Jesus Moment

[LuketheDog]

You know, Dan Crenshaw, the Texas Congressman, also a former SEAL, tells the story of how he almost drowned while boogie boarding on vacation with his wife. And this from a guy that regularly did 5 mile ocean swims, sometimes twice a day. So, yeah, nature doesn't fool around.

Yeah, I grew up surfing and often was in the water 4-5 days a week at that point, I was in great shape to say the least. But it was just one of those situations where the whole deck suddenly stacks up against you, from the sounds of it things like that have happened to more than a few of us. I really thought I was going to die, I took it as a message that I needed to reevaluate my life.

 

[Gerald Martin]

My Jesus moment happened when I was thigh deep in the river fishing and a water snake wrapped around my leg as it was swept downstream by the current.
Pretty sure I walked on water.

Been pretty fortunate so far. Been in a few sketchy situations outdoors where things could have gone from bad to worse but never felt like I was about to die.

 

[fishing4sanity]

While fishing I cut across a small gravel island covered in willows to fish the opposite side. Beavers had been feeding/cutting heavily on the willows, then I tripped over a stout willow they had chewed off. It was one of those falls where you don't get your hands out and it feels like you're thrown down, rather than just falling. Knocked the wind out of me and my neck was bleeding. I had fallen on another stout and sharp willow stub. Just a surface cut, but as I was getting up I thought if the stem had been a couple inches to the left, alone and a longway from my truck ....... not sure what the outcome may have been. I've often told my family when I die I want to be buried on the shore of that very river, but not yet.

 

[Griggs]

When I was much younger I gave my father a “Jesus” moment. I was driving us back from an unsuccessful elk hunt, he was asleep in the passenger seat. It had been raining hard for hours, and we were doing 50 in a 75 with other vehicles flying by us. I was young, and my father got to wake up to me saying “sh*t sh*t sh*t” as we slid off the road in the middle of a corner on a mountain pass with no guard rail. But the road had been so soaked for so long the mud was like quicksand and stopped us almost immediately as we sunk in about a half foot.

He drove the rest of the way back after he made me get us un-stuck.

 

[hank4elk]

Jesus had his moment and I've been beating the devil my whole life. On my eighth life. Knock on wood.
I could write a couple thousand movie plots or books. But no one buys non-fiction....

 

[BigHornRam]

I went canoeing and fishing down a river with my brother in the 80's in northern Minnesota. We had never been on the river before. After about a mile, I got a strange feeling and told my brother we needed to pull over. He didn't want to, and I said we are pulling over to shore now!
Around the bend was this....

My brothers eyes looked like saucers when he saw the falls.

 

[Wildabeest]

When I was much younger I gave my father a “Jesus” moment. I was driving us back from an unsuccessful elk hunt, he was asleep in the passenger seat. It had been raining hard for hours, and we were doing 50 in a 75 with other vehicles flying by us. I was young, and my father got to wake up to me saying “sh*t sh*t sh*t” as we slid off the road in the middle of a corner on a mountain pass with no guard rail. But the road had been so soaked for so long the mud was like quicksand and stopped us almost immediately as we sunk in about a half foot.

He drove the rest of the way back after he made me get us un-stuck.

 

[Panda Bear]

For me it is mostly about the dogs. You bond with them, they are family. So a lot of my Jesus moments have been " saving the dogs". Wolves will surround them and stay just out of sight and then swoop in causing disease with injury or death. The Polar also views them as a meal. I have had several encounters with Grizzly and Polar bears that were Jesus moments, the worst probably being a Polar that I waited to long to shoot and he knocked me over on his way by, but the only medicine I needed was Scotch.

Weather has found me praying more times than animals have. I believe the worst was once during the time of year that we only have a few hours of semi-light to start with and a blizzard hit us unexpectedly while out on the ice. Visibility was zero, wind chill minus 50, wind 40 and as I worked a fast as I could to build a small igloo my "prayers" were. Please God let someone find the dogs before they die from hunger or are eaten .

IF I had, had BigHornRam's instincts I would have stayed home that day

 

[Hammsolo]

Outfitted late season caribou hunt in Alaska. Supposedly big name guy advertised in Cabelas. Cheap tent porous to the fine snow, no working stove, no working water filter. Snowed in with very fine (not enough to melt for water) blowing snow for 5 days. Really thought if the storm lasted another 5 we would be in renal failure. Lived on Pop Tarts. My wife didn't worry cause she thought it would be like our elk camp; woodstove, drink red beers, eat stew and steak.

A lesson I’ve learned in life... Companies that choose high-end advertising shift money away from there products. You see this in insurance companies all the time. Why do we all know “The General” and his stupid jingle? Garbage insurance... This goes back to why word of mouth and reviews are the best advertising and information for researching a company. They’re usually free and honest.

 

[Tradewind]

I went canoeing and fishing down a river with my brother in the 80's in northern Minnesota. We had never been on the river before. After about a mile, I got a strange feeling and told my brother we needed to pull over. He didn't want to, and I said we are pulling over to shore now!
Around the bend was this....
View attachment 149220
My brothers eyes looked like saucers when he saw the falls.

Shoulda kept going, that would have been a great ride

 

[kansasdad]

Kevin, the guy who taught me how to tie my own flies and I decided a Easter weekend trip to the North Platte/Saratoga was just the ticket. He was a few hours short of completing his hours required to get his commercial pilots license, was wanting to add to his hours count, and we were both hoping to get some fishing in after a winter of not Fishing. Kevin arranged a rental of a twin Cessna and off we flew.

The Saratoga runway is an interesting one to land on. It isn’t flat, and being in a valley with the Snowies to the east and sage desert to the west, the winds can be tricky at the best of times. We shot a gap in the elevations north of Laramie and swung around Elk Mountain and landed uneventfully. My friend Ralph the pharmacist had a beater Suburban loaner waiting for us at the airport.

The pre-runoff fishing was pretty decent. High stick nymphing in the midst of “thundersnsows“ (snow squalls with lightning) was a new experience.

Sunday rolled around it was our scheduled time to depart. The problem was the socked in weather situation. Snow squalls, followed by bright clear patches in the clouds, followed by more snow flurries, with little sticking to the ground, but not good for flying close to mountains. I was watching this new to me tv channel called the “Weather Chanel” and then looking at the airports radar, and trying to help Kevin and the FOB dude figure out if the coast was clear for us to take off, fly down the valley and get into the clear air just 25 miles north.

We did the preflight checklist for the third time that day, and made the decision that it was safe to take off. Fighting a crosswind and taking off uphill, the wheels up moment felt normal. Turning over Saratoga, we were excited to see no snow squalls and clear sailing ahead. Right up until the moment that the clouds closed in like a shower curtain being closed on a bathtub. Kevin made the split second decision to bank hard right, and told me to “Don’t lose sight of the railroad tracks!! Those are our way to get back to the airport“.

He radioed ahead to the airport declaring our intention to land as we continued our 180 turn, bleeding speed and altitude in an attempt to stay out of the clouds for two reasons. Visibility to not run into the hills, and staying out of the clouds where the wings might ice up and lose lift. As we landed again in Saratoga, not ten minutes after we had taxied away from the hanger, Kevin looked at me and said “boy was that stupid!”

 

[Europe]

Sorry, I have not returned to this thread sooner so as to thank everyone who replied, as I had a couple of bad days. Thank you ladies and gentlemen for sharing those "Jesus Moments" with us. I also wanted to thank those who have recently sent me messages via private conversations in regards to this thread as well as other issues. Thank you

I have had several "moments" along the way, starting back as a young lass. Around ten hunting the mountains of Arizona and in an attempt to stalk my prey I decided to crawl, and crawled face to face with a rattlesnake, that missed my face when he struck and hit my shoulder. Wearing a coat, his venom never got in my system, but to this day I can see him coming at me. In the same great state a cougar scared my horse and I fell off and hurt myself. My parents found me a few hours later, as the horse went back to the barn and when he showed up without me, they started looking. I would have to say the Lion hunt in Africa had my heart pounding. You just dont know how your going to feel until you suddenly see him staring at you and knowing within 5 to 6 seconds he could be on top of you plus his look and movement put the fear of the Lord in me and I am not afraid to admit it ! The Hippo was both scary and embarrassing. I was told it was safe to bath but obviously there was a Hippo grazing no one saw until he decided to chase me. Weather while hunting, only once. My husband in his infinite wisdom decided we should spike camp and during the night we got covered in snow. I am not sure if I was scared or just mad about it in all honesty. A couple of Jesus moments while sailing due to weather and one when drag racing. The hang gliding in Brazil was scary----and stupid

And as mentioned on the Bad Road thread--Bolivia was also not one of my favorite moments either and I am sure I said at least one prayer during that drive.

Thanks again guys and gals---anyone else have a "Jesus Moment" they would like to share with us

 

[rtraverdavis]

Sorry, I have not returned to this thread sooner so as to thank everyone who replied, as I had a couple of bad days. Thank you ladies and gentlemen for sharing those "Jesus Moments" with us. I also wanted to thank those who have recently sent me messages via private conversations in regards to this thread as well as other issues. Thank you

I have had several "moments" along the way, starting back as a young lass. Around ten hunting the mountains of Arizona and in an attempt to stalk my prey I decided to crawl, and crawled face to face with a rattlesnake, that missed my face when he struck and hit my shoulder. Wearing a coat, his venom never got in my system, but to this day I can see him coming at me. In the same great state a cougar scared my horse and I fell off and hurt myself. My parents found me a few hours later, as the horse went back to the barn and when he showed up without me, they started looking. I would have to say the Lion hunt in Africa had my heart pounding. You just dont know how your going to feel until you suddenly see him staring at you and knowing within 5 to 6 seconds he could be on top of you plus his look and movement put the fear of the Lord in me and I am not afraid to admit it ! The Hippo was both scary and embarrassing. I was told it was safe to bath but obviously there was a Hippo grazing no one saw until he decided to chase me. Weather while hunting, only once. My husband in his infinite wisdom decided we should spike camp and during the night we got covered in snow. I am not sure if I was scared or just mad about it in all honesty. A couple of Jesus moments while sailing due to weather and one when drag racing. The hang gliding in Brazil was scary----and stupid

And as mentioned on the Bad Road thread--Bolivia was also not one of my favorite moments either and I am sure I said at least one prayer during that drive.

Thanks again guys and gals---anyone else have a "Jesus Moment" they would like to share with us

Wow. You’ve lived some life. I think the face-to-face rattlesnake nite would be enough to send me to the rubber room. Thanks for sharing all that.

As for my own “Jesus Moments” I, like @LuketheDog, used to surf quite a bit, and was once bounced and dragged pretty hard across a reef in Point Loma. Almost lost consciousness and when I came to the surface was immediately hit by the next wave before I could really take a breath.

The only other time that I can think of in which I truly feared for my life (that didn’t involve a vehicle) was getting caught out in a lightning storm while backpacking in the South Sierra Wilderness. Nothing we could do but lay in a depression in a meadow as lightning touched down all around us, and exploded a tree less than 100 feet away. I did some serious God begging during that one.

 

[Panda Bear]

I have been asked about whale hunting and the dangers thereof . Yes we are allowed to hunt them and yes it can be dangerous from two aspects of the hunt. The first and most uncontrolled danger is when we canoe out to harpoon the whale. It is at that time that one slap of his tail can kill or injure a hunter or even several hunters. The other dangerous part of the hunt is when we drag the whale into the ice. We must be very careful when installing the block and tackle, so it does not come lose and hit someone. I have never been slapped out of the boat or hit directly by the tail, but I have seen injury to others during the process of pulling the whale up onto the ice.

kansasdad, enjoyed your post and can relate. We spend a considerable amount of time in small aircraft and I could probably mention several instances that I said "oh God---------"

Sometimes landing in snow and not knowing what is just under the surface that you can not see always gives one pause , even if nothing ends up being there

Glad to read and find out that I am not the only one in the wilderness ( or ocean for a couple of you gentlemen ) that is praying for something, sometimes, besides harvesting an animal

 

[diamond hitch]

While working in southeast Alaska on southern Admiralty, my pilot let me out on a snow field in a white out. I fought my way to the outcrop, slid over the top of the ice and dropped about 3 ft to a mound of ice. On either side there was a gap between the rock and the ice about 3-4 ft and hundreds of ft deep. It was years later when I received proper ice climbing training and methods of self arrest on snow fields. The lord was looking after me that day and a number of others. Guess it wasn't my turn just yet.

 

[SFC B]

I missed this for a couple of days..... mine was not hunt/fish related but was outdoors. While serving with my last unit I was tasked to assist one of the Battalion Chaplains run an offsite leadership event. The CDR wanted a whitewater rafting trip (with breakfast and a seminar first) down the Arkansas River through the Royal Gorge. The morning stuff went well. We headed to the river and started out. The first segment is mellow (before you actually enter the gorge) with a break in the middle for lunch. Then we were out to head through the gorge proper. The water was at high flow so there was a LOT of Class IV and a few Class V- rapids. As we went deeper we came across another boat stuck on a rock ledge. They had tried to go around a serious IV rapid/small falls. Our genius of a "guide" decided we should try to ram them off the ledge. Of course it did not work. So we are now floating behind them to the right of the falls. The guide tells us we are going to back up as hard as we can. As we do this his dumb a$$ steers us all the way around so we start down the falls BACKWARD. Bad enough, but he over rotated so we hit another rock and dumps the entire 10 man boat OVER the falls. I had been rafting prior and am a strong swimmer so I wasn't too freaked. The raft then came down on top of me. I followed our training and hand over handed the raft off of me. Now I am floating the tail end of the rapid, feet down river, head up as I should (the CDR next to me). I can see we are coming toward an eddy and start to paddle that way. All of the sudden I see something moving out of the corner of my eye. Apparently there was another boat beached in the eddy and the jackwagon guide on THAT boat decided to throw a rescue rope!!!! The one thing you NEVER do is throw a rescue rope without establishing eye contact with the floater. As the rope flies it loops and guess who gets lassoed around the MFn neck?!?! This guy! Then the dude starts reeling me in against the current. My head is about a foot under water and I am waving my hands out of the water. I start off pissed....as my vision started to narrow and I started to blackout all I could think was "This is IT, THIS is how I go?" Thankfully another guide saw me struggling, jumped in, cut me free and pulled me to shore. He got me out and help me get about a gallon of river water out. By the time I came too the rope thrower was long gone. I am still mad as I write this. We finish the ride and head to the Chappy's truck for the ride back. About 10 minutes into the ride the CDR has the BALLS to say "Well, that went well." I looked him dead in the face and said "The f&*% it did.....I almost died!!" He simply buried his face in his phone for the rest of the ride and didn't peep. When we got back to our unit the Chappy started to lecture me on talking like that to an O5.....I had to remind him that not only did I not work for HIM, I didn't work for the O5. That O5 worked for MY boss at Group and he could go pound sand. I went straight to the GRP CSM to let him know what happened and he smiled and referred to the O5 as a male appendage. So, needless to say I am no longer in the market for rafting trips.

 

[Wildabeest]

Wow! Can’t imagine having a rescue line around your neck! Sounds like a “comedy or errors” that wasn’t at all funny. I just booked a Sept Gauley trip in WVa with my kids. 9 Class V’s and lots of IV’s and III’s in between. I’ve also done Royal Gorge, but Gauley (during “Gauley season” in Sept/Oct with guaranteed flows) has always been my favorite. I’ve had more than a few “Jesus Moments” on that river! Sorry you had a bad experience. Whitewater has just always had this weird fascination for me.

 

[longbow51]

When I was young and dumb, about 3 years into rafting, my wife, 11 yo daughter and I ran the Sunbeam section of the Salmon in Idaho. We thought it was pretty cool but no big problems. I casually mentioned it the next day in an outdoor shop, and the woman said "Wow, who did you run it with?, I said, oh, we brought our own boat (15 1/2' SOTAR)". She kind of turned white and said glad you had fun. Turned out the guides were afraid to run it at that water level. It isn't really a pool and drop section, and the last stretch you avoid what is left of a dam. According to a local guide, "If you blow your line, it’s a huge hit and full-on swim through frothing post-dynamite rebar/concrete waves. Many guides consider it to be one of the most technical and iconic rapids on the Salmon River." When we later took a Whitewater Rescue Class, our instructor was asked by some college kids to run some some rapids in high water. He asked what Class? They said, "Foursy-Fivesy,". He said, "Well, I don't do Fivesy; I have a family and kids to raise,". And this from a guy who leads spring trips down Alberton Gorge, no pansy run itself, and riverboards Class 3s.

So yep, God smiles on the young and stupid.

Good on the OP for reminding us of how many times our outdoor days could have gone bad in a hurry.

 

[Festus]

These rafting stories remind me of Patrick McManus "Shooting the Chink-a-nout Narrows".
Here is South Cox on his Western Bowhunter Podcast reading it...

The Western Bowhunter Podcast: WBH EP 70: PATRICK MCMANUS- SHOOTING THE CHICK-A-NOUT NARROWS

On today's episode of the Western Bowhunter Podcast, South reads a chapter from a Patrick McManus book, titled "Shooting the Chick-A-Nout Narrows." This is the second episode of the Patrick McManus series.

fulldrawfulltime.libsyn.com

OK, back to your stories...

 

[longbow51]

These rafting stories remind me of Patrick McManus "Shooting the Chink-a-nout Narrows".
Here is South Cox on his Western Bowhunter Podcast reading it...

The Western Bowhunter Podcast: WBH EP 70: PATRICK MCMANUS- SHOOTING THE CHICK-A-NOUT NARROWS

On today's episode of the Western Bowhunter Podcast, South reads a chapter from a Patrick McManus book, titled "Shooting the Chick-A-Nout Narrows." This is the second episode of the Patrick McManus series.

fulldrawfulltime.libsyn.com

OK, back to your stories...

A classic for sure. No one will ever be his equal, for those times will never return.