There are things in this world that tend to bring men together, with hunting being one of them. Sit-down meals made from the bounty of our camouflaged excursions into the wilderness of God’s great creation are yet another reason to gather.
As a youngster growing up in rural Mississippi, I remember attending my first “wild game supper” at Rocky Creek Baptist Church. From those of you not from Mississippi, or one of the surrounding Southern states, most of us down here refer to the evening meal as “supper.”
I was perhaps twelvish years old at the event mentioned above and I don’t recall a single conversation from the event that night, or who spoke after the dinner but, I remember with clarity a couple of things from the evening.
The first was feeling special that I had been included in a men’s-only event. The second being that the menu included far away items, such as peasant, moose, caribou, and even bear, as well as the usual local fair of duck, dove, quail, and lots of venison.
Fast forward over 40 years from that night, and I found myself attending another “wild game supper.” This one was hosted by Gulfport Baptist Church and appropriately named “The Beast Feast.” I don’t know who came up with that name for the event, but kudos to them.
With one exception, this recent event closely mirrored the wild game supper from my childhood, with venison prepared 15 ways to Sunday, mostly in the form of various sausages, highlighted with a few signature dishes of alligator, moose, bear, and Opossum. I’m kidding about the Opossum, but that “O” is supposed to be capitalized.
The exception was that the after-dinner speaker for this event was me. The same twelvish-year-old kid who was scared to talk to a stranger 40 years ago couldn’t wait to get up in front of a room full of strangers and tell them all how God had worked in his life over the past few decades and was still working in his life today.
Truth is, another thing that brings men together in this life, along with our shared joys, is our shared burdens. We carry a lot of the same burdens in life, get lost along the same dirt roads of life, get off in the weeds of life, and sometimes even off in the wilderness of life. It is common ground that all men stand on at some point, and sometimes often. We just don’t talk about it much.
We are what we are but, whatever we are, and wherever we are, God loves us all… Immeasurably.
Not only does He love us immeasurably, but He will also meet us wherever we happen to find ourselves. Be it on a dirt road, off in the weeds, or even lost in the wilderness. He’ll meet us right there, or perhaps even send a man to lead us out.
Anything is possible in God’s economy. As evidenced by moving men to organize events, such as wild game suppers, that bring other men together, to fellowship, to feast, to help others find their way, encourage others to stay the course, or perhaps a little bit of both.
