyes started to leak a little. I will always remember that day.
Later that day they came back with a bunch of pheasants and Gibbs was tired and sat next to me. Rene started a fire in the fireplace and Gibbs slept the rest of the day, warm and content. Out of all of our dogs, Gibbs has been the only one who wanted to make sure that I was with him for the hunt. He is the only one who came back just for me.
My point for the day is this. There might be a friend, a family member or a dog that wants to go with you somewhere. You are important to them. Make sure, if at all possible you take them along with you or come back for them.
God bless.
Marty
When we are broken, and feel like we can't go on, Jesus comes back for us.
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