If you know Will Thomas you know he is always laughing and always spending time in the outdoors with his kids. He is one of the most consistent guys you will meet. The way he chooses to live his life is contagious.
Meredith, our new co-host and I take a deep dive into the importance of making outdoor spaces accessible for everyone, regardless of their abilities. We discuss our experiences at the Walk to Emmaus , a spiritually uplifting event where we felt the profound presence of God. We also share about our family bonding activities in the great outdoors and how they have helped foster positive relationships with our children. Can you imagine snagging a state-record alligator? Well, Will has, and he shares his thrilling gator hunting adventures and his upcoming plans to commemorate this once-in-a-lifetime achievement.
Finally, we take a mindful moment to appreciate the healing and nourishing aspect of nature. Not only can the outdoors provide us with the minerals and nutrients that wild animals need, but it can also be a source of mental strength and well-being. So join us as we explore the power of nature, the strength found in overcoming challenges, and the joy that comes from sharing these experiences. Listen in to our engaging discussion and be prepared to feel inspired by the beauty of life and our shared love for the outdoors.
If you know Will Thomas you know he is always laughing and always spending time in the outdoors with his kids. He is one of the most consistent guys you will meet. The way he chooses to live his life is contagious.
Meredith, our new co-host and I take a deep dive into the importance of making outdoor spaces accessible for everyone, regardless of their abilities. We discuss our experiences at the Walk to Emmaus , a spiritually uplifting event where we felt the profound presence of God. We also share about our family bonding activities in the great outdoors and how they have helped foster positive relationships with our children. Can you imagine snagging a state-record alligator? Well, Will has, and he shares his thrilling gator hunting adventures and his upcoming plans to commemorate this once-in-a-lifetime achievement.
Finally, we take a mindful moment to appreciate the healing and nourishing aspect of nature. Not only can the outdoors provide us with the minerals and nutrients that wild animals need, but it can also be a source of mental strength and well-being. So join us as we explore the power of nature, the strength found in overcoming challenges, and the joy that comes from sharing these experiences. Listen in to our engaging discussion and be prepared to feel inspired by the beauty of life and our shared love for the outdoors.
I think it'd be so neat to have a place where people that are in wheelchairs could just roll in a stand you know, because, like I take my four wheeler early, early in the morning, it's dark, I have to back it or the buggy. It's hard because it's a long trail down to my stand, but I have to back it all the way down because I have to. You know, I have to be able to get my rifle off and all that stuff, but it's, there's a, there's a smooth place in front of my stand.
Speaker 1:So I have to back all the way down, get it open, open it up, take my rifle out like, lean it in the door. All while I'm trying to be super quiet, you know, because I don't want to wake everybody, wake the woods up before the sun comes up. But if it were a place, you know where, where these people could easily get down to this stand and just roll in it, well, that's not what we were talking about yesterday, because that's what we were doing. We were dishing just finally got a little bit of rain to soften the ground up.
Speaker 2:But anyway, that would be so neat for people that for those accessibility things, for things to be accessible for all people, you know they can't go to the beach, and not only and not only accessible, but in the, in the prime, best spots you can hunt.
Speaker 3:Right.
Speaker 2:Because a lot of times you know, like you said, you can't get these kids or whoever I mean somebody's handicapped, you can't get them. Or let's just say let's take handicapped. I like that, I want to take handicapped away.
Speaker 1:I do too. Inconvenience, I don't want to, I don't want to say it anymore.
Speaker 2:I really don't, and that might be go for some people, but for me and for you, I like inconvenience.
Speaker 1:That's what Wes says. He hates the word handicap and he said it yesterday because we've talked about this podcast over and over and we both listened to it over and over. We just went on a trip last week for my birthday, but we sat in the hotel room and just listened to both of them and paused and thought about it. You know, because this is raw and it's completely real. You don't. Sometimes you're not thinking about what you're saying.
Speaker 3:I don't know, I don't know I didn't get more details, or thank goodness for being able to edit, yeah All right.
Speaker 2:So let's get this thing kicked off. So, before we get, before we get going, all right, y'all. So we've got a big announcement. This is awesome to me. Meredith and I have been talking and we just have so many things that we feel so strongly the same about, and it's that Meredith is going to come on weekly and she's going to co-host this for me, which is such a relief for me because it helps me, man, I don't. It just helps out, really, what we really need to talk about. So, anyway, I've got Will.
Speaker 2:So this is Will Thomas, and Will has been. I'm just going to be straight up. He has made such an impact in my life and only a short time he invited me to, he sponsored me to go to Wattua Mayus in February 2019, which was the most critical time in my life, and when I went and experienced it and experienced that love and then that whole weekend, it just mentally got me in the place that I needed to be for my family and so yeah, you know, the Walk to a Mayus is such an incredible organization and even you know and people ask me what is it?
Speaker 3:What is it about the Walk to a Mayus? And there's some things that are sort of left untold to folks that have not been to it. So I'm not going to say everything, but you know, the thing about the Walk to a Mayus is it's really the presence of God that shows up and that shows up in the story. The Walk to a Mayus People are. You know, these disciples are walking along and somebody shows up and starts walking with them and they don't know who he is, they can't recognize him, and he explains things to the disciples about, you know, the death of Christ and how it was foretold in the Old Testament, and goes through all the scriptures and explains it to them. And the story says that the disciples were burning within themselves, their hearts were just burning about this and they really wanted him to stay with them. And then they did communion and when they did communion they recognized who it was. So I think the thing about the Walk to a Mayus is the presence of God shows up, and that's what we all need is his presence.
Speaker 1:I got to go I think nine years ago, and all I can say about it is just oh my, I don't know that. One day I left there and it was just, it was unbelievable for me, yeah, especially for you.
Speaker 1:Especially going through, you know, after that had been many years after my accident, but you know I still go through so much every day. You know just all those emotions and all those regrets and just you know you do so much to yourself as a human that weights you down and to go into Walk to a Mayus it was just oh, I'm so glad I did it. You know it was wonderful.
Speaker 2:You know what I just saw you is? I feel the same exact way that I just saw you, and I think it's because that we were in such a needy position.
Speaker 1:I was Well, it's an unbelievable position, yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and because of the cancer and because of the, you know your injury, having people come around you and do that many things for you and you and you just it's hard to explain how amazing that feels.
Speaker 3:Yeah, so anyway, Well, and, and you know, just being in the presence of God, and then you know you want to share that with others and that's why you know I sponsored you, carter's, because you know you were, you were in a in a difficult time and you know I knew that you needed to be in the presence of the Lord and you know and I'm thankful that you.
Speaker 2:I'm glad it worked out. I'm thankful that you knew that. Yeah, and you came and got me.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 2:But any all right. So let's get into, uh, into will. So what I see in will, um, what I watch is, first of all, he's got a. He's got a state record now Alligator.
Speaker 3:Right, that's right 1430.
Speaker 2:You're going to get like a ring below A ring.
Speaker 3:Well, I think some boots would be more appropriate.
Speaker 1:Alligator belt Like a weight champion. You need a champion. Hold on, hold on.
Speaker 2:Hold on.
Speaker 3:I may have one of those on right now, well, this isn't the state record, but I do have some alligator leather. But with this Gator we're all going to get some leather All the guys that were on the team that caught it and um, I'm going to get some boots made and I'm going to stamp a brand on the side. 14, three.
Speaker 2:Yeah you guys, I'll be proud, you know that's going to be my trophy.
Speaker 3:I kind of want some 14 three gear, me too. Oh, that's a good idea yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah, all right. So, um, one thing I think is cool about is how you get your family involved in the outdoors and um and and kind of really what it appears to me from the outside looking in is you kind of let them all kind of do what they want to do and you kind of have fun and talk about that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I want to hear about your kid. You said your four kids, yes, so we've got we've got four kids.
Speaker 3:Um, I married my high school sweetheart, uh, 21 years ago yeah, 21 years ago and um, we've got four kids one daughter that's 17, a daughter that's 14, a daughter that's 12 and a son that's 10. So we've got three girls and a boy and uh, and they're just a lot of fun.
Speaker 3:You know, um, when Carter asked me and we talked kind of about what we might talk about today, I, I did some thinking about it and um, the uh, you know, god is a relational being and he, you know, he, made us in his image. So we're relational. And, um, with my kids, you know, I just have a strong desire to have a good relationship with them and, uh, kind of the way I do it is is through the outdoors, and that's not the only way to do it. Um, you know, there's lots of different ways to to have a relationship with somebody, but one of our big things is just being in the outdoors, and there's a scripture that uh, really, uh, speaks to me about that. It's Romans one 20 and it says for, since the creation of the world, god's invisible qualities, his eternal power and divine nature have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, the creation, so that people are without excuse. And I've always felt that. You know, the outdoors is that to me. Um, you know, when I was in college freshman, um, that was kind of the first time I truly had, uh, an experience where I, you know, had to decide am I going to be, you know, am I going to have a relationship with God or not? And the outdoors is really kind of what I poured myself into, um, to get away from some of the temptations and things I was dealing with. And you know, I feel like, uh, with my kids, uh, I really we spend time together in the outdoors and um, have a have a big time and we do.
Speaker 3:Yesterday, um, my daughter, the 12 year old daughter, wanted to kill a deer and then I wanted to go dove hunting and so I asked my oldest daughter and she wanted to go dove hunting with me. So, um, I said, all right to the 12 year old, I'll get the crossbow ready, put it in the stand behind the house. And then I'm taking your sister, uh, dove hunt. And so set the crossbow up down in the stand behind the house and the older one and I go dove hunting. And while we're shooting doves in the dove field, I get a text of a picture with the 12 year old and she has shot a deer. She and her little brother blood trailed it, found it, drug it out.
Speaker 3:And then I said, what are we going to do? I said, load it on the trailer, convince your mom to take you to the buck shop, and so they put it on the trailer, hooked it up to my wife's car, they took it to the buck shop and donated it to Hunter's Harvest, which is a good, great program for donating wild game meat. And so, anyway, that was my yesterday. But they I really, you know, find that they're there. I mean, with all these screens and things these days, I mean kids need to be outdoors. Yes, it really benefits them and the relationships we have and you're raising them.
Speaker 1:We talked about this last week. You're raising real men and women, which we need more of, because just think about it, where most kids are nowadays they're not 10 years old helping their sister load a deer up on a trailer, hooking it to their mom's car. They don't know how to do those things. There are not many 10 year olds that can do that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you know what I mean. You know I had. I spent some time with a buddy of mine sat Friday and he he showed me a message and that message was, I guess, a boy broke up with a girl and you know he said I'm sorry, I you know, they just send it in text messages now and he said. He basically said I need to work on my swing and get better. I don't have time for this right now and it's, you know, it's. It's kind of crazy to me to think how much you know, what do we focus on? And having watching you and watching these kids get out and outdoors and just smiles like for real, and the I mean y'all, look this guy. So this, this is the guy that I advised with when we bought Miss Hershey. Remember that? Yeah, I called you about the. You know I called you about a, I think, a goat, a goat. You know I was thinking about getting Lila's Christmas present.
Speaker 2:Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, and you're like man, you need to think about a mini horse.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Mini horse and you know that kind of thing. So, but then you've also you know the funny story about your son watching the. You know the squirrel trying to catch the squirrel.
Speaker 3:Oh yeah. So my little boy loves animals and hunting and catching stuff. Right now he's. He's got ducks and wants to buy quail and raisin and all kinds of stuff. But he wanted to catch a squirrel and so we made him a little trap with an open bottom and a little and got him a little stick and propped it up in our backyard and tied a string to the stick. He just propped up the cage and put a little bait under there and then he's got the string going inside and, you know, in the window, and so he sits there and watches the cage and when the squirrel goes up under it he pulls the string and the cage falls on the squirrel. And then it's pandemonium to go out there and catch the squirrel and release it or whatever.
Speaker 2:That's cool.
Speaker 1:That's neat.
Speaker 2:It's like you know, we built forts when we were kids.
Speaker 1:You know, going back to the, the screen time thing with kids now you know we didn't have that. We didn't have cell phones. You know, it was like being home before dark, you know before dinner. That was it.
Speaker 2:You know you didn't. I remember pulling up my phone during that ice storm and seeing a video of Wil Thomas skiing in the ditches oh yeah.
Speaker 3:Yeah, that was. That's good stuff, yeah.
Speaker 2:You know, that's when I think about. When I grew up, that's what we were doing.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 2:When we got a storm we got an ice storm, we got anything, we were in it until it leaves us, hook the ski rope up to the Jeep and let's go.
Speaker 3:That's right. Oh my goodness, that's right, that's awesome.
Speaker 2:Going back to that verse, yeah.
Speaker 2:That was my verse. I told you. I told you this is that Romans one, verse 20, and kind of what. When things got crazy chaos, not really knowing how to deal with what, what I was dealing with, I just went to the woods. I just said you know, I'm just going to go hunting and at the time I was hunting, this big called a unicorn Megan named him unicorn, which the neighbors ended up getting him. But I was kind of so focused on that deer and kind of let my problems go into chasing that deer. And I'll never forget spending time getting down to the river and figuring out how am I going to kill this deer? Okay, I'm going to use my forestry knowledge, my wildlife, what I do for a living, and say how am I going to, where's he going, where's he, where's he coming from? And I'll never forget I was. This is the.
Speaker 2:I was on the river and I was standing there and all of a sudden it was like kind of like viney. You know how it gets on the river. It's like vine, it's like not very good timber, and then the vines kind of go over and it's just junk. For the first time I looked at the, like the tree tops and I was like well, those three, those are cherry barks and that's swamp chestnut and those are cypress trees over there. And all of a sudden it was just like. It was just like it's like it's been here.
Speaker 2:This, this view has been here this entire time and you're you've never looked up and this is what you do for a living but you've never looked up. You've always looked down and tried to see what the deer are feeding on the ground and it was like in that moment, guy was saying show them, I want you. And he was like he was laughing at me, like you know it's. How crazy is this? And I went home and I told, I told my wife about it, and I was like I've never experienced anything like this. I'm telling you I don't know what to do. But so I called my pastor and I went to see him, went to Brett and put to get some coffee, and I told him about it and he, I think he gave me that verse yeah, and and and. And he said I think you should go back. If you experienced him, go back. So I did. And it was a day, it was a cold, cold day, and I got in the tree and and I just, just like you know, I'm just going to spend some time here. I don't know what I'm doing here. I've, I've just experienced something that I can't explain, but I want more of it and I was sitting there and I was Megan was in Houston getting treatment with her dad.
Speaker 2:She texted me and she said you know, ice storms here, we can't get home or we're trying to figure this out, but I'm fixing to go to my appointment and I'll let you know what the doctor says. So I'm in this moment and I'm like Lord, are you real? You know, are you really real? Like what's going on here? I get a text message from her that basically says that we just got the report back on the. Y'all gotta give me a minute hold on. It was her genes, something about. I forgot it was a gene or something to be able to do targeted therapy. And they have. They know that they have like 15 or four billion genes or something and they have treatments for like or a billion genes or something. They got treatments for like 15. And she had one of those genes.
Speaker 2:In that exact moment it was like, lord was like you had a better chance of winning the lottery than getting that, and it was like he was saying I've got her.
Speaker 2:I need you to sit, just relax for a minute.
Speaker 2:And that relaxing for a minute turned into me walking away from my business and I remember you know partners at the time with Blake, and I didn't know what I was doing and I remember, megan, I remember when I first talked about it she said if you think this is really what the Lord's calling you to do and I mean you know it, I mean but if you don't, I need you to really make sure that that's true Well, she had went and visited with her friend and she gave her some advice on that too and just kind of like, support your husband, he's searching this. And we did it and we started kind of did this Habco thing together and that was to kind of show God in creation and try not to. At first I thought that was like me put a lot of input in and I've learned today that just finish this farm that I went all native on and it is incredible. I mean it's just like amazing to me how, when you get a property that's truly working, the ecosystems working, everything's working.
Speaker 2:it's really hard to mess that up and the less that I got involved, the better it got. And now I'm like able to see that right now our turkeys so everybody wants to know what's the stress level on turkeys are right now is moisture, it is seeds they need. So they're really gravitating towards our wetlands, our cypress sloughs. They're all up in it. So the last area that got that dried out is usually always clean. It's dirt and those turkeys stay on the edges there and they eat all the smart weeds and they eat the different little things off two blow gums. There's a lot of different things that they're benefiting from that the ducks are gonna benefit from in just a few more weeks and it's crazy to me to see.
Speaker 3:You know what's funny? I was hunting Friday evening and I was hunting an area that was pretty much a slew and I was walking in and I was like that's a turkey feather. And then I went and I got on the stand and saw nothing but turkeys. Hey man it's a swamp out there where they were.
Speaker 2:And to me that I've always told myself in my management my job is as a manager. Now that I manage kind of with the Lord, kind of with creation, I just watch them and see what they're doing and see if I can improve on it. And this weekend, that area that they were using basically we need land in space for ducks. They don't really like to land in tall, good, smart weed and so they wanna land in open water. And so I went and looked at this area that these ducks I mean these turkeys were using, and so I kind of bush, hogged around those areas and that is immediately giving them fresh bugs, fresh seeds on the ground laid over, and it's I don't know if anybody's ever truly walked into a wetland that is under its own control, but it is unbelievable the amount of bugs, seeds, the moisture. How beautiful that soul is.
Speaker 1:Wes and I were just talking about how jealous we are of your job, that you get to be. You know. You were talking about nature and how you, when you are not focusing on that deer, you know, when you let the hunt, just like whoa, like on my stand there's just family of birds and they drive me crazy because every noise they make. I'm like you know who's that? You know because you think it's a deer, but you don't really realize what nature can do for you mentally until you get out there and sit in it. You know and you're like whoa, that was amazing, this is amazing. And then at the end of the hunt you didn't see anything and you're like it doesn't matter because this was cool.
Speaker 2:You know, anyway.
Speaker 1:So we were talking about you, your job and you being able to be in it all the time. And there I don't dismiss women hunters there's not as many of them, because there are some pretty awesome people's, friends of mine, that hunt all the time. But I feel like if more people would just get in the woods, you know, especially women they would appreciate why their men want to go to deer camp all the time, you know, because sometimes it's they just want to go out there and sit and get away from everything and just look at what God's doing. Just look at. And if you get out there and you think that God's not real, you're crazy.
Speaker 3:Yeah, no doubt, and you know some people do. They go through life, you know, and go through being in the outdoors and they don't really understand.
Speaker 1:Real red pizza. Yeah, real red pizza, real red pizza.
Speaker 3:Or recognize that man, god, is all over the landscape. You know he's all over it and you got to stop. And it's not all about just killing that deer or that turkey, or you know. It's about seeing what God created, having others involved in it with you, and building those relationships.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's that it's active Like the cool thing and I was telling Casey about like Thursday morning. Did you feel that when you woke up? Did you hurt Thursday morning?
Speaker 1:I don't know, you hurt every day. Yes, it's just.
Speaker 2:So, anyway Thursday. I couldn't sleep Wednesday night and I knew, and when we talked about it, that when we have those injuries that have metal in them, something in the expansion, well, what I know now, I've literally wrote down the storms, this is what happened, and then, after it, go behind it and see what happened. Well, I realized that the one we just had Thursday is a pressure packed. It wasn't, there wasn't any rain involved in it, but when it came through it was so pressure packed. It holds you Okay. And so at two o'clock in the morning, I'm out on my driveway, walking, because I know that if I walk it off, I will wait, I will not have that pain, and so and I can't sleep.
Speaker 1:I wish that I could look back on some of the. I just, I have spasms all the time, like almost all day, every day, and I just don't. I don't think about storms affecting my body, but I wish I could like remember, like whoa maybe it did or maybe I could have you know, felt the storm.
Speaker 2:And so the thing is back on the river. I just knew that he was showing, wanting me to show God in creation. So when I finally messed up, so I bought a skid stairs, started fixing things and I was like we're going to do it right here and learn the hard way, and I realized that the floor was going to let me in on it. But my job was to just commit and say yes, and then I would. I really should have done it, just sat down, spent time in creation, learning and that's what I've done in the last five years is watching this storm, basically the pressure that came through. If you woke up Thursday last, this past Thursday, and you had real bad soreness, especially if you have a traumatic injury. You know, casey was barely getting up. He's like man, I'm, I'm going to be running a few minutes late getting to the gym and I was like it's just the pressure will work that out when we get to the water. And but it's cool to realize that this pressure was to hold the deer down in a pattern and then, when it released, they seek out a different food source. It is a change in season, meaning they they moved into our wide oak area and so I've got this deer that I have so much history with and so much, and he came home. He came home and he got in his, into his bed, that for that particular season he has one person, one spot that he likes to be in, and so over the last few years, we've been taking those spots and improving on them, knowing that they're his and knowing that they're um, how can we make them better? We thought we'd have two years until he got to like a certain level status, but he blew up, and he blew up because he was given a balance of, of of. I haven't figured this all out yet.
Speaker 2:Okay so, but I think that if I give a white tail, wetland plants and upland plants together in the same type because there's always a slope deer love to walk that slope. So one thing I've studied is they stay on those slope lines, and I think it's that they stay on those slope lines to get a little bit of this. I think the wetland plants provide some minerals that they need. You know, you can, you know. One thing I'm looking into is that phosphorus can. They can stack phosphorus into their skeletal system. So when you see those bucks on the, in the, in the big time swamps late in the year they're probably in there to get some of that phosphorus. Do you see that in?
Speaker 3:I don't know that I've ever picked up on that, but it's something that makes sense.
Speaker 2:So in in in a wetland, phosphorus and nitrogen are really um produced a lot, but in order to get that water from going, not having oxygen in it, and so you got standing water in the summertime in those wetlands, and so something has to go on in order to and that's why you see all these beautiful plants. If you get it right, if you get it right, it's just going to grow. You don't need any fertilizers, it's just going to be in the deer or just there. There's certain plants that right now, like I think that I don't know for sure, but I think it's called water pod and they're getting a lot of their moisture off of that plant. But it's just, it's just cool to me that I don't know any of this and I feel like I'm getting to know the Lord more by studying what wildlife do and how to improve on it.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and there's some things we'll never understand, carter, you know you read the book of Job and it talks about how there's just some things that you're not going to understand.
Speaker 2:And you got to be okay with it.
Speaker 3:Yeah, that's right.
Speaker 1:We talked about that with the human body last week. You know, with a severe spinal cord injury there's a complete injury and there's a, there's a not complete injury and complete. You pretty much know your fate and not complete it's. It's a wide open book and doctors don't know. I mean, that's why they call it practicing medicine. You know, you're just, you're just in it.
Speaker 2:What if? What if, in your, in the exact moment of your injury, the Lord, like you, didn't know? But what if the Lord just said you know what? I'm going to make it incomplete here, and I'm just going to make sure that that's incomplete because he has a plan for you.
Speaker 1:I can tell you this I know he has a plan for me and it started. I told you all of those events of that day. I just feel like I should have never been in that car, and then the nurse and her husband that was behind us when we had the wreck. You know, that's the only reason I'm alive today, I've been told. You know.
Speaker 2:I know, and she was a nurse.
Speaker 1:She was a nurse. I know like that there was a plan for me, because I feel like that I just at 14, being so young, I just had had too much to go in for me and I had a big head and my dad was a football coach and and my brothers were, but we were all very good, we were all very talented athletes at a young age and my brothers went on to play college ball. We talked about this last week. I feel like God had a plan for me and I feel like that plan was to sit me down and just, and that's hard to talk about and hard to accept.
Speaker 2:He sent me down too.
Speaker 1:But he said all right, stop right now, and I'm going to, I'm just going to flip the script completely all the way around and it's going to kill you, almost it. You know it's going to almost kill you, and then you're just going to have to go. And then that that day, when I, when I felt that needle prick in my foot, when they took blood out of my foot, I don't know, I just I got this fire and you know, the doctors kept telling me the worst, because I have to every day, and I just dismissed it. I was just like I don't believe you, I'm not, I'm pushing, and I have for 26 years.
Speaker 2:And I think that's a really good thing for everyone to do. Just just, in your fight, you got to believe that you can beat it. You got to believe that in the positive yeah, stay there, stay there, don't put that negative. Sorry, I got to stand up. I got to pull that hip a little bit Jake, my nephew.
Speaker 1:he his kneecap dislocated in football several weeks ago and then it did it again and he's in eighth grade and I was my rec cap in the summer between my eighth and ninth grade year. And I told my sister in law, allison, because it just it upset her and because that's her, that's her baby, you know. And Cooper, his oldest brother, he's very good at football too, just takes after my twin brother, jeff. But anyway, jake does too, and and it just it made him so upset and I said, listen, I said you're young and it could be so much worse, you know, and in those kind of moments I throughout my life, when I've seen people, especially friends, getting injured and it's devastating, I just want to say, oh, if you knew how devastating it could actually be. And I thank God that that did not happen to you.
Speaker 1:What happened to me did not happen to you. That it's just because I tore my knee up six months before my rec playing basketball and it was awful. I wouldn't even fully recovered. You know, it was just 97 was horrible year for me, but looking back, maybe it was the best year, you know, because now everything's great and I have this outlook that it's mine and I own it, you know, and so I want people to realize I do too, like now that I can like know where the storms are coming.
Speaker 2:I'm really proud of what I have. I'm proud of where I've come from. I am, I'm. I don't feel sorry for myself, I don't feel sorry for my family, um, am I still struggling, absolutely every day?
Speaker 1:but that's everybody too, you know, just in a different way and.
Speaker 2:But you know, to me, I just can't imagine where I'd be without good people, the good men that have been in my life, that have been strategically placed by the Lord at a certain time, that you, when you look back at it, you're like but what if he wouldn't have done that? Yeah, now think about that. What if he would have said I'm too tired this weekend to sponsor this per?
Speaker 3:you know, yeah, yeah, you know um when you're. I have found that you know, I just have to say yes.
Speaker 3:When God tells me to do something, you just gotta say yes. And you know a lot of times that takes, putting you know, myself on the back burner, um, and you know putting others first. But when God tells me to do something, you just gotta say yes and go for it. Yeah, and one of those things was sponsoring you, which was great, I mean. And then at the end of the day you turn around, you look at it, you get more out of it. Then you know, then you would have if you'd have gone and done something that was selfish, you know, with selfish motives um, I was on the way to work.
Speaker 1:Uh, it's been about a month ago and Noah is one of our people at work here. He, he runs food, he's we call him a bus runner, that's his title on payroll, anyway. He calls me and he, he is completely distraught and he said Miss Meredith, I don't think I can come to work today. And I said, okay, what's wrong, noah? And he said I think I just found my mom dead. Yeah, so he did. And I was like I don't know what to do right now.
Speaker 1:The the day before was a holiday, so whatever holiday that was, I couldn't do payroll. So I ran into payroll and I ran to his house. Noah is autistic and his brother has Asperger's and their mom did everything for them. His mom brought him to work. He can't, noah can't drive, he's 24. His mom brought him to work and took him home. We only worked nine to two anyway, they don't have anybody. And so Wes and I are in the process of um, just kind of getting a censorship over them and seeing if we can help in any way, try to get them moved back to Florida closer to us and it's a huge thing because Christopher's 35 and he just, you know he's, he has Asperger's and he can function, you know, but he's they've got some issues and and they don't, they don't have somebody.
Speaker 1:But I think God laid that on me that day and, and I don't know why, I was like, no, I'm coming as soon as I get payroll done, I'll be there, you know, and I didn't know anybody walking to it's, walking into his house. I didn't know Chrissy's sister. I didn't know Chrissy's friends. You know I took him to the funeral. I went and bought him funeral clothes. They didn't have funeral clothes. I didn't know that all of this stuff was going to happen, but I was like you know what? I gotta step up. And it's not for me, you know, but it's for them. They're precious boys now that I've gotten to know them and their whole family and everybody loves Noah. If you've ever been to railroad, he's our Noah, you know he's he's. He's gonna tell you stupid dad jokes and you know, he's he's, but he's awesome and anyway.
Speaker 1:So that one of those things when God just like says hey, here it is. You have to be like what? And in the back of your mind, your human mind, because one thing you can't do is control your thoughts you're like why me hold on? Yeah and there's somebody else that better. You know, I have a restaurant, I have a family, I have kids. What are you talking about? You know, but I am, I'm excited about it.
Speaker 1:And and then there's a piece yeah because, after you accept that that he chose you for it, there's a piece you know he he chose me for this injury and to share my story and to be super tough and to let it shine on other people and for other people to ask questions, and and I once I felt like it was a gift rather than yeah something bad happening to me. It is this gift that God gave me.
Speaker 2:Then life is just so much easier the cool thing about why I love my injury is because I can get with you the first time and be like I don't feel so. I know that I don't feel sorry for you for injury, injury, because I know that, um, we just want to be normal and and and. When you experience that, you're like man. That's so cool to be able to know that, um, people with injuries, I can go up to them and just not even worry about talking about what they're dealing with, just have a. Treat them like a somebody that doesn't have any, any injuries it's like you're part of the club now.
Speaker 1:I know that seems so crazy, but we talked about this last week. If somebody could just spend six months in a wheelchair, you know, like I did for two years, and I mean I'm so thankful that I'm not still in it, but I could be. And there are people that I know that are, and it's a permanent thing and they're never going to stand again and there's the people that have texted me that I that have injuries, everyone.
Speaker 2:I'm like I had no idea about this club like this, and from the, from our podcast, and I think that, um, for me, that is that is enough, like it's not about, um, how far we grow if we don't grow.
Speaker 2:This. That's not what this is. This is, um, an opportunity for us to tell people that if you've got this, you need to use it. You need to use it and you can contact us right, and we're going to be there, yeah, and and you know, and the cool thing about what I've been through, which started with guys like Will, is when I get to see a family, that I know what's going to happen the next two months. I'm able to remember what people did for me, and it does not matter if people don't show up, because I'm going, yeah, and I'm going to be there, yeah, and if it means that, whatever it takes, and I think that what's the cool thing is is that I'm what I'm locating right now are people that are just like me, that are just like you. They're just like Will, that like the Brian Gibson's yeah you know it's.
Speaker 1:There's something to doing it differently than just saying call me if you need my help remember when I was telling you that they, when I was in the hospital, they sent people in to talk to me. They sent pastors in, they brought me bibles, they did all of those things. I'm I'm a super mad, 14 year old that's, I'm mad at everything. I didn't want to hear all that, you know. But now, looking back, they just wanted me to talk to people that had similar injuries, which some of those injuries were not similar. They wanted me to play wheelchair basketball. I was like no, you don't play basketball in a wheelchair. That's ridiculous and I and I never had any part of it. But now, if someone's injured, you know, I'm like I don't know them, but if I know somebody that they know, I'm like can I? Is there any way you can put me in touch with them?
Speaker 1:Just so that I can sit down in front of them and say ask me anything, anything when it comes to, you know, losing your ability to use the bathroom on your own, you know I deal with that every day. I'm 41, you know I can tell you about all the struggles I had in college. You know, dating, all those things. Just put me in front of that person, like I want to be that person. That's like okay, I know we don't have the same exact injury, but here's what happened to me. I want to hear what happened to you, what you got.
Speaker 3:Yeah, that's great to be able to pour into others. You know that. You know what y'all are doing is just seems like it's awesome to help folks.
Speaker 2:It's to me a man you know, meredith, whatever, when Yacht, when Wes texts me, there's like hey, I really think that you should consider. You know. You know, Meredith mentioned how you weren't real sure about the direction here you're going here and he's like I think y'all have something. I was just like thank you, lord, like thanks for sending this, I mean, and, and the week this week, the week that we started this, you know, I have an awesome friend who lives. He's a retired military friend of mine and I was. We were going to do his podcast and and it just he has. We both kind of couldn't get together really, and it just was made a lot of sense to be to come do this and then, sitting in it, I was like the Lord started it right here and and and now we have a place for a podcast and this is. I would assume that this we could do it here.
Speaker 1:Well then you bring in people that that are extraordinary, extraordinary hunters, you know, and I don't know, make people feel accepted. You know what if we could reach out to other people and get, get some hunts together for people that can't go? You know, like we mentioned last week, you can't roll in grass when you're in a wheelchair. It's just hard. You can't go to the beach in a wheelchair. There's no road on the beach. You know, it's made us to push you and it's just difficult, the the acceptance for all those people to be able to be involved in all those things that your kids love to do.
Speaker 2:you know that I love to do so. We've got about, we've got about 10 minutes left in this, and so will you. You're a big public land hunter. Yeah, I love that and so let's just Matt, you just tell us, if you how, how could we set up? Could we set up better opportunities on public lands for?
Speaker 3:You know, absolutely, and the Department of Wildlife, uh, Fishers and Park and Mississippi, they do have some areas like out at Turcot, that's um, that is a um, you know, handicap area to hunt, um, you know, I've never I've hunted around it but I've never hunted in those spots.
Speaker 2:I think that what would be cool one day is that somebody could look up and say I'm not going to just go to, I don't want to just go to the handicap or the inconvenience place, so I want to be able to go to Delta National.
Speaker 2:I want to be able to go to you know um Panther Swamp, I want to go to these places because I think that's when you sit in the chair you realize, man, I can't go do that, even if I wanted to, I can't go do that, and so and it's heartbreaking to watch.
Speaker 1:You know what I'd love to see.
Speaker 2:I'd love to have a. You know, have a uh WMA. That was just built for inconvenience people. That was so amazing that people wish they could come there. Yeah, think about that.
Speaker 3:Yeah, that's a good idea. Um, like I'm thinking of that, phil Bryant WMA, that's got all. I mean it's like 40 something thousand acres or something over there. That would be a great place to do something like that.
Speaker 2:You know, um, the zoo, the per capita I've been working on, it's like built up roads all the way through it. You know my buddy, you know I lost my first. I lost my best friend to a boat and accident back in December and um, he was. We went to Forrestier School together. He was my guy that I called on any kind of work related stuff. He's real organized real good. Tell me, hey, man, don't do that, do this Um.
Speaker 2:But when I was in my chair, um, taylor and Jack came down and uh, took, and I thought that I was taking them hunting. You know they had convinced me that, yeah, we're gonna come down there and you know you can put us on a deer because that's what I do. I don't really hunt, I love to. I love to, you know, be a guy, I love to be a guy, I love to be. I mean, you know, you know calling ducks is cool. Try it when you get into the um building building a farm to where you can pull in like high altitude ducks. That is like so cool. I mean it's just, I don't have to kill them, I can. I love bringing them in, giving them what they need and they you send them out on their way, people kill them and they enjoy them, um, but it is. There's a lot there that we could do, I think.
Speaker 1:I think it'd be awesome. I wish I had all the money in the world and I could just have a inconvenienced property where you could just I'm coming, meredith, and I'm gonna, I'm gonna hunt stand 36 or whatever you know the one with the real long big bottom Okay.
Speaker 1:I got you down, you know, and then they can just pull up in their truck and however they get out, or if they walk, like me or whatever, and there's, it's accessible with rails and all those things. You know. It's just there's a huge world of normal people out there and I think that the inconvenience people, you know, we're just trying to fit in wherever we can.
Speaker 2:Yeah and yeah. What's cool is that we're trying. You know you might fit in, but it's when you go through these things, it's just your and don't get me wrong. You're a lot more mentally strong than people give you credit for and then you get. It's just, I'm not. I'm not trying to brag there, it's just like you. You know you're always having to when you wake up in the morning, you got to be mentally ready. Say, say, I want this day.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:And so that's cool to be able to.
Speaker 1:Well, the first thing I do is put my braces on to be able to walk, to be able to put two feet on the ground. You know, my feet haven't touched the ground barefoot in 26 years and and I am bragging Carter Like I come to this restaurant and I own it and I, I run that kitchen like a boss. I mean. I'm crazy, crazy, running around here all the time and my feet don't work. Nothing from my knees down works and people are like whoa, and I'm like, yeah, I did that.
Speaker 2:I've spent my life doing this for myself, you know, for just a, and you can do it too, you know for so long, for so long I was, I didn't, I didn't want to brag, I didn't want to do that, that I went so far the other way. And now I'm I agree with you. I just I'm like, really proud of what, like I'm proud of this farm. I'm proud of my buddy, Jason, telling me to stay true, stick to it. I'm making the right management decisions and then being able to I'm fixing to take my clients that have never seen it, they, they, they but be able to take them this week and say this is yours. And man, dude, there's so much food out there it is crazy.
Speaker 1:And you should be proud of your accomplishments, and you should, too, with your kids. I mean, just that's, that's awesome, that's a, that's a dad testament you know just to be raising kids that are so outdoors and love it, and I know you're so proud, yeah.
Speaker 3:Yeah, it's, it's a great thing, but you know, the most important thing, the thing that I want the most, is that they truly know God at you know, and, and I think, through the outdoors and just like the scripture that we read says that, through his invisible qualities that we see out there in creation, you know we have no excuse, and I think that's true for all of us, whether we, you know, are inconvenienced or not, you know the outdoors is going to speak to us. The same Do you think?
Speaker 2:do you think when we get to in front of the Lord, you know we go to get to see him. You think he's going to bring that up? You think that he's going to say, hey, I was all around you your entire life and you know, and there's no, you don't really have an excuse. How do you think that?
Speaker 3:Yeah, I mean I think, I think that could be what he says. I mean I hope, I hope when I get there he says you saw it, at least you know some of the time.
Speaker 2:And you do, and you know it's so critical that you keep sharing that because so people can visualize, I think, that, what you're, what you're doing, because because when you, when we watch you do it, it's contagious, it's like joy You're seeing it, you're like man. I want to laugh like that, you know. So, all right. So with the last two or three minutes, if you had to give some advice to some dads or just some men and say why is it critical? Why do you think, why do you Go? Why do you do help me get to a mess, why do you take kids to the outdoors?
Speaker 3:You know, at bottom I think it goes to to obedience. You know the Bible is filled with Instances of obedience. I mean it starts in the Garden of Eden. You know, obedience is a big deal and there's, you know, so you know.
Speaker 3:I think when God speaks, you know we have to be obedient, we should be, and and like you were talking about, you know at the other end of that, after you have been obedient, after you do go and spend time with Noah and you know, do do what you're called to do. There's a piece that you get. This just you know it's unexplainable, and so you're gonna benefit, even though at the beginning of it you think maybe it's a hardship, it's really not and you know, but my thing with my kids is take them in the outdoors. But you know that's not a one-size-fits-all thing and there's all kind of ways to have relationships with people.
Speaker 3:I Believe, you know, outdoors, being an outdoors, really is what fits me and my children and the other kids. We get involved in it. But you know there's all sorts of ways to do it with the outdoors and Seeing God's creation and giving and giving him the glory. For that I mean a lot of times. You know you can, you can mess up Everything, you can pervert anything, and some people can see the outdoors and, you know, perverted in a way that's not godly. But but anyway, down my thoughts.
Speaker 2:Railroad pizza coming back. I look, I tell you, meredith, you know what happened. Oh, there, we go back on. All right, sorry about that. Okay, going back to we. Just when do we just pick up?
Speaker 1:Well, we were talking about real building relationships with people, and I think that's a good way to end on it.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah so, yeah, we're fixing in this, but you know what I've noticed that shower power is. I'm seeing, I see those, know as, and I get to know them and I'm like you know, tell me about your family and and their parents died and they're homeless. So if you don't, if you want to know what happens to them, they end up homeless and the Lord still has a plan for them. You know, there's people that are picking those people up, but it's your, your plan, a role that has eternal value, I think, and so, anyway, but will what do you? I really appreciate you, man. Yeah, I enjoyed it.
Speaker 3:I love hanging out with Carter. Anytime I can Meredith your Pleasure to be around to very nice to you.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you too I'll have to keep watching for your record gators.
Speaker 3:There you go, you know never really was in it to catch a record gator, but you know never know what God has in store for you, carter.
Speaker 2:Yeah, hey, you're your your 14, 30 gears coming out. Yeah, that's right.
Speaker 3:Maybe next time we can talk about the, the Gator hunt. It took five and a half, six, six and a half hours to catch that alligator, but I can tell you the story in probably 30 minutes.
Speaker 2:All right, y'all y'all have a good weekend. Not sure what we got next week, but we'll be back if the Lord allows it. See y'all see you.