Shoot Out!

6.24.2011

Picture for a moment a bunch of grown men standing around telling stories, shooting shotguns, fellowshipping with one another and praising God in the process.  Picture seeing some of the rough and tumble type of men from your church in their element...on their turf, where they feel the most comfortable.  They are doing what they love and sharing what they love with others.


The joking, the camraderie, the smell of chicken smoking on Traegers, and the constant barrage of shotgun blasts followed by laughter, cheering, and "dog-gone-its."  It is a good time.  Way different than Sunday school.  And in many ways more powerful.  Let me explain.


Now picture that you are a young man being invited to join in the fun with these men who you respect.  They want you to join them because they value you.  They offer you a place in the adventure they are having as men.  Then, they turn their focus to helping you have a good time.  They are engaged and willing to help you learn.  Their desire is to pass on skills and knowledge in hopes that you will enjoy yourself.  They accept you as a man, in the company of men.  They laugh at your jokes.  They have a genuine interest in your life and they ask you questions to try and get to know you.  They encourage you.  They cheer for you.  They are in your corner.


This is what happened last weekend at the Schoenborn Ranch in Yamhill county.  I want to thank  the Coast Hills Community Church mens ministry for allowing Faith in the Field to be a part of their annual shotgun shoot and BBQ.  We serve a God that is such a genious.  Really!  To use a bunch of men, a bunch of shotguns,several cases of ammunition and about 2,000 clay targets to minister to and affect the lives of several men and boys who were present.  Well, it is awesome!  You have to love the way God uses people and the things we are passionate about for his purposes.


Enjoy some of the photo's from last weekend.

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My Favorite Hunting Story

6.17.2011

I love hunting with my dad, probably because I followed him around the woods before I was old enough to hunt myself. When I turned 12, Dad was the one who took me out on the morning I got my first deer. I spent lots of mornings nearly freezing to death while we glassed for elk in the shadows of Trask Mountain. Once I was old enough to head out on my own, I started exploring the far corners of the state, but in the last few years I’ve been back in the woods with Dad several times. I find that I hunt with my eyes on the hillside in front of me and my ears tuned in his direction for the sound of his rifle. More than once I’ve realized while hunting that I’m hoping for Dad to get a deer just as much as I’m hoping to get one myself.


Hunting with Dad is also special because about 9 years ago he was diagnosed with lymphoma. It took surgery, chemo, and radiation, along with the prayers of lots of friends and family, and he made it through. Without a doubt, it made us appreciate our opportunities a lot more.


This story happened on one of the last days of the general rifle season about 5 years ago. I stopped in at Dad’s office in the afternoon and talked him into heading out for an evening hunt. Our main problem was that I had a rifle with me and Dad didn’t. When we reached our parking spot, we decided to do the logical thing and have Dad carry the rifle since he had a buck tag and a doe tag, while I had only a buck tag. We had barely left the truck when we caught a brief glimpse of a deer running up the logging road ahead of us. Neither of us saw it well, but both of us sensed that it was a buck. In our whispered conversation, Dad offered to give me the rifle so I could shoot it, but I told him to go ahead. So we slipped ahead with Dad in the lead. We saw the deer a couple more times moving in the Scotch broom, but it never stopped, and we still weren’t sure it was a buck.


Finally it figured out that we were there and headed for the edge of the clearing at a trot. Once in the open, we could see it was a buck, and Dad got one shot and missed before it accelerated into the brush. We hurried after it because it was headed toward the bottom of the clearcut we were planning to hunt that evening. When we got to the clearcut, there was no deer to be seen, so we concluded that it had gone on around the hill. Just as we turned to hurry ahead in that direction, I caught a movement on the hillside and realized that the buck was still in the clearcut after all. Dad stepped behind me and rested the rifle over my left shoulder while I stood as still as possible. The buck stopped squarely behind a tree and stood there for several agonizing seconds. Then it took two steps, and Dad pulled the trigger. This time he connected, and the deer rolled down the hill and expired. With the dead deer in sight, we waited an hour or so to see if anything else would show itself, but the buck had apparently been alone.


He turned out to be a 3x2. Not as big as he had grown in our imaginations over that last hour, but still a fine buck. We shared a feeling of satisfaction as we dragged him back to the pickup.


This story was a great memory in itself, but the true significance came about later. The next April Dad’s cancer returned. The doctor had told him that if it ever back, chemo would not work a second time. The only thing left was a stem cell transplant. Dad spent about a month in the hospital in Portland while we waited and prayed. There were scary moments at the point where he had essentially no immune system and he was delirious with a fever of 106 degrees, but we thank God for bringing him through. Doctors tend to avoid the word “cured” after you have cancer, but Dad is pretty much as busy today as he ever was.


I was slow to recognize it, but now I realize that through this story God gave me a special gift. If Dad had not survived the cancer treatment, I could look back on a successful hunt as the last time I had been in the field with Dad. I would remember that when Dad offered me the rifle, I told him to keep it, and he shot his last buck. And while Dad did survive the treatment, I suspect that when that inevitable time comes, whether from cancer or something else, this story will mean even more to me than it does now. We often talk in a vague sort of way about finding God in our times in the outdoors, but I have no doubt that God’s hand was deliberately on this hunting trip to give me the gift of this memory of hunting with my dad.


Last fall, when my wife and I went deer hunting in northeast Oregon, my parents came along for the first few days. We took one day off from hunting to drive over to Imnaha and up to Hat Point to see Hell’s Canyon. We stopped off at the point looking down over Freezeout Saddle to get a snack and look around. In between sandwiches and candy bars and Capri-Suns, Dad was more interested in glassing the canyons, and before long he spotted a herd of elk. We got to do the age-old ritual of, “See where the timber ends on the ridge…down below there’s a log lying at an angle on the hillside…to the left there’s a yellow bush…the elk are in the draw about 50 yards below the bush.” It was fun to take my parents to see one of my favorite places, but I got a special feeling of joy and contentment to be able once again to watch my dad glass the hillsides and canyons until he found a herd of elk. I hope it happens again soon.


Happy Father’s Day, Dad. I love you!

-Quinton Nice

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Kids and Trout!

6.09.2011



Morning Limits for Grant and Joel!!!
Well, we had a blast at Diamond Lake last weekend and I wish I could share all all of the photo's with you but with 3 different camera's, a snow storm, and my apparent inability to get pictures of my daughters, and my sisters kids to upload I guess we'll just have to settle for the ones off of Jeff's camera!
His kids are pretty cute anyway.  Finn, (above) got the same handsomeness gene as his uncle Scott.  And Boone (below) must have gotten his cuteness from his mom.  Neither one of these kids will have to be behind the camera like their father.  They look good enough to be on film. :)
Below is a shot of my son Grant and my nephew Joel discussing who caught the biggest trout.  It was hard convincing them that it was a tie. That is Joel in the background doing girth to length calculations in his head and then using his water displacement theory and figuring how much the lake level dropped when we pulled all of these fish out of the water.  (He's smart like that)

Spring at Diamond Lake is a tradition in my family that dates back to when my dad was a kid.  My grandpa used to take him and his brothers up there for trout fishing and then I remember my grandpa and my dad taking my sister, Jeff and I fishing in grandpa's boat when we were kids.  Now my dad is 'grandpa' and he is still taking his three kids plus all of our kids fishing in his boat.  I think it is called leaving a legacy.  Or a heritage.  It is putting a stamp in all of our memories that will never fade away. Family, fun, fish, being outdoors in a beautiful setting, sharing those moments with loved ones...that is what it is all about.

Us adults didn't catch many fish.  These trips are all about the kids and letting them reel in as many fish as possible.  It was fun to watch each of them reel in the first few fish frantically and with such concentration.  So excited, but so scared that they were going to lose them.  Then after 3-4 fish they settle down and things become 'old hat'.  It no longer requires deep concentration and they even continue talking about whatever they were talking about while bringing in the fish.  Like they were pros or something!  It was really fun to watch.  But one thing that never went away was the smiles when the rod bent, or when the fish finally hit the net.  Our family has been cracking smiles at Diamond Lake for 4 generations now and I feel like we've been really blessed.

But then my thoughts turn to kids who don't get these same opportunities.  There are so many kids out there who don't have a dad to take them fishing.  The legacy or heritage that they are left with is abandonement.  Who will lead these kids into the kinds of adventures that touch the deep longing in their souls for beauty, adventure, risk, being outdoors in the wild?  Will they get a chance to be smack dab in the middle of creation and enjoy all of the beauty of the world God created for them?  Without a loving and engaged earthly father, how will they come to understand that there is a loving and engaged heavenly father?  If they don't know what a relationship with an earthly father looks like how will they understand that they have a heavenly father who wants a relationship with them?

Friends, that is why we are developing an outdoor ministry aimed at mentoring fatherless boys.  We want to reach out to these kids. Lead them into these kinds of adventures to discover the generous God who created all that we enjoy.  And we want to help lead these boys to a relationship with their heavenly father who will never abandon them.  We are well on our way to getting this crucial ministry started but we still need help.  There are many things we are seeking from land access, to guys who want to mentor, to financial help, to gear and equipment, expertise, prayer support, legal help, etc.  If you want to help partner with us in this ministry and help us make a difference in the lives of the fatherless please contact us at info@faithinthefield.com

God Bless,
Scott

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Quotes...

6.03.2011

I keep a notepad in my desk drawer, and from time to time I write down quotes that strike me. This week I wanted to share some with you. -Jeff

"It isn't what you look at that matters, it's what you see." -Henry David Thoreau

"Without the anticipation of better things ahead, we will have no heart for the journey."

"Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass. It's about learning to dance in the rain."

"He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the hearts of men; yet they cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end." -Ecclesiastes 3:11

"You don't have to be a scientist to learn from God's marvelous creation, you only need to stop long enough to observe and let God reveal His wonders to you."

"Beauty speaks of an Eden we've never known, but somehow know our hearts were created for." -Captivating

"He made the heavens and the earth in all their glory, the desert and the open sea, the meadow and the Milky Way, and said, "It is good," but it was only after He made YOU that He said, "It is VERY good" (Genesis 1:31). Think of it: your original glory was greater than anything that's ever taken your breath away in nature!" -Captivating

Men and Women are 3-part beings. We all consist of body, mind and spirit. When we refuse to acknowledge the 3rd part of our makeup, we create a void that allows evil, prejudice and hatred to rush in and wreak havoc. -Darrell Scott, father of Rachel Scott, who was a victim of the Columbine School shooting

"Fairy tales don't tell kids that dragons exist, they already know that. Fairy tales tell kids that dragons can be killed!"

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