Coincidence, I Think Not

This past weekend was the beginning of deer season, which means we went to Sedalia so Lawrence could hunt at his parents' place. Last year Lawrence didn't see a single deer, except the dead ones his dad and brother shot. This year I have really been praying that Lawrence would get a deer, even 2 or more. Not only does actually shooting a deer makes getting up early and sitting quietly in cold weather for hours on end worthwhile, but it also means lots of cheap meat.

Friday evening we went out to eat (thanks to our volleyball team we had a free and delicious meal at Rancho Grande) then made a trip to Wal-Mart for Lawrence to get his deer tags and a box of bullets (270 Springfield, 150 grain) since he only had one bullet left. After making our purchases, we headed down to Sedalia.

The next morning Lawrence was up bright and early at 5 and out in his deer stand before 6. He loaded his one remaining bullet, plus 3 of the new ones, knowing he might need more than one shot to kill a deer. Then began the waiting. Around 7 he spotted a nice 8 point buck and looked for a good shot. Although he would have to shoot through some brush, Lawrence thought he had a neck shot and took it. The buck fell immediately, but was twitching and kept twitching as Lawrence got down from his stand to check out his deer. He figured he better shoot it once more to put the poor guy out his misery quickly. His gun kept jamming though. Lawrence looked to see what was wrong and only then discovered that the Wal-Mart guy had given him the wrong kind of bullets (30-06, 150 grain). Since he couldn't shoot the deer again, he had his brother come over and use his gun. Matt shot the buck in the neck again, but still the big fellow wouldn't die. While Matt came to get the four wheeler and trailer to haul the deer up to the garage for the skinning process, Lawrence stood watch by the buck and waited for him to finally give up and die. Since the buck wouldn't surrender, Lawrence had to take a 3rd shot. Thankfully, he had loaded his one good bullet first and was able to use it to get the deer down initially. If he had put any of the other 3 bullets in first, he wouldn't have been able to get the buck. Coincidence that out of 4 bullets, he loaded the only good one? I think not. God was totally in control.

Not only did God allow Lawrence to get a buck, but after it was skinned, cut up, and ground into meat, we had 62 pounds of burger and 6 pounds of jerky to take home. 68 pounds of meat is going to go a long way in feeding our family this winter. Once again God has blown us away with His abundant provision! Just to emphasize this point: Lawrence's brother Matt shot 2 does later that day and got 36 pounds total. Lawrence's one deer was double that amount! I love how God takes care of us, so much better than we could ever imagine.