Life After the Bear Attack | Interview with Bruce Crocker - No Sanity Required

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hey, on this week's episode of no sanity required,
sitting down with Bruce Crocker,who's been a guest on here
before.
A few years ago Bruce came onand shared his story of being
attacked by a bear while on acaribou hunt or a moose hunt I
don't remember if it was mooseor caribou, but he's bow hunting
up in Alaska.
Uh, survived a horrendous,horrific, uh, grizzly bear

(00:21):
attack, grizzly bear attack, andit's a huge part of his
testimony and story.
And so I wanted to go a littlebeyond that.
This is a no sanity storyepisode, but I want to do kind
of a part two, maybe even a partthree, to that uh, to that
story and uh, and just let youuh see what the Lord.
You know that that attackhappened in 1997 and it really

(00:44):
turned the trajectory of Bruce'slife.
He was, uh, he was a Christian,but he was not someone who was
really walking out and livingout his fate to think, uh, it,
it was the pivotal point in hislife where God really got his
attention and uh, and as aresult, um, the Lord changed his
life through it.
So I wanted to talk a littlebit about how he's investing in

(01:07):
the ministry at SWO.
He and his wife Shauna, areincredibly faithful to this
ministry and to the Lord.
They come down, they spendevery winter.
They live in Wisconsin but theycome down and they'll come to
SWO right after Christmas everyyear, stay until April, stay
here in Andrews and uh and workand volunteer.

(01:28):
And I mean he works 50 hours,60 hour weeks at SWO
volunteering.
He's a an extremely intelligentuh guys, he's such a smart guy.
I love talking to Bruce and Ium, I'm always blown away by his
, his skillset, he's, he's justreally handy and helpful and
he's an asset to this ministry.
His son, brandon Crocker, isthe director over all of our

(01:50):
operations, which that wouldinclude maintenance, new
construction, rebuild, plumbing,electrical, everything in the
physical plan at Snowbird, andso Bruce jumps in and helps on
that side of the house and soI'm excited to bring him back in
and have a sit down with himand I know you'll be blessed by
it.
One of the funny things I willsay is Bruce has got that

(02:15):
Wisconsin, michigan, upperMidwest accent and there's some
words he says that just crack meup and I love listening to him
and I hope that if you're at afuture event at swo especially
if you're at be strong men'sevent you'll get to meet bruce,
shake his hand, introduceyourself.
You can't miss him.
Looks like grizzly adams, he'sgot a long gray beard and uh

(02:38):
hangs down about to his bellyand uh he is.
He is a.
Bruce is a slow treasure, himand Sean.
I'm so grateful for him andthankful he would take the time
to to come on again, and so Ihope that you're encouraged by
Bruce's testimony.

Speaker 2 (02:59):
Welcome to no Sanity Required from the Ministry of
Snowbird Wilderness Outfitters.
A podcast about the Bible,culture and stories from around
the globe.

Speaker 1 (03:13):
Let's go back to is it 92?

Speaker 3 (03:16):
It was actually 97.

Speaker 1 (03:17):
97.
So let's go back to 97.
Let's go back to the huntbefore that where you had gone
up and killed a caribou withyour rifle.
Okay, we didn't talk about that.
I'd like to hear that story.
That's probably a happier storyanyway, wasn't it?
Did you kill one with yourrifle?

Speaker 3 (03:32):
Yeah, that was up in Quebec.
What year was that?
Oh boy, I don't know, but itwas several years before.
Yes, yes.
It wasn't like the year before.
No, there was some time inbetween.
Yeah, because I it went.
I think my first hunt out ofstate anyways, was bear hunt up
in ontario.
And then after that, and it wasa buddy that I was going on
these hunts with, um excellentchristian, good mentor for me,

(03:58):
and uh, anyways, then we decidedto go to quebec and we went up
there and there you're allowedtwo caribou.
So I was able to.
Well, I took my bow with me andI wanted to shoot one with the
bow and one with the rifle.
I shot my first one with therifle and then you know that
rifle's got a scope on it.

(04:19):
So I was taking that out withmy bow and I was just using that
scope up and down the shorelineand, sure enough, there's
another nice caribou, and thatwas you know.
So I ended up taking two withthe rifle and I, so you took two
.

Speaker 1 (04:34):
So when I think of caribou hunting, I don't know
why I always thought it was likeall either on the Western, in
Western Canada, or up in Alaska.
So there's caribou, were youlike in northern Quebec, right,
right, and is that?

Speaker 3 (04:47):
like tundra North of.
I think the name of the townthat we flew into was
Shefferville.
Yeah well, they had the rockoutcroppings, the big
mountainous, you know, rain.

Speaker 1 (05:00):
Really.

Speaker 3 (05:01):
And then I mean I remember climbing one of those
and then getting on the top andit was all this uh, like moss
and real low, you know growingstuff.

Speaker 1 (05:10):
It was beautiful, but uh, do you have to go through
an outfitter if you do that?

Speaker 3 (05:15):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (05:16):
And so y'all, y'all flew into that little town, and
then the outfitter picks you up.
And then what?
Like you said, you're scanningthe shoreline.
So it's not the deal where yougo find the herd.

Speaker 3 (05:28):
Get in front of them well, that's what you're looking
for.
Is the herd coming through?
Okay um, but we were, and theywere following basically the,
the shorelines, and that's wherewe were sitting, okay, most of
our time there huh, I want to dothat.

Speaker 1 (05:42):
I told, uh, so two weeks ago, uh, two weeks ago, we
had katie cousins on here, youknow, she lives in iceland, did
you know that?
Oh, yeah, okay.
So I said, katie, I want to seewhat, I wonder if I got caribou
, you know.
So I want to, I want to diginto this and see, because she's
always trying to get me, youknow, telling me a little, y'all

(06:03):
need to come watch me playsoccer.
Right, come over.
And I'd love to do it.
And I said, well, if I candouble up this trip.
Well, they got to hunt iniceland, you know.
So I go, I go looking foricelandic outfitters.
Well, it's reindeer, right.
Well, I didn't realize.
I knew reindeer were a northernanimal.

Speaker 3 (06:22):
They look a lot like caribou I think at all it is a
domesticated okay reindeer, youknow okay, I mean yeah,
domesticated, caribou rightbecause they, because reindeer,
I mean people herd and farmthose things right right so when
I pulled those outfitters upand I saw these guys, you know,

(06:42):
holding these reindeer, I'm likethat's a caribou.

Speaker 1 (06:45):
So so it is basically a caribou.
At least it would be a closerelative in the in the animal
kingdom so you're hunting.

Speaker 3 (06:52):
Rudolph is what you're hunting.

Speaker 1 (06:53):
I'm down for that I was looking for one with the red
nose, but I'm gonna I think I'mgonna do it.
You can do that hunt.
It's very reasonable it wasn'tbad.

Speaker 3 (07:04):
There's a.
If you really want the, thecheap hunt, you can go in the
middle of the winter wherethey've lost their antlers so
you don't get, but you get yourmeat, your meat, and that you
actually can drive all the wayup.
My brother did that hunt Driveall the way up there and hunt
them it was the way he describesit.

(07:24):
I mean, it's just snow, cold,very cold.

Speaker 1 (07:28):
So go hunt caribou after they've shed their horns,
right, and they have a seasonfor that, yeah, and so you're
just meat hunting.
Yep, that's pretty cool.
I think I want the horns,though, yeah.

Speaker 3 (07:40):
I know I want to bring the horns home, Truth be
told.
That's what affects us.

Speaker 1 (07:46):
It really does, you'll hear these guys say well,
you can't eat the horns, I'mjust meat hunting.
I get that.
I appreciate that sentiment andthere's times where I mean
three seasons ago I shot thesmallest buck I've shot in 20
years.
I mean there's a littlefour-point forky horn, I don't
care, I've shot in 20 years.
I mean there's a littlefour-point forky horn.

Speaker 3 (08:05):
Oh yeah, I don't care .
I'm meat hunting my place up inWisconsin.
You don't pass on the spikesand the forks, so you're not
going to be eating any venison.

Speaker 1 (08:11):
So if you're going to , yeah, if you want to put meat
in the freezer, you're shootinga small buck, yep, but it is
nice when you see eight-.

Speaker 3 (08:20):
We don't pass on them either.

Speaker 1 (08:21):
You know, I killed two good bucks this year here,
two good ones, the best twobucks I've ever killed in the
mountains of North Carolina,both in one season, and one was
during archery season and onewas during rifle season yeah, my
grandson had a year like thatas well.

Speaker 3 (08:37):
Just unbelievable the size of bucks he had.
But that spoils it for him.
It really does.
He's too young to have that ohyou're talking about your
grandson, that's here.

Speaker 1 (08:46):
No, the one up north, the one in Wisconsin.
Yeah, I will tell you this.
I took Brandon Bruce's son.
I took Brandon up and showedhim a couple spots several years
ago where I love to hunt.
And I've got a few places thatI love to hunt that I'll also
share with other people, youknow, and uh, and then I've got
a few places that ain't nobody'sbusiness.

(09:07):
You know, it's kind of likeyou've got.
You got, you got to have those,those spots that you know and
I'm sure other people know aboutthem, you know trout fishing,
the same way my neighbor upNorth at the cottage.

Speaker 3 (09:20):
anyways, they're always wondering where I'm going
with that kayak and it's, it'sa secret yeah, none of your
business, my other neighbor isthe one that told me about it
but that you're guaranteed tocatch your three trout.
Wow, it's, it's a blast andit's basically you're fishing in
like a pond, it's okay, springponds.

Speaker 1 (09:39):
So when you're up there, y'all's trout fishing,
because we're closed here rightnow.
On the mainstream, right, youcan fish some of the smaller
stuff, right, but up there arey'all catching.
What are y'all catching?
What do y'all have?

Speaker 3 (09:52):
Well, primarily in the streams, we have brookies.
It's brookies, they do plant,like browns and rainbows.

Speaker 1 (09:59):
And those brookies is it like here where it's single
hook, artificial 7-inch?

Speaker 3 (10:05):
We have all sorts of rules.
Every stream's got like adifferent color to it as far as
on the map Yep, and then theyhave different regulations.
So you know they try to geartowards everybody.

Speaker 1 (10:15):
I've got a guy that was.
He was one of my teachers whenI was in I think I was in like
ninth grade and he teaches atTuscola high school in over in
waynesville and his name's raysug and he is a southern
appalachian teach.
He teaches southern appalachianhistory and culture.
So I'm going to actually I'mhoping to have him on the on the

(10:37):
podcast.
I want to have him on here andI want to have, uh, my, my aunt
debbie, who is also like ourfamily historian.
Oh, wow, but Ray Sugg, he's theonly person that I know of I
think there have been a handfulof guys that have done this that
has fished all 1,000-plusclassified trout streams in

(10:58):
North Carolina.
Wow, so he's caught a fish inover 1,000 streams in the state
of North Carolina.
He's a big fly fisherman.
That's neat, yeah, and flyfishing, by the way.
I got some opinions about that.
I put those guys in the samecategory as never mind.
They probably get soy milk intheir lattes.
You know what I mean.
I own one of those rods.
Look, I'll say it.
I know Hank and Blake Harris.

(11:19):
He's one of our board members,Hank and Blake Harris, he's one
of our board members.
They're going to give me somegrief.

Speaker 3 (11:24):
I always talk trash about fly fishing, but when I
want to catch my three, I justgrab my spinning rod.

Speaker 1 (11:29):
That's right, there's a place for it all.
I'm just giving the flyfisherman a hard time.
It is a phenomenal sport and,if I'm honest, I just stink at
it.
I've never been able to figureit out.
So you know, when you're notgood at something and you're
insecure, you just make fun ofit.
Absolutely, that's kind of theway I operate.

(11:50):
But anyway, back to the huntingthing.
I think I'm going to go, lordwilling, 26 at the end of next
summer, I think I'm going to goto Iceland.
Oh, caribou hunt or reindeerhunt, cool, yeah, because I
looked it up and it's, it'sactually pretty affordable.
And katie, if she's still therenow, you know she's season by

(12:12):
season contract, so you have toput in for that and all in, uh,
january for an august, I thinkjanuary 31st or february
something is the cutoff.
So you got to apply for yourtags.
You do that through anoutfitter you have.
You know there's no public landhunting or no, you know
self-guided.
So you got to go through anoutfitter and then, uh, so I'm

(12:34):
going to do that and, lordwilling, I'm gonna go.
I'm gonna go to Iceland.
And she said when you fly into,you know Iceland, did you know
this?
That, uh, you got Iceland andGreenland.
Greenland's the really coldplace Right and Iceland is.
Yeah, it's backwards, yeah, andapparently the Vikings or
somebody named it to try tothrow people off.
I did read that.

(12:54):
So they said well, we'll callthis Greenland, but it's all ice
, oh yeah, which we're going toown it soon, from what I hear,
we've got the Gulf of America.

Speaker 3 (13:04):
I heard that last night.

Speaker 1 (13:06):
I heard it last night in the State of the Union,
which, politics aside, it ispretty funny to think about.
But then Iceland is a reallynice place.
I mean it's chilly, but it's areally nice place and it's green
.
So I'm looking at this thingand it's like you fly into the
capital, reykjavik, which is80-something percent of the

(13:27):
country's population lives in oraround that city.
Okay, then from there it's aneight-hour trek.
You drive eight hours out tothe western outskirts of the
country and that's where youhunt.
I watched this video and itliterally looks like what you're
describing.
It looks like you're in partsI've seen of northern Canada or

(13:48):
the foothills of the BrooksRange or something like that.
So I'll keep you posted.
That sounds great and if itgoes good I'll let you know.
You and Brandon might want todo that trip.
So I want to hear you mentionedyou had already gone up and
done a bear hunt, right, whatwas that?
Was that black bear?

Speaker 3 (14:05):
That was black bear.

Speaker 1 (14:06):
That's where you're also like scanning the shoreline
.

Speaker 3 (14:10):
No, that was.

Speaker 1 (14:11):
Was that over bait Baited stands Okay.

Speaker 3 (14:13):
And it was through an outfitter as well.
I mean, he baited the standsand he had stands for us, and
that's what he did.
What province was that?
That was Ontario, by Dryden, Ibelieve.

Speaker 1 (14:26):
And you did.
That was also a rifle hunt.

Speaker 3 (14:35):
No that's the first animal I ever killed with my
bull, which doesn't make a wholelot of sense.
I think you'd practice with adeer before you'd go pay good
money and go up.
Yeah, yeah, and it was a bullthat I bought at like a discount
house store type thing, and itwas just you know things that a
normal person wouldn't do youain't normal.
You ain't normal and then Istuck that the shot was a little

(14:58):
off and I put it into the, theliver, um, and it was going into
a 55 gallon drum.
And there was it was.
I believe it was already tippedover and there was a skunk that
came out, sprayed the bear.
Anyways, I, I shot that bear andwe had a little bit of trailing
and you could actually youcould smell the skunk as you're

(15:19):
trailing it.
And it was one of those dealstoo, where, where it went, that
bear went a little ways.
So it was like, oh God, youknow, please give me this bear.

Speaker 1 (15:28):
The guy's got a rifle , you're by yourself, no,
trailing the bear.

Speaker 3 (15:35):
Well, I was just, you know, following the blood trail
and there wasn't much.
But no, he was walking behindme without a gun.
But no, he was walking behindme without a gun.
And the weirdest part is whenhe got ahead of me and then he
told me to you know, get yourbow ready.
And I'm thinking he's going torun back at me.

(15:56):
And I got my bow pointed at him.

Speaker 1 (16:00):
You know, that's got How's that going to but?

Speaker 3 (16:02):
anyways, the bear was dead, but it was a dandy of a
bear, it wasn't.
Uh, 19 and well, I think 19 andthree quarters.
They measured in 16th, butanyways it was a big head yeah
it was a, you know, pulpingyoung bear for sure, and it was
close.
I think 20 is the yeah, so it'sa dandy yeah, it was an old

(16:24):
bear.
His teeth were all worn downand it was black.
It wasn't a color phase no, itwas black.
I didn't even have white on hisuh chest either.

Speaker 1 (16:32):
No, wow man, what'd you do?
Did you have anything done withthe hide?

Speaker 3 (16:37):
I had a half mount.

Speaker 1 (16:38):
So have you got that up at the at the cottage?

Speaker 3 (16:41):
I got it at the house and I and, uh, if you're, you
get a trophy, spend a little bitmore for the mount.
This one I didn't oh it.
It doesn't look.
I actually redid the the mouthbecause he put in a too small of
a set of choppers in it huh,did you?

Speaker 1 (16:58):
you're saying you you skimped on the taxidermy like
you paid a local boy.
That was not, yep, okay, yeah,yeah, buy once, cry once.
Yep, yes, I had that happen.
I shot a deer.
I went, I went to a newproperty this was 15 years ago
at least and uh, you know, stevefinn, no chestnut mountain boys

(17:20):
ranch, they come to slow andhe's been on the podcast and um,
both you and steve have spokenat be strong but um, steve and I
do a hunt together every year.
It's kind of we've been doingthat for 25 years and so every
year we meet up somewhere and wewe've moved around, we've
hunted several states and we've,you know, we've bow hunted deer

(17:42):
and and uh, ohio, and we've,you know, gone down South and
Alabama and and so we were riflehunting in Alabama that year
and it was a new property we'dnever been on and uh, it's
actually connected to GarBozeman's family and his dad had
gotten permission or maybe itwas a hunting.
It was a big tract of uh, papercompany timber or something

(18:06):
like that, and I walked in.
We get down there and, you know, your first time hunting a new
property, especially if it's inthe evening, you don't have a
lot of time to set up and so Ididn't.
I never scouted it.
This is before you coulde-scout.
Now you can scout stuff prettygood from the computer.
You know, with google earth andOnyx and stuff like that Didn't

(18:26):
have that.
So I just walked this loggingroad and it was all pines.
You know you go down south andit's just pine, oh sure, pine,
timber as far as you can see.
And so I just walked in until Ifound I saw some scrapes on a
little bit of a ridge it'smostly flat but a little bit of
hill country.
And I found saw some scrapes ona little bit of a ridge it's

(18:46):
mostly flat but a little bit ofhill country.
And I found kind of a highpoint and a little swag, a
little saddle, and I'm here,I'll sit right here.
And I had one of those.
I don't know if you've everseen them, but it's a one-man
chair, blind, so you just sit ina chair about like we're
sitting in, and it's literallythis tiny little blind.
Okay, only one person can sitin it and the blind is attached
to the chair.
It's kind of one of thosesoccer mom chairs, you know,
lawn chairs that folds out andso you've got you know you can.

(19:10):
You can really only see out thefront on the on this one I had.
So I set it up, kind of facingdown this ridge.
I'm rifle hunting, but I meanthe farthest I could see was
maybe 30 yards.
I mean it's thick in there, andnothing happened and I didn't
see anything.
And and so the next morning I'mlike, well, I'm going to be
hunting in the dark, so I'lljust come back to this spot,

(19:30):
then I'll do a short hunt.
If nothing shows up, I'll getup and spend three or four hours
scouting this area and then setup for the evening hunt.
Next morning I go in, I set upin that little chair.
I remember I set till nineo'clock.
I hadn't seen a thing, hadn'tseen a squirrel.
Ain't no squirrels in the pines.
There's nothing for them to eat, you know.
And so not even a squirrel.
And it was nine o'clock and Isaid I'm going to read.

(19:54):
I'm going to read the book ofRomans.
When I'm done reading the bookof Romans I'm going to get out
of the blind and go startscouting.
Get out of the blind and gostart scouting.
So I read the book of Romans.
I get done.
That took, I don't remember,maybe half an hour or 45 minutes
, whatever you know.
I put my stuff up, I set mylittle backpack outside of the
blind.
I reach out of the blind andsit it on the ground and when I

(20:17):
do, there is a buck 25 yardsaway making a scrape and he's
got his horns.
It's a big buck and he's gothis horns is a big buck and he's
got his horns in the in thedirt and that scrape hook in the
mud and just slinging it backover his head.
You know he's putting on a show.
I mean, he pees on his hocksand he's and I'm I'm kind of in
an awkward position.

(20:37):
He's to my right, so I'm gonnahave to shoot left-handed, but
my gun is still in the blind andI'm halfway out of the blind
and he hasn't seen me yet.
He's just so you know, a wiseold buck, but when he's in the
rut he loses his mind and he'sjust paying attention to the doe
that tried to turns out there's.
I didn't see her, but there's adoe with him.
Well, she sees me and that'llmess you up.

(21:00):
Oh yeah, but I, but I reachedin and pulled my rifle out and
got it up to my left shoulderand and that movement was enough
that he raised his head andlooked at me, you know, and I
shot him right through thebrisket, wow, and so just, and
he collapsed.
So just a very, you know, amemorable, a really cool hunt,
right, you know.
And and I took him to a guy tohave that thing man to do the

(21:24):
taxidermy work, and it lookedlike a cartoon, you know.
I mean all that.
It took him two years before,you know, I'm going over trying
to get him.
Somebody said, oh yeah, he'sthe cheapest around.
Well, there's a reason he'scheap, you know, between between
miller beer and whatever elsehe was on, you know, he, he
wasn't a very good tax number,so I learned.
Oh yeah, I learned that's theworst yeah.

Speaker 3 (21:47):
My caribou that I got .
I took that to a quality guyand that looks great.

Speaker 1 (21:52):
Yeah, it's all the difference.
The local guy here, if you everneed work done, there's a local
guy here that's really good andhe's about half the price of
anybody I've ever seen.
He's good.
So, yeah, oh, we'll stay tunedon the.
Well, we won't, we won't getinto, you know we've.
We'll link the the story ofyour 97 hunt, and the in the

(22:15):
attack.
Um, we've worked through that.
So we're going to link thatstory that people can go back
and listen to.
But that I'd like to pick up,kind of where neither one of us
remember exactly where we leftoff.
You know, we we did thatepisode three years ago, four
years ago.
But I'd like what I want to dois, uh, we're we're going to
roll this episode out next week,so so a couple of weeks before

(22:39):
our be strong conference, and Iwant to challenge men to use
their gifts, their talent, theirtime, their treasure.
You'll hear people talk abouttime, talent, treasure, and this
morning in my devotion I wasreading in Ecclesiastes, because
we're getting ready to gothrough that at church and I'm
preaching the second chapter ina couple weeks here, and so I

(22:59):
started sort of sermon prep andyou know that guy's talking
about.
You know, I've had everythingthe world can offer you money,
uh, earthly treasure, houses,land.
He even mentions the wordconcubines, you know this?
Sexual promiscuity.
This guy experienced, no,nothing that his flesh desired

(23:22):
he couldn't say yes to.
And then he said it's liketrying to grab a hold of smoke
or the wind you can't grab it.
And one of the things that Iwant men to be challenged with
is the reality that there arethings you can do with your life
that have tangible and eternalsignificance, and you don't have

(23:44):
to be a pastor, a preacher oran evangelist.
You don't have to be afull-time missionary.
You can take your time, talentand treasures and use them for
the Lord's glory.
And so we talked about thisbefore.
But just a quick overview ofwhat your line of work was, your
career, what kind of work didyou do?
I know this, but I want ourlisteners to hear kind of what

(24:06):
your background was before youretired.

Speaker 3 (24:08):
Sure, I went to Michigan Tech and got a degree
in chemical engineering and thenfrom there I landed a job with
Wisconsin Public Service.
It's an electric utility andthey were building a new power
plant at the time a coal-firedplant and it was a
higher-pressure boiler than whatthey had had experience with.

(24:29):
So they were gearing up, tryingto get knowledge of how to
operate the higher pressure,what type of water chemistry you
need.
So that's why I was hired andother chemical engineers
actually were hired for thatStarted my job with the startup
of that unit and then, as mostengineers, you're an engineer

(24:52):
for a year or two and then youbecome a supervisor, and that
was it from that point on.
Just being a supervisor of youknow people and learning all the
ins and outs A lot morechallenging with people than it
is with machinery, that's right.

Speaker 1 (25:12):
Yes, amen to that.
How many years did you do that?

Speaker 3 (25:16):
33 years.

Speaker 1 (25:17):
And then retired.

Speaker 3 (25:18):
Right, yeah, I retired at age 55.
My dad thought I was nuts, butmy father-in-law he was also.
He retired at 55 and he onlylived to 71.
So you know, I I wanted toreturn and and the other thing.
I had a pretty good paying joband, uh, I knew we could do it

(25:40):
if we planned.

Speaker 1 (25:42):
Yeah, and I want to get into that because I was
talking to a guy.
I don't want to give any cluesto who this guy was, but I was
talking to a guy recently and I,I, you know, I don't know how
much he makes and I don't knowhis portfolio or whatever, but
it's you can kind of connect thedots and I know his career, I

(26:02):
know what he does for a livingand I know probably generally
what he's making and I see whatyou know, the land he owns, the
number of houses he's built andsold as a side hustle, and right
, yeah, you kind of do the mathand I go and this guy's now 60
and he's saying I hope, I'mtrying to figure out if I have
enough money to retire at 65.

(26:22):
And I'm like this guy's worthmillions.
I think it goes back to thatEcclesiastes thing.
Just, you know, you, you you canlive a lot simpler than, oh,
absolutely.
Then you and that's somethingthat I respect about you and
Shauna is y'all live simply sothat I believe that's how you've
been able to bless others.
And you know it's been anenormous blessing for Snowbird

(26:46):
because for people that this iswhere I'll I'll, I'll speak to
kind of what y'all do for us isyou come down every year around
Christmas time, right after, andyou stay till April.
Is that about the timeframe?

Speaker 3 (26:57):
Yep.

Speaker 1 (26:59):
And, uh, bruce is.
You know he's a, he's a guythat for our listeners, do
pretty much anything, um, so youdevote a lot of time to this
ministry.
You've devoted a lot of time,talent, treasures to this
ministry over the years, and sohas Shauna, so is your wife, and

(27:21):
it's been for us.
We've been the beneficiaries ofof that.
But I'd like for you to justspeak to is that?
You know you hear people talkabout it's.
You know there's a biblicalprinciple it's more blessed to
give than to receive.
And and the fulfillment thatcomes from that, what is that
done?
How would you describe, youknow, the three or four months a

(27:41):
year that you spend here?
How has that impacted your life?

Speaker 3 (27:46):
It's difficult to answer.
It's impacted it a lot.
I mean, what I get coming toRed Oak and Snowbird is it's
like going to a men's retreatfor three months into a men's
retreat for three months.
The people I've met at Snowbirddevoted their lives to the

(28:16):
gospel and investing in youthand it's just phenomenal what
that gives a person.
The takeaway is it's hard todescribe, but it's like a
mentorship.
As far as understanding theword.
That's been huge.

(28:39):
I'm at the point in my life toowhere I feel like I'm losing as
much as I'm gaining.
So maybe I'm at the point in mylife too, where I feel like I'm
losing as much as I'm gaining.
So maybe I'm at the break-evenpoint, but I don't know.
The other thing is well not toanswer that question, but the
clock is ticking.
You know, I think beingattacked by a bear definitely
was a wake-up call for me.

(29:02):
We just studied the book of Joband how that, to me, kind of
woke me up a little bit as faras how God controls everything.
I mean chapter after chapter ofGod controlling everything, and
then you start thinking thatone through and you know this
part of my life and I know attimes I go too far, I'm too

(29:24):
driven in some fashions, but Ifeel the clock is ticking.
It's ticking.
You know, during the COVIDyears I lost two of my best
buddies, buddies in Christ.
I mean the one we team-teachedthe youth Sunday school class

(29:48):
and that was freshly out ofcollege.
And what an impact that had onmy life as far as okay.
Now you're telling other peoplewhat you believe, and that was
huge.

Speaker 1 (30:01):
Well, I'll say and I know this is going to make you
uncomfortable, you're alreadyuncomfortable.
Just doing this.
Which is what I love andappreciate about you is you're a
guy that both of y'all you andyour amazing bride of how many
years?

Speaker 3 (30:19):
Uh-oh, I didn't do that.
I wrote down all my grandkids'ages Rough guesstimate.
We got married in 77, two yearsafter high school.

Speaker 1 (30:30):
Two years away from 50.
You're coming up on 50 years.
Yeah yeah, wow, that's a big one.
High school sweetheart, wow,and y'all have devoted together
to do this.
I think that's important isyou're sharing in you're, you're
sharing in this part of yourlife together and, uh, it's very
inspirational to.
I don't think you realize theimpact not Okay, so the physical

(30:55):
impact of your day-to-day workefforts at snowbird.
You're, you're, you're showingup, you know, you.
You come to work to the eighto'clock meeting every day and
you work the the whole day.
You don't come down here tovolunteer a few hours a day,
which would be fine if you did.
It would be awesome if you cameand worked a day or two a week.
My granddad in his senior yearswould come over and work one

(31:16):
day a week.
He would come, which he didn'thave the physical ability those
last years and so he would helpout with clerical stuff in the
office.
He couldn't walk or move good,and but he would devote a day a
week.
That was a blessing.
But you come down here and youput in a 40 hour work week and
and, uh, and you volunteer itand it's inspirational to.

(31:38):
I don't think you realize theimpact it has on our people and
I'm not trying to make you feelembarrassed or uncomfortable,
but guys like Chad Regal andJoseph Wainwright that have come
out of the trades and devotedthere, that's a, that's a couple
of guys that I'm going to haveon here I'm going to have them
on together that have devoted.
You know, those are guys thatGod raised up and gifted to work
in the trades, right and, andto some degree Brandon is like

(32:02):
that, but now and and to somedegree Brandon is like that, but
now Brandon Brandon's uniquebecause he has the ability to
teach the Bible and and you know, he's led, uh, the element
program, and.
But guys like Joseph and Chad,their whole background was in
the world of construction andtrades and you know, joseph
Wainwright can operate anythingwith levers and pedals, right,

(32:24):
you know he could, you know hecould, probably, he could
probably fly 747 you know, wehave not seen what he can do yet
yeah, I mean, it's going to beso fun to watch him put his
gifts and talents to work whenwe start this master development
plan.
And I just want men to beinspired to know.
I think guys a a lot of timesthink well, I'm not a preacher,

(32:45):
I don't have you know, I don't,god hasn't called me to pastor.
And so what do I offer, man?
You offer, the work of thekingdom is this.
There's such broad work andeven if it's not at Snowbird,
there's work to be done throughyour local church or in some
ministry, maybe in your hometown.
If you're not, uh, in aposition where you can retire
and give three months a year tosomething, you can still use the

(33:07):
skills and the talents God'sgiven you.
And so I think it's inspiringfor our younger men to what you
do here, and especially for ouryounger men who are in
leadership, like Chad and Joseph, to not waste your retirement
years.
You know right To redeem them.
You know I remember years ago.

(33:28):
Did you ever read that JohnPiper book?
Don't waste your life.

Speaker 3 (33:31):
Yes, I did Remember the whole seashell thing and, uh
, I remember the part where theretired couple and they buy a
sailboat and then they, they gooff and it's like what, what are
you accomplishing?
Yes, my mom and dad bought asailboat and they did that kind
of too.

Speaker 1 (33:46):
That's the point I was going to.
That was the scene I wanted tosee.
If you remembered, yeah,because what it was?
It was an article in, I thinkit was in Reader's Digest.
It was an article back in the90s that he was citing in that
and they had retired in their50s, moved to one of these port
you know Gulf cities in Floridaand, yeah, bought a sailboat and

(34:09):
you know collecting seashellsand playing shuffleboard and you
know he made that point.
What are you going to presentto the Lord there?
Right?

Speaker 3 (34:18):
Plus, you'd drive your wife crazy.
If you're out on a sailboatwith her for day after day,
she's gonna go nuts she'd loseher mind.

Speaker 1 (34:29):
Y'all used to go down somewhere and fish off of uh,
annabelle yes, annabelle, out inuh captive island my
mother-in-law and father-in-lawowned a place down there.

Speaker 3 (34:39):
That's some good fish .
Oh that was something.
We had a two-man kayak.
I'd take that thing out therein the gulf and go after sea
trout.

Speaker 1 (34:47):
Oh it was fun man, I want to do that, so I'm going as
this episode drops.
I'll be down there on the gulf,me and little and laylee are
headed down for just for fourdays and, uh, I'll let you know
how we do.
I'm going to fish and cool seewhat we can haul in.
but and I, yeah, and I don'twant to paint the picture that
people shouldn't go on sometrips and have some fun, right,

(35:09):
you know, I mean there's a placefor that but when you live your
whole, what a waste to live, towork 35, 40 years in a field so
that you can go collectseashells or sail around or you
know, whatever you're going todo with your spare time, do
something that's got, that'sgoing to have kingdom impact and

(35:31):
, um, that's what I appreciateis that you're you're using
those gifts and talents for thelord.
And that bear attack was, wasinstrumental.
I mean, that was a the probablythe pivotal moment in your life
.

Speaker 3 (35:43):
Yeah, by far that's the biggest one.
That's typically what I call mytestimony.
And my brother had fallen awayfrom the Lord and I mean prior

(36:07):
to that hunt I had prayed thatwe would use that hunt I mean
for us a hunt like that whereyou're paying to fly up to
Alaska and get dropped off on ariver, given a raft and you're
going to float down and go aftermoose pretty pricey for us.
So it was a commitment.
Anyways, I can kind of get offthe point of what I was trying
to make.
I prayed to the Lord that thatwould make I mean, we're going
to spend 15 days in a raftfloating a river that I could

(36:32):
talk to Randy and have an impacton his life.
The other part of my testimonyis it was a time in my life that
I had too much doubt in my lifeas far as my Christianity, my

(36:59):
thought and the elements waslike evolution.
How does this all play out?
What part of the Bible is trueand what part isn't?
And you know, those are thosethoughts that go through your
head, the doubt, and it affectsyou.
I mean so and I wanted, Iwanted a like a physical sign

(37:21):
from God, and you know, afterthe bear attack.
That's just so stupid.
And the fact that dig into God'sword.
It is a miracle the way we theBible was written, that it was
written by so many authors overso many years.

(37:41):
And, okay, sit down and whatLee Strobel tried to prove it
wrong.
Basically, sit down and figureout.
You know what's the odds of allthis happening.
I was just reading an outdoormagazine the other day.
Reading an outdoor magazine theother day and it described the

(38:03):
moon and how a meteor supposedlyhit this other meteor and drove
it into orbit around the earthand I thought what faith this
guy has for writing this articleand then why wouldn't?
How can people believe such athing?

Speaker 1 (38:23):
Yeah, that's blind faith.
They say that we live by faithand we do.
But what kind of faith.

Speaker 3 (38:32):
I mean, that's the one thing.
I sit out.
I love deer hunting.
I sit out there and you knowthe Bible talks about creation
speaking for I'll get the wordswrong but basically declaring
God's glory.
And you sit there hour afterhour.
Where I hunt up in Wisconsin,you can spend day after day

(38:54):
without seeing a deer, butanyways, you're looking at rocks
and you're looking at trees andyou know, at the judgment,
judgment seat of christ, thatanybody that hunts that's going
to declare why in the world didyou not see the glory of god?
You know there is a god andthere's no way that this

(39:17):
creation just came about.
I mean all these fantasy ideasof a man that said it evolved,
that's stupid, but yet peoplejust believe it.

Speaker 1 (39:31):
Well, I think it's coming from you.
It's very powerful becauseyou're an engineer.
It's very powerful becauseyou're an engineer and someone
who's sort of mathematicallyinclined is going to tend to
require or demand differentlevel of evidence.
You know a person that's verymathematical, tends to be more

(40:06):
analytical, and so to me it's.
It's when someone like youbecomes convinced of the, the,
the truth and the efficacy ofthe word of God.
It's, it's such a powerfultestimony because you are an
analytical, you're ananalytically minded person, if
that makes sense.
You know someone who's more, uh, artistic or poetic in their
expression.
You know, I talked to somepeople who are, uh, they just

(40:27):
kind of got a simple faith.

Speaker 3 (40:28):
I just you know.

Speaker 1 (40:29):
I see the beauty of creation and I'll just accept
God, and that's.
I kind of envy those types ofthat type of faith, cause I'm
I'm not super mathematical, butby nature I'm a very pessimistic
critical.
What's the word where you'rehard to convince?
You know what I mean?
I'm very skeptical.

(40:52):
Is the word I'm skeptical?
If somebody tells me they'vedone X, Y or Z, my natural
tendency is I don't know if Ibelieve.
Yeah, that's exactly the wayI'm just a skeptical person.

Speaker 3 (41:02):
Yeah, I'm a dead ringer for that.
I mean, it drives brandon crazy.
He'll tell me something and I'mwalking over there, turn it on
and check it out.
I do it time and time again andhe just he drives him nuts well
, it's that engineering, mindyou.

Speaker 1 (41:19):
You know it's the way God wired you.
I really do think that.
But when a person like thatcomes to faith, to me it's
harder to get a person with thattype of hardwiring to embrace
and accept the gospel by faith.
But once you do, it's so solid,it's just like it locks it in.

(41:40):
Yeah, it's so solid.

Speaker 3 (41:40):
It's just like it locks it in, it's absolute.
After that bear attack, it'slike I'm all in.
This is the truth, this is theway I mean.
It's just there is nothing youknow, and prior to that, it's
like you're doubting.
You're doubting Just a littlebit here, a little bit there.
It's like you're doubting.
You're doubting Just a littlebit here, a little bit there.

(42:02):
The magazine that I get it'sfull of evolution stuff.
Just a little tidbit here and alittle bit there and to me it
drives me nuts, yeah, me too.

Speaker 1 (42:13):
Have y'all been to the?
I'm sure you have.

Speaker 3 (42:17):
Have you been to the Creation Museum?
Yeah, when we brought the youthgroup down a few years back, we
stopped there on the way down,and then the way back Museum on
the way you know one way, andthen the.

Speaker 1 (42:26):
Ark on the other.
So we haven't been.
I think we're going to go thisspring.
We haven't decided what we'regoing to do when our kids are
out for that week of springbreak.
I think we only have the threeyounger ones at home now.
I think we might go up there.
That was cool.
Um, that's, that's really I.
I haven't been there, but I'veread a lot of what you know
those guys put out and most ofthose evolutionary questions are

(42:48):
are fairly simply answered.
You know the, the question, the,the evolutionary arguments you
know with, whether it's withcarbon dating or with right
there's.
It's usually pretty easy to todebunk some of that and yet yet,
like you said, people will grabon to that right and you talk
about living by faith.

(43:08):
I read this morning are youfamiliar with those little comes
out of michigan.
Uh, our daily bread, devotionalsure.
So super simple, not a lot ofdepth, but I love it and I read
it to my kids every morning and,uh, yeah, I figure it takes
about three minutes.
I figure, if I can get them tohang on for three, three minutes
, they're in that what I callyou know, you've got, you got a

(43:31):
couple grandsons in this what Icall the fog.
From about 13 to 17 those boysgo into the fog.
It's like is there?
I know the lights are kind ofon, but is anybody home?
So I'm, I'm just trying to givethem a nugget, you know, and,
if nothing else, just trust it,cause there's always a verse of
scripture and then a littledevotional thought.

(43:52):
But anyway, this morning'sthought was, uh, the verse was
from Isaiah 40 and it was one ofthose.
You know, the Lord's ways arehigher than our ways.
It's a mystery, a profoundmystery, and the story that it

(44:15):
told was in 2023, I forget thename, but there's a space
telescope not Hubble, butthere's a newer one that's kind
of like the most advancedtelescope that we're using to
look into deep space 2023,looking through this telescope
and they found six new galaxieswithin our universe that have
never been seen before.
And you just think, like inRomans 11, oh, the depth of the
riches of wisdom and knowledgeof God.

(44:36):
How unsearchable are his ways,how unknowable, and that you
know I got.
You're talking about Job, and Ihad the privilege of preaching
my favorite passage in all ofthe Old Testament Job 38 through
41, where God answers out ofthe whirlwind and says brace
yourself like a man and now getready.
And he takes Job on thisjourney through creation and

(44:58):
says where were you when I didthis?
And the dude's just speechless.
You know, and and I think, uh,what kind of faith do you have
to have to reject what God hasrevealed of himself in creation
and not at least ask thequestion where'd this come from?
And and but what I'm convincedand tell me if you you agree
with this or if you've gotthoughts on this evolution is a

(45:22):
way of answering those questionsthat lets you still be in
control.
You get to be your own God.

Speaker 3 (45:27):
Yep, definitely You're on authority.
It's man's religion.

Speaker 1 (45:30):
Yeah, because it is.
It's a religion, right, 100%religion.
We can wrap this up, but Iwanted to first off run through.
Can you do this?
Or do you need to take yournotes out that your grandkids
how many grandkids, kids andgrandkids, right?
How many do you have?

Speaker 3 (45:46):
I got three uh kids, um, they're all adults now, of
course uh, a daughter and thentwo sons, um, and then I have 10
grandkids.
Big difference between kids andgrandkids.
You know that now, now.

Speaker 1 (46:00):
I do, I was kidding the other day, I said.
I said I'm now in your guild,I'm in the, I'm in the granddad
guild.

Speaker 3 (46:06):
You don't have as much, uh, direct involvement, um
, which is a blessing and it's acurse.
It's a curse as far as, uh, youknow, leading them towards the
Lord.
Uh, you don't have the day, faras you know, leading them
towards the Lord.
You don't have the day-to-day,you know, impact on them from
that standpoint, sometimes, whatthe parents do, you don't

(46:29):
necessarily agree and you don't,you know, you can't.
You got to respect them as well, but I don't know.
And then the impact that wehave on our grandkids too, it's
just talk about.
The days are ticking away.
Make use of what you got whenyou got it, and Shauna does a

(46:54):
good job of keeping me on task,as far as you know, hey, we got
a basketball game here.
We got this.
It's important, uh, to be therefor them.
Uh, and, quite frankly, youknow, sitting in a bleacher it's
painful but hard, wouldn'tbelieve it's?
Uh, it's.
That's an opportunity.

Speaker 1 (47:13):
You have to be there yes, we always kid sean and mugs
.
You know they both.
We tell them they're both 80,even though they're in their
forties, or whatever.
They bring in those big paddedfold out chairs and go in those
bleachers and I'm starting tothink wait, why am I kidding
those guys?
I need to get me one,absolutely, man, it's rough For

(47:34):
basketball.

Speaker 3 (47:35):
You know you go there and there's actually four games
.
You're sitting there, Wow.
That's rough, that's rough.

Speaker 1 (47:41):
It's a long gosh, it is.

Speaker 3 (47:42):
But yet I've sat in.
Deer stands for all day.
That's right, and it's not verycomfortable either.

Speaker 1 (47:48):
That's right, yeah, so what's the age of the oldest?

Speaker 3 (47:52):
grandkid 23.
And the youngest is afive-year-old little girl.
Okay, and we're going into thenext stage where, as they're
growing up now, we're no longergoing to have babies anymore.

Speaker 1 (48:08):
That's wild.

Speaker 3 (48:09):
Yeah, so that's just the different phases of life,
yeah.

Speaker 1 (48:15):
And you're two years away from 50 years of marriage.
Yes, that's wild.
Praise the Lord for hisfaithfulness, though, and we
dated for four years prior toWow.

Speaker 3 (48:26):
I don't recommend that either.

Speaker 1 (48:28):
Yeah, that's right Now I'm going to make you feel
very old.
I'm in my 50s and you mighthave been dating the year I was
born, let's see.
No, you started dating in 73,.
If you dated four years, let'ssee.
You got married 77.
Yep, I was born in 72.

(48:48):
So almost that makes you feelold.
Look, last week, joy beth,sitting in that chair right
there, okay, and we're talking,and I and I was going to tell
her.
Remember when, uh, when, hoboswere a thing, people would work
the soup line and ride trains.
And so I'm telling this storyabout this hobo that showed up

(49:09):
on our doorstep.
So I'm telling JB this storyand I said, back in the
seventies, when I, when I was akid in the seventies, and she
literally Bruce laughed out loudinto the microphone, I just
stopped and I said what?
Why is that funny?
You know.
So I feel like you know.
The scripture is very clear somuch more to offer the older you

(49:32):
get when it comes to wisdom andknowledge.
You don't have the physicalability anymore to do some of
the things you want to do, butwith that, we have a

(49:52):
responsibility to use the wisdomGod's given us.

Speaker 3 (49:56):
And Brandon told me something that you do that I
think is is pretty, pretty neatand that is it's like a monthly
yeah, it's not that frequent,but I kind of occasionally yeah,
I mean I I've gotten, uh Idon't know, 23, 24 letters that
I've written now, um, butletters from my grandkids, okay,
and uh, I mean it's goofy stuff, but there is a message in

(50:22):
there on each one that I'mtrying to get.
Get it through.
Get it across and using, youknow the avenue that I've been
given.

Speaker 1 (50:30):
Yeah, I love that.
It's very inspiring to me.

Speaker 3 (50:35):
I got that actually from well.
We had, uh, marriage counselingfrom our pastor and his wife,
which their lives is a story initself.
They were both.
He lost his wife, I think, tocancer late in life.
They already had their kids andshe lost her husband to cancer

(50:57):
late in life.
They got married and of course,he's still the preacher of the
church there in town and shebecomes the preacher's wife.
Not used to living with a class, you know in a house.
But what they've done for us.

(51:18):
You know he was a lovingminister to the point where I
mean being a pastor in a church.
That's got to be a hard thingto do.
I mean, people's lives go offthe wall sometimes and you're
there to try to put it backtogether.
Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 1 (51:38):
I told a guy recently I was, I was uh talking with
this young man.
It's going through his seconddivorce.
He's young, he's 30 years old,Doesn't have the Lord at the
center of his life.
The Lord wasn't at the centerof their marriage.

Speaker 2 (51:52):
I don't think this wife has ever made a profession
of faith but this this young manhas and he was.

Speaker 1 (52:00):
He was emotional, you know, and we're talking and uh
and and just talking about thebut but his background he was in
the military and then he was inlaw enforcement.
He got out of military andbecame a police officer and he
was sharing some some of thestruggles in his marriage or
because of some post-traumaticstress stuff.

(52:20):
And uh, and some of thestruggles in his marriage are
because of some post-traumaticstress stuff, and that from the
law enforcement field more thanfrom military, because when he
was in the military he was amechanic, so he wasn't in a
combat role but in lawenforcement and he shared some
stories of dealing with somepeople and one was the death of
a child who was being cared foror who was in the care of drug

(52:43):
addicts and they neglected thiskid and this kid, they caused
this kid's death.
But he was there trying to doCPR.
But then he also he's talkingabout some of the things he's
seen.
But anyway, it's interestingwhen I talk to somebody like
that.
It's such a crazy world thatthat guy's been in.
I think one of the craziestcareer fields, and you know what

(53:06):
I mean when I say the wordcareer fields.
But being in full-time ministry, you see the ultimate highs but
the ultimate lows in humanitythe number of people that you
deal with that are dealing withaddiction or abuse, or you know
you're dealing with people inthe hour of death, and ministry

(53:31):
is hard.

Speaker 3 (53:32):
That affects their eternity.
You know, I mean as asupervisor, and I, you know,
made a comment about dealingwith people is so much more of a
challenge and rewarding.
You know, made a comment aboutdealing with people so much more
of a challenge and rewarding,but when you're looking at their
, their eternity, it's, it's alittle bit more sobering, it is.

Speaker 1 (53:52):
And you can.
I think it's important thatmindset of for for people that
work in a field where they'renot in ministry but where
they're responsible whetheryou're a business owner, a
supervisor, an officer, amanager, where you've got people
in your care, I don't care ifyou're the shift manager at a

(54:12):
restaurant you have anopportunity to speak into
people's lives and to, ifnothing else, to example
faithful Christ following tothem.
You know and it's going to havean impact right the longer, the
longer you commit to followJesus, the more of that impact
you have the potential to have.
Well, I appreciate you sharing,I know it.

(54:34):
I know that, uh, you're, you're, uh, you prefer to be behind
the scenes and I appreciate thatabout you and I think most
people that prefer to be behindthe scenes have more to offer
than what you realize unless youdrill into it a little bit,
because there's a wisdom thatcomes with people, that what you

(55:00):
and Shauna have done and I hopethis inspires listeners by just
serving in a capacity whereyou're not seen, you're
literally behind the scenes.
Now, when people see you, youstand out.
Uh, you got a beard about afoot long, a gray beard about a
foot long.
I love it because the youngpeople every year when you come

(55:20):
down, we got a new wave ofinterns, you know, and it's an
opportunity to speak into theirlives.
But I always encourage thoseyoung guys.
I'm like, hey, make sure youget some time working with Bruce
, because there's a wealth oflife, knowledge, experience,
wisdom, and you don't get thatovernight.

(55:43):
It comes with the highs and thelows and I think people that
haven't heard it will go backand listen to the episode we did
where you walked through yourtestimony related to the bear
attack and hope that they'll beencouraged by that, but I wanted
them to hear you know kind ofthat was.
That was so long ago and Godused it to turn your life and

(56:03):
now, 30 years later, almost theeffect of God, what God did
there?
Not just like you said.
You know they say be carefulwhat you ask for.

Speaker 3 (56:14):
Right.

Speaker 1 (56:14):
You asked the Lord to use that trip to impact your
brother Right, and he did.
He did and it almost cost youyour life.
Yeah, but he got a hold ofRandy.

Speaker 3 (56:24):
I mean, during the attack I swore I said oh shit.
And then two things were goingthrough my mind is I'm ready,
lord, but I don't want to go yet, you know.
So I mean yeah, it was intense.
It was putting you right whereyou needed to be, at least where

(56:45):
I needed to be.
My life is.
I've made so many mistakes inmy life and God's been good in
so many ways.
You know, I married my highschool sweetheart.
I went through marriagecounseling with my minister and,
uh, he asked shauna he was, youknow, the minister of the

(57:05):
church that I was attendinganyways asked her if she I
forget the actual wording, butwhat was her?
Uh, spiritual beliefs, I don'tknow what.
And and she picked up on that.
Oh yeah, I'm I'm reallyinterested.
She said I think she saidwitchcraft.
So, okay, I married anonbeliever and my minister

(57:32):
still married us.
I never got in touch with him.
Hopefully, he kind of kept tabswith me through the years.
Um, shauna accepted christ atuh, at uh during our college
years, and a meeting with a galfrom a campus crusade.
And I mean they were meeting,meeting, meeting, meeting, I

(57:52):
mean.
And I never really, you know,presented the gospel to shauna
to a way that you, you know,made an impact.
I never really tried to beperfectly honest.
And yet the gal finally said,shauna, why aren't you accepting
Christ?
And it was basically she feltshe couldn't, she didn't

(58:14):
understand.
You know so much.
And yet she was ready and shedid accept and it's been a and
God's been good.
I mean, I talk about marriagecounseling that we went to and I
was too involved in my huntingand fishing and Shawna was
second fiddle and I didn't treather At camp.

(58:39):
I tell the story that I gotfrom marriage counseling and
I'll just bring it up and I sayit in a manner and I say it at
the wrong time.
It's typically a couple thatyou know they're goo-goo-eyed at
each other and they're going toget married and all that.
And I tell them the story thatwas told to me by my minister at
the time and it was basicallyand I think the reason that they

(59:02):
always get the wrong messageout of this is because this
message applied to me get thewrong message out of this
because this message applied tome and but basically it was
marrying.
When you marry the gal, or whenyou're proposing to her you got
to pay the father for this galand it was at this island where

(59:24):
the payment was in cows, andthis gal she was tells this
story anyways.
This gal was only a five gal.
She tells this story anyways.
This gal was only a five gal, acow gal, and you know she
really wasn't that good lookingand she couldn't cook, and you
know they come from a bad sideof the island and anyways, this

(59:45):
missionary says well, I'd liketo meet this gal and they've
been married a number of yearsand anyways, this guy paid 10
cows.
I mean 10 cows is unheard of,but he paid 10 cows for this gal
, that's a trophy wife.
Yeah, anyways, they introducedthis wife to him and she's

(01:00:08):
beautiful and the meal's justfantastic and you know, on and
on.
It's just, she's a phenomenalwife, the wife that's described
in the Bible and the moral ofthe story.
In applying to me, you know I'mpretty cheap, although when I
was dating sean I did buy somepretty good gifts for but,

(01:00:32):
anyways, I've told that story toa number of people and I think
it really some.
It really bothers that becauseyou're paying for the wife or
whatever, but you know it'streat the lady as and, quite
frankly, brody, you've,throughout the years, coming
down here compared to what I wasraised with as far as how to
treat a lady and how to honorthem.

(01:00:53):
You know that wasn't part of me.
I, yeah, I didn't treat a ladyvery nice, not nice enough Not
to elevate them.
You know they might takeadvantage of you.
Well, that was what the pastorwas telling me then is you know,
if you want her to be nice, yougot to be nice and you got to

(01:01:16):
um, and she ain't gonna, itain't it ain't immediate either
you'd be nice to him and andit's it's, it's, it's it's uh
maintaining relationship.
It's it's tough.

Speaker 1 (01:01:29):
It is.
But being nice, being kind,right, just being kind and nice
and good to your wife, right,just enriches her experience and
your marriage.
You know, um, I wish, I wishguys could could really
understand that, yeah, yeah,because it'll change their lives

(01:01:51):
, right, if you'll, just, ifyou'll just treat her as the.
The moral of that story is, youknow, we, we sit here and laugh
and giggle about it, you know,but kilby and greg live in a
culture where cows are currency.
Okay, well, I can tell you,right, tell you right now, 10
cows.

(01:02:11):
That's like buying your wife a$100,000 wedding ring.
I mean, it's like much wealth.
The point being, you know thatProverbs 31, who has found a
woman, that's this highlytreasured, you know.
And he goes on and describesher.
That's this highly treasured,you know, and he goes on and

(01:02:32):
describes her.
And, man, I feel like there'stoo much contention and rivalry
in marriage often and thatcauses problems.
That young man I was justtalking about that's going
through this divorce, him andhis wife, they're just trying to
get at each other.
Who can win, you know?
And if I will value that giftof marriage and value my wife,
then right, uh, it was funny,juju said the other night at roy

(01:02:56):
, which is red oak youth, atyouth, on a few wednesdays ago I
don't know if you knew this,but they, uh, because you got
two of your grandkids right, royand your daughter-in-law helps
out, jenny helps out they did athing around.
It was around Valentine's.
They did a thing where they hadseveral couples, I think, come
up and kind of share their story.

(01:03:17):
Juju said, one of the wivessaid something like you know,
everybody fights.
You're in a marriage, you'regoing to fight and fuss.
I think the point she wasprobably making was that's part
of it.
You got to learn how to get,get through those hard times,
whatever.
And juju said I was so confusingto me because I thought, well,

(01:03:40):
what are you saying?
Because she's never seen me inlittle fight and I, I've never
thought for a minute.
Let's don't let our kids see usfight.
It's not even like let's fightbehind closed doors.
It's let's commit to just notdo that.
Let's commit that we're notgoing to fight.

(01:04:01):
You're going to have conflictthat you've got to work through,
conflict that you got to workthrough.
Um, but I, it was interestingto me that, uh, it was a
perspective that I just I thatevening.
I just praise the Lord that.
Here's my.
Here's a 15 year old daughterthat didn't have a concept for a
husband and wife fighting anduh, and, and it just made me

(01:04:23):
think, okay, you can commit toto to deal with things like
conflict resolution, cause theother side of it is don't there
are couples that don't fightbecause one person runs over the
other one?

Speaker 3 (01:04:36):
right.
The other one's a doormat.
They never talk about things.

Speaker 1 (01:04:38):
They don't talk about things, they just shut their
mouth and go on.
You got to deal with conflict,you got to work through things
and uh, but no, no, I appreciate, I appreciate you sharing that.
I think that's highly valuableand uh, I just appreciate you
and that, so you can rememberand we'll close with this
because I gotta pee so bad.

(01:04:58):
But you, you can go back inyour I mean, can you in your
memory?
You can remember vividly thatbear being on top of you.
Yes, and when you said that wasgoing through your mind, you
can remember it vividly.
At one point it's clamped onyour rib, if I remember it, bit

(01:05:25):
on that lemonade jug.

Speaker 3 (01:05:27):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:05:28):
Your backpack had sl lemonade jug.

Speaker 3 (01:05:29):
Yeah, your backpack is split up, yeah, I mean you
ever see, like a dog fight,where they're just going at it
and they're just so, they're not.
I mean they're so quick.
That's pretty much a bearattack.
I mean it was over me and Imean it seemed to me it was over
in seconds.
I mean it seemed to me it wasover in seconds.

(01:05:49):
You know all five claws in myback.
You could see the holepenetrate and I had, you know,
holes in my chest cavity.
From that I had the scratchmarks in my chest in the front
where it raked across me threedifferent, yeah, three different
passes and but those are justsuperficial other than one claw

(01:06:10):
went in and maybe made a like aquarter inch cut, uh, into my
flesh, um, but I had break,broken ribs.
I had a total of five breaksinvolving three ribs, um, and
then it tore into my, uh, mythigh and bit back there and

(01:06:34):
ripped it open quite badly, um,but I mean it's over like quick.
I mean they, they just uh, welland well, I walked up on a sow
with cubs grizzly up in Alaskaand I mean she ran off and as I

(01:06:55):
tell this story to me, it just,you know, like the hair starts
going up in the back of my neckand it just, I start getting a
little.
I get a little, you knownervous, and anyways, I also go
down rabbit trails, if youhaven't noticed.

Speaker 1 (01:07:09):
They're used to that.
People that listen to this arevery used to it.
Oh man, how many times youheard me talk, Bruce.
You know I'm a rabbit trail guy.

Speaker 3 (01:07:19):
Yeah, I mean the attack was over in.
To me it seemed like seconds.
It's probably not.
I mean the other thing thingjust had some training, uh, the
other day at camp and it talkedabout, uh, adrenaline, how that
kicks in on times of of highstress and and all the things

(01:07:39):
that they they talked about manis like a dead, you know, a
ringer.
As far as the way it all playedout, like time stands, still,
well, it certainly did.
Um, uh, attack felt like it wasover in seconds.
I think it was very quickly.
Um, you know, was it field andstream?

(01:08:02):
I think was a magazine, probablystill is that had like almost
like a cartoon character typething or the strip of different
scenes and anyways, you know,throughout the years I've read
those and looked at thosepictures and it you know what I
got attacked by a bear and thisis what I did and, and you know
so, as a kid you see all thesethings and did.

(01:08:25):
Is that why I reacted the way Idid?
I think so, because you havetime to play it out as a kid of
what would I do in this case.
I mean, I played dead, but thebear really was helpful in
making me play dead because thefirst hit it laid me off flat

(01:08:46):
under the ground.
I was on my belly, put my armsaround my neck and my back of my
neck and I had that.
It was a huge backpack justchucked full of, like my.
I had brain coat in there, Ihad some food and a big jug of
lemonade.
Anyways, the bears are known togo after the head and neck and

(01:09:12):
it did.
It didn't go after my head,thankfully.
A lot of other people had theirskin tore off of their skull.
That wasn't the case with me,but it did go tore into that
backpack and I think maybe thatwas pulled up over my head.
That's speculation on my part,but it definitely tore into that

(01:09:34):
.
As I laid there, I had timed offyou know, a certain amount of
time just to lay, still Neverheard her leave and I could hear
the lemonade jug gurgling andit was like that wasn't really
comforting as far as I didn'tknow what that was.

(01:09:54):
It didn't sound good.
Anyways, I gave time for thebear to leave.
I got up, grabbed my bowl,grabbed a roll of toilet paper I
don't know why and left myexpensive rain gear there and
then just proceeded to walk backtowards camp which was about

(01:10:15):
two miles, and yeah, I didn'tknow where the bears were at
that time and she had ran offand let the cubs were staying
there.
So the cubs and they werepretty good-sized cubs which I
was told if they would havegotten involved they're very
playful after a year it wouldn'thave turned out well at all if

(01:10:41):
they got involved.
So that's basically it.
I mean, I had to walk back.

Speaker 1 (01:10:46):
But you walked two miles after that attack with all
those injuries.

Speaker 3 (01:10:50):
My right leg would make a half a step.
It's also God's provision inthe fact that on the way there I
mean I ran and jumped acrossthis.
It was like a deep flowingcreek that I could be able to
you know little run.
I was able to hop right acrossit and I had hip boots on and uh

(01:11:14):
blue jeans and that bearactually pinched on my calf and
I got scars from that, just thepinch, but it never punctured.
It punctured my uh, hip boots,but just the force of it
actually caused scarring.
Yeah, my right leg would makehalf a step.

(01:11:35):
I still feel, you know, I knowthat I got attacked by a bear at
certain days.
I mean, I can feel it here andthere, but God's been really
good, it really hasn't slowed medown much.

Speaker 1 (01:11:49):
And the the the most powerful maybe thing, not the
most, but one of one of the morepowerful parts of that story is
the Lord used it in yourbrother's life.
Oh, no doubt I mean you hadliterally prayed and asked God
right, but not, of course notprescribing a bear attack.
But that got his attention morethan any campsite fireside chat

(01:12:14):
would have.

Speaker 3 (01:12:14):
Randy became my nurse .
At that point I was in the tent.
I got back to the tent, crawledback and I had my bow at the
time.
Anyways, I picked up my riflethat was at the camp or at the
tent and fired three sets ofthree.
And Randy had heard that andmade its way back towards camp.

(01:12:36):
Yeah, he thought he actuallysaw an angel or a guy that was
dressed in like white camouflage.
So, and Randy ain't like thatand I I don't always tell people
that part of the story becauseI mean it's like what did you

(01:12:57):
see?
I mean I remember him shootingat a stump once, thinking it was
a duck.

Speaker 1 (01:13:01):
so but anyways, but this is I mean, but in who knows
what the lord revealed to him.
And right was that when he wascoming to you, when he saw that,
yeah, actually he's the way hesays it is.

Speaker 3 (01:13:16):
He saw it and he, you know, you're up in alaska and
and he decides not to evenbother the other individual, so
he turns and comes back towardscamp.
Now there was, there was five,uh, people camping quite a long
ways away from where we were.

(01:13:36):
Um, because, randy, he bandagedme up, you know, he could see
into my chest cavity when I satup.
He kept all that me obliviousto it, because for the most part
I thought I had some brokenribs because I couldn't really
breathe very good.
Um, but you know, and my, mygoal was to get back to camp,

(01:13:57):
you know.
So one I, I sat down once andwhen I got back up I got dizzy
and it was like nope, not doingthat again.
And I paced, just kept on,moving towards Camp Was and I
had taken real good notes thatmorning, as far as you know,
compass readings and all thatFirst set of aspen trees that

(01:14:20):
was in camp because we had setup by some trees, and then from
there I could see the other onesand headed towards those and,
sure enough, that was camp.
Anyways, I fired the rifle andit wasn't too long, it seemed
like Randy come and he had takenthe raft across this river.
It's real small for the mostpart and not flowing real hard.

(01:14:42):
Anyways, I think he must'veseen my feet sticking out of the
tent.
Anyways, he called did you fireyour gun?
And I said I got attacked by abear and he didn't believe I was
being truthful and anyways,he'd come over and it wasn't
until he saw the blood on thescreen of the tent that I did.

(01:15:06):
And anyways, I'm laying on myback and my shirt and my, my
coats torn open and and he couldsee that one scratch mark
quarter of an inch deep under mychest, but you know it doesn't
look that bad.
Put a bandage on it, suck it up, buttercup.
Anyways, he went, went and got acamera and he took a picture of
that, which we both kind ofthink is kind of funny at this

(01:15:28):
point.
But because he didn't realizethe severity of my condition,
anyways, I had a hard timesitting up, so he got behind and
pushed me up and then you couldsee the, the holes in my back
and um and uh, he bandaged thatup and then my leg I had to move

(01:15:48):
, and then my leg I had to raisemy leg up, and that was.
As far as pain goes.
That was probably the mostsevere pain.
I got a charley horse at thattime, but probably from the lack
of blood.
Anyways, he bandaged that upand there was a tendon that was
moving in and out as I raised myleg.
And there was a tendon that wasmoving in and out as I raised
my leg.

(01:16:08):
And out of his medicalknowledge you know, he just cut
that tendon off.

Speaker 1 (01:16:15):
Oh my God, oh my goodness, I did not see that
coming.
He cut your tendon?

Speaker 3 (01:16:22):
Yeah, he did, I don't know.
He was thinking that it wouldcause infection.
I don't know what the doctorsaid.
No, that didn't hurt anything.

Speaker 1 (01:16:31):
It probably didn't feel good, though it probably
didn't help in the moment.

Speaker 3 (01:16:36):
Wow.
But yeah, he was being, I guess, a nurse slash doctor at the
time and he bandaged me up thereand he broke the camp like
nobody's business, Got it alldown into the raft and got me
into a like I had more of awinter jacket, got me into that

(01:16:56):
which was I was starting to getin the chills Up there it was
getting cold, you know, in theevening, and anyways, he began
to row the raft going upstreamin the, in the little creek, and
he was making good, you know,progress.
But the problem was it was tagelders on the shoreline, both

(01:17:19):
the sides of the sides of thecreek, and every once in a while
he'd hook his oar into one ofthose and, you know, lose
momentum.
He got up to a, up to a beaverdam that we both had gotten out
the day before, and slid thatraft over the top of it.
I was, I guess, not in any mood, probably mood more so than

(01:17:43):
anything, to get out of the raftat that point.
Anyways, he got out and justbusted that, made a hole in that
dam where he was able to justpull the raft through.
And anyways, he rode for sixhours, got to the far end of
Tutna Lake and you could see atthe far end of that lake you

(01:18:06):
know there was something thereor something white.
Anyways, he kept on rowingtowards that and that turned out
to be a tent and it was seniorofficials of Fish and Wildlife
up there in Alaska and they hada radio that would make line of
sight.
They also had some medicine withcodeine in it and I was

(01:18:29):
definitely getting, you know,going into shock.
I was starting to get theshakes and, uh, I'm, I'm sure
that was, you know, very helpfulas well.
Um, they changed my bandagesand, uh, they were like hitting
each other, basically, uh, whenone would say something, cause

(01:18:49):
they were trying to keep it kindof oblivious as far as my
condition goes and uh, theychanged my bandage.
They put me up on a in theircook tent, up on a, uh sheet of
wood, and, uh, I spent the nightthere.
And then in the morning well,they had made morning they were
calling.

(01:19:10):
What were they doing?
No, they were looking forplanes, because they had a radio
that would make line of sight.

Speaker 2 (01:19:19):
And they ended up seeing a plane, you know, like a
full-size like a passengerplane, you know, full-size
commercial.

Speaker 3 (01:19:26):
But it might not have been, because we were pretty
close to the Air Force base upthere and it could have been,
you know, an Air Force jet, goodsize.
Anyways, they made contact withthat first plane and then they I
think they didn't give them thecoordinates or they messed up

(01:19:47):
on the coordinates, I don't knowand the the second plane came
across right behind the firstone and they confirmed that you
know they got the message andthat you know they had all the
right, uh, coordinates.
Um, it was like an hour andhour, 15 minutes later, a plane
come flying into Tutna Lake andthere's a medical technician on

(01:20:14):
board and he come walking up andchecked me over real quickly
and then the pilot was up thereshortly after and he said we had
to get going because there wasfog coming in.
And sure enough we just got offthe lake.
My brother said they weresocked in, you know.

(01:20:37):
After that, anyways, from therethey took me to Clark Lake and
then from there to switch planesto one that had wheels on it
and then flew me right intoAnchorage to the Columbia
Hospital.

Speaker 1 (01:20:59):
How many days were you in the hospital?

Speaker 3 (01:21:01):
Yeah, it was close to a week.

Speaker 1 (01:21:07):
And then you still had some time left, yeah, so
what'd you do?

Speaker 3 (01:21:11):
yeah, this is.
I think it was three or fourweeks of vacation.
So we uh, rented a pickup truckwith a camper on it and drove
around the den alley highway,went fishing and my brother
tried to take the fishing rodfrom me when I had a salmon on.

Speaker 1 (01:21:30):
He figured you owed Bruce, you owed the man that
fish.

Speaker 3 (01:21:34):
I ended up catching two salmon.
He didn't catch nothing and weate those, oh man, and it was
like it was a silver salmon, butat that time of the year they
turned red.
That was wonderful as far asthe flavor of that meat.
And then we went to Lake Louiseand I think there's a whole

(01:21:56):
bunch of lakes named Lake Louiseand lake trout were coming into
the shore and used a whiterooster tail.
Anyways, randy caught his twoand then I was having a hard
time and I ended up catching two.
And then we took our picturesand there was a sign there

(01:22:21):
saying you're only allowed one.
You took your picture.
We ate the evidence.

Speaker 1 (01:22:28):
It's gone, that's it, it and there's a statute of
limitations.
In case anybody from alaska dnris listening to this oh boy
that, the when he's so, the whenhe thought he might have seen
an angel.
That was when.
That's what kept him fromgetting too far from yeah.
That turned him back.
That was when he was headed outto hunt.

(01:22:48):
Y'all were going in oppositedirections.

Speaker 3 (01:22:50):
Right, we told the wives we were going to hunt
together and, of course, thefirst day we split up and
covered twice as much ground andhe saw what at the time he
thought was a hunter or somebodyin this place where there
wouldn't have been.

Speaker 1 (01:23:04):
But it turned him back Right and because of that
he was able to be in proximity,heard your gun, right gunshots
yeah, well, and the impact thatit had on him, I mean it, just
it, it shook him up.

Speaker 3 (01:23:17):
Um, when they flew me out then the dnr landed their
fish and wildlife landed, landed.
It's funny because all the guysthat were there at that camp
were senior fish in the wild.
But this game warden shows upand it's given Randy kind of the
third degree.

(01:23:38):
Well, what he was trying toassess is if he had a problem
bear, and I'm sure there's aroutine that they have to ask,
and he was doing his job from mybrother's vantage point.
His brother had just gotattacked by a bear and, uh, I
mean, he's the one that cleanedthe blood out of my the tent and

(01:23:59):
, you know, did whatever hecould on my sleeping bag.
I still have that sleeping bag.
Blood, by the way, has a way ofdeteriorating your fabric, but
anyways, um, and he paddled yousix hours.
Yes, yes with.
He said, my eyes are rolling upin the top of my head.
I was looking over my head athim, I think it was, but any,

(01:24:22):
you know I'm I was lookingbackwards, right, him Right,
right.
But yeah, what's going throughhis head is he's, you know,
potentially losing his brother,and he's got to do it's all on
him at that point, you know,because I'm not really doing
much.
And so, yeah, he's interviewedby the game warden and he wants

(01:24:45):
to know how his brother is, andthe game warden doesn't have a
clue as far as my condition, um,and randy probably wasn't in
the best mood from thatstandpoint either, um, but yeah,
and then he's, it wasn't untilour outfitter flew back on that
lake and picked him up andbrought him back, um, and we uh

(01:25:07):
knew people who knew, peoplethat actually you know, gave him
a place to stay while he wasthere.
But, yeah, it really made animpact on him and years later,
hunting up at my cabin, Ipreached at him and preached at

(01:25:27):
him as far as you know.
Hey, you need to start going tochurch again.
Amazing how doors get opened.
He's now on track.
He's committed to the Lord, wow.

Speaker 1 (01:25:42):
Yeah, it goes back to that Job story.
It's the Lord using sufferingto, I think, cs Lewis.

Speaker 3 (01:25:47):
I Lord, using suffering to Right.
Yes, I think.

Speaker 1 (01:25:49):
CS Lewis.
I'm sure you've read some ofhim.
I don't remember.
He wrote two books on pain.
A Grief Observed was the onethat he wrote later in life
after he had gone through losinghis wife.

Speaker 3 (01:26:03):
Okay.

Speaker 1 (01:26:04):
And he wrote an early book I believe it's called the
Problem of Pain, maybe.
And he wrote an early book Ibelieve it's called the problem
of pain, maybe and and uh, hewrote that second book, almost
to say I didn't know what I wastalking about.
Now I've been through it.
Now I've gone through pain andsuffering and hardship, and so
it's a grief observed, and buthe I think I think it was CS
Lewis in that book that saidpain is God's megaphone.

(01:26:27):
Suffering and trauma and trialand tribulation that's what the
Lord uses to get our attention,and he does.

Speaker 3 (01:26:35):
Yeah, yeah, thankfully he does.

Speaker 1 (01:26:38):
And he answered your prayer.
He got a hold of Randy he got ahold of me he got a hold of you
.
Something else got a hold ofyou too, big old Sal Grizzly so
did they ever find that bear?

Speaker 3 (01:26:49):
No, I don't think they ever.
It wasn't like thatgame-ordinating bear no.

Speaker 1 (01:26:53):
She just reacted because of her cubs.

Speaker 3 (01:26:55):
Yeah, and he wanted to know if I shot at her.

Speaker 1 (01:26:58):
Oh, okay.

Speaker 3 (01:26:59):
I mean, that was the big thing Okay.

Speaker 1 (01:27:01):
Yeah, okay, well, thank you.
I mean I know, you know it's,it's.
I'm very mindful.
I think I mentioned this thefirst time we talked, but I'll
never forget I hardly knew youat the time and Brandon had told
me that you'd been, you'dsurvived a bear attack and I
asked you about it over, we'reeating lunch or something.
And I asked you the same wayyou tell just boys tell stories,

(01:27:24):
hunting stories, you know andyour response made it clear to
me oh, it's not just a story Iflippantly throw out around
lunch, this is a, this issomething God used in my life.
That it's a, it's a part of mystory, the fabric of my
testimony.
And so I took a step back andthought, okay, that makes sense,
and so I.
Anytime I bring it up, I'malways very careful to to make

(01:27:46):
sure folks know this is not justa fun adventure story, it is
that.
It's a phenomenal adventurestory and a story of survival
and it is all those things.
But more importantly, it's apart of your gospel story, right
?
I'm just grateful that you'dshare it.
I think it inspires people andit's and there's somebody that's
going to listen to this, that'sgoing through their own season

(01:28:08):
or period of hardship andsuffering and and encouragement
would be.
The lord will use that in yourlife and in others.
Right, well, thank you all.
Right, so, uh, that wraps upour time, uh, with bruce.
Uh, man, what a story and whata what a what a life lived to

(01:28:29):
surrender to the Lord at a laterstage in life, to truly
surrender and then let the Lordtake over the course and
trajectory of your life.
It's inspiring and it'sencouragement.
My prayer and hope is that menwould be challenged to lead
their families and invest intheir grandchildren's lives and
to leave a legacy offaithfulness and godliness.

(01:28:50):
I don't think Bruce's grandkidswill fully appreciate I know
for me I can say this of mygranddad I miss him now and I
appreciate things about him nowthat maybe I didn't fully
appreciate when he was here andI think years from now, in
adulthood, particularly Bruce'sgrandkids will appreciate the

(01:29:11):
investment he's made in thisfamily and and uh, and I and I
hope you'll be inspired, I knowI am it's, it's it's got me
thinking about the things that Ineed to do to leave a godly
legacy behind, not just in inthe example that I strive to set
with my life, but writing toand investing in my

(01:29:32):
grandchildren, my children, andleaving them a tangible
spiritual investment, and so Ihope you're encouraged to do
that in your own life and hopethat you get to meet Bruce and
Shauna when you're here.
Come see us at SWO.
They'll be here until April.
If you're a man that hasn'talready signed up, we've got a

(01:29:53):
few spots left for our Spring BeStrong conference coming up
here in a couple weeks, so comeon and join us, and I know
you'll be blessed by it.
Thanks, and I hope you all havean awesome week.

Speaker 2 (01:30:04):
Thanks for listening to.
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Life After the Bear Attack | Interview with Bruce Crocker

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.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}Life After the Bear Attack | Interview with Bruce Crocker