F&S Photo
I pulled the December Field & Stream and magazine from the mail box and tossed it into my hunting pack to take it with me to deer camp. As I was thumbing through it a few days later I came across the article “Following Our Father” the amazing story of Faith and the life journey of two brothers after the tragic death of their father in the PA Deer Woods. Now they share their story and their faith at Sportsman Dinners and Churches around the country.
Amazing grace, how sweet the sound,
That saved a wretch like me.“And all I could think was ‘You are the wretch, God, for allowing this to happen to my dad,’” Dan says. “I internalized all the anger. It just built up in me.”
For Dan, spiritual healing was first revealed in a conversation he had when he was in his early 20s, with a former neighbor named Peter Cabin.2 At the time of Witt’s death, Cabin owned one of the hard-drinking bars in Meyersdale, and when Dan questioned God about his father’s death, the question was always the same: Why Dad and not a man like Peter Cabin?
Then one day, while visiting his grandmother, he heard someone calling his name from a nearby house trailer. It was Cabin, and he wanted to talk.
“I knew who he was,” Dan says. “And I was thinking, ‘You’re the one that should be long gone. I should be talking to my dad.’” But Cabin told him an astonishing story. Walt, as it turned out, never passed up an opportunity to share his faith with Cabin, and after the hunting accident, the barkeeper converted fully to Christianity.
“And that’s not all,” Dan says, shaking his head, amazed at the turn of events even after 25 years. “He sold his tavern. He started preaching. He began a ministry in retirement homes because he felt that those people didn’t have much time left before eternity. And for years he helped smuggle Bibles into China. All because of my dad’s death.
“When he told me that story,” Dan continues, “it was like God hit me right between the eyes with a two-by-four. This light came on of God telling me, ‘Dan, if you were in charge of this, if you were God, Peter Cabin would be dead today, and he would have to spend an eternity with no hope. I didn’t make a mistake with your dad.’ It was an epiphany, and the beginning of the healing process for me a decade after Dad’s death.”
Field & Stream
A story that would be more common for Guide Post was a refreshing addition to the Field & Stream. I encourage you to read the entire story and see how God has used this accident to change lives. When you get right down to it our Faith is more important than any hunting trip or tip. So if you’re not sure if you died today where you would spend eternity I urge you to check out “Peace With God”
