The Marc Hill Buck
Friends and strangers alike have poured out so much love on our family, but especially Liam. God is teaching us so many, many things these months about himself and about his grace and mercy and sustaining power. But He is also teaching us about receiving.
I would way rather be giving. Whether it’s fixing a pretty bag of gifts or helping someone clean their house, I’d rather be on the giving end. There’s a humility that is learned in receiving. It comes with relinquishing control, of learning to live with humility because we truly can’t do it all. But it is also learning to live with gratitude when the gifts are so huge and powerful and we don’t deserve them and have no way of repaying them and often not even time to thank people personally. It kills me to get a generous check in the mail, put the address on my desk to send a thank you note, and then realize it’s not going to happen. So while we learn to receive over and over and over in a place of desperate need, we are also trying to learn much about giving so that when it’s our turn we can can give generously and well.
Two gifts in particular got Liam through the hardest stretch of chemo prior to surgery. One was the gift of a four wheeler to use for a few weeks. After being on crutches since August 5, it was the one thing that made him feel almost normal. Except for the fact that his mom didn’t let him go fast for fear the vibration would fracture his femur or tumor. I loved seeing his crutches thrown to the side in the grass as he gave the little ones rides back and forth, back and forth. He was suddenly flying through school to get outside. And best of all, the sparkle in his eyes came back!
The other gift was a friend, Marcus, who offered to take him hunting. Marcus had a friend who managed a large farm. He got permission to take Liam hunting there using his blind. Suddenly instead of sitting on the recliner, Liam was in the yard on a camp chair trying to practice shooting bow. Adam would run after his arrows and give him tips. I watch both boys with so much admiration. Liam for the way he faces a life threatening battle with an attitude I simply stand and marvel at. Adam for the way he faces losses and encourages Liam in so many ways that make him feel normal. Liam doesn’t often head to his keyboard on his own anymore, but Adam can suggest it in a way that gets him started. And Adam watches as he gets phenomenal opportunities like virgin hunting ground and simply cheers him on and helps him get set up.
Liam had one day to go hunting between his chemo sessions. I dropped him off and Marcus carried all his gear to the truck as Liam hobbled over on crutches. What followed next is nothing short of an answer to prayer. Liam and Marcus got settled in the blind, prayed God would send them a deer, and then watched a football game. Close to dusk several deer emerged right in front of them including a buck. Liam tried to steady his bow on Marcus’s arm, shot, and missed. The buck ran away, but their were too many pretty females calling his name. He came back, pawing the ground, and making a show.
This time Liam was positioned near the window and shot from a steady surface and got him! He thought it was a six pointer until he got there and realized it was an 8 pointer! Marcus said he’s never seen anyone move so fast on crutches! Virginia doesn’t grow many this size. We’re all sure he’s a direct answer to prayer.