Fall is Coming!

Ok, so it's hard to concentrate at work today. The first college football games of the season were on last night (congrats to Vandy on the win!) and tomorrow is the start of Auburn Football! Let's face it, Auburn should win and win big tomorrow. LA-Monroe (or ULM as they prefer to be called) will probably put up a good fight in the 1st half but we should be able to stretch the lead in the 2nd half. We usually struggle the first few series in the first game but if nothing else our depth should outlast them. I predict at least a 2 touchdown win. Maybe something like 34-17.

Meredith and I will be going to the game Saturday. We should make it to all the home games this year and plans are in the works to go to the Vandy game in Nashvegas on Oct. 4th. Cornerstone (our church) will be taking a team to New Orleans Nov. 5-9 so at least one of us will miss the homecoming game against TN-Martin on Nov. 8th. We haven't determined whether or not we'll both be able to go to NOLA, but we want to.

One quick (kind of) story and then I'll finish. Yesterday I had one of the most amazing experiences of my life while at work. As most of you know I'm a big hunter, or at least I try to be. I love deer hunting and I'm working my way into duck hunting, which I'm now obsessed with, just ask Meredith.

Well yesterday I was out supervising a crew that was spraying some kudzu. It was our last spot of the day and it was a rough, nasty one. Well, earlier in the day we had seen two spotted fawns jump up out of the kudzu and run off. If you don't know, spotted fawns will bed down and won't move sometimes even if you nearly step on them. They don't have much scent and stand a much better chance of surviving foxes and coyotes if they sit still. Anyway, on this last spot one of the guys nearly stepped on a spotted fawn. The crew is Hispanic and speaks very little English so our communication is broken at best. I knew they found something because they all started yelling but I thought it was a snake until I heard the fawn start screaming. I walked towards them and up the hill comes one of the guys carrying a spotted fawn and he hands it off to me. Before I know it I'm holding a kicking and screaming spotted fawn that's probably less than a week old! It was so cool! I didn't know what to do. I held it and petted it to try to calm it down and it eventually quit kicking but kept screaming. John, the other forester I work with, pulled up right about this time and I showed it to him. About the time we were trying to check the sex of it the thing kicked one good time and I dropped it. It popped up and took off running away into some thicker cover. It was ok but quite scared.

For a moment while I was holding the fawn it felt like the world just stopped. It looked at me and I looked at it almost as if we both said, "Why are you holding me?!" Then it went back to kicking and screaming. I have a nice little cut in the middle of my chest where it kicked me the last time but that's alright. It was one of the coolest experiences of my life. They are such beautiful animals and that experience helps me appreciate them even more. I will still hunt them but I don't do it for the sake of killing. The challenge of chasing such a majestic animal and experiencing God's creation is one I hope I will always be able to enjoy. I harvest very few animals each year and I thank God each time for the bounty his creation provides.

In that fawn I saw God. I saw and held one of his wild creatures and it was incredible! God is such a wonderful maker!