It was a chilly, windy, cloudy, December day in Kansas when I decided that I needed to get out of the farmhouse. I hiked through the pasture, around a farm pond, and started walking along a fence back toward the farmhouse. My wife’s stepfather (Harold) had really strong tightly wired fences, and this fence transitioned into a hedge row of Osage orange trees, which made the barbed wire even tighter, with especially small openings between the strands of barbed wire.
I reached a patch of tall dead sunflower stalks that were mixed in with a variety of other tall plants, (i.e., weeds). I walked to the right of this patch of tall dead plants that extended out about 50 yards from the fence. As I walked around the patch of tall weeds and headed back toward the fence, I saw what appeared to be a deer buck at the fence looking directly toward me. However, there was something wrong. I was confused by its appearance.
As I walked directly toward the buck, I began to realize that the buck’s antlers were stuck in the small openings of the tight fence wire strung through the hedge trees. As I walked closer, I could see that the buck was motionless, hanging limp on the other side of the fence with only its antlers holding it up. Still closer, it became obvious that the buck was dead. Its open eyes looking directly toward me were glazed over in a death stare.
I continued my hike along the fence walking away from the buck. I was thinking what a sad and gruesome sight it was, and how that buck must have suffered for hours or days before dying. As I continued walking a short distance, something began to draw me back to that buck. I’m not sure what it was. Perhaps it was curiosity. I remember thinking as to whether the buck been wounded and whether that somehow caused it to get caught in the fence.
I crossed over to the other side of the fence and walked back to the buck, but this time I was on its back side. I looked carefully at the buck just a few feet away, and I could not see any evidence that it had been wounded. However, I noticed that its right ear moved a little, which I quickly concluded was caused by the strong wind. I moved one or two steps closer to the buck.
Suddenly, to my absolute surprise and shock, that buck came to life pushing forward with all its strength to escape from me! The fence hardly flexed, and after just a few unsuccessful pushes the buck gave up, completely exhausted and weakened from similar previous efforts. The buck looked at me from the corner of its right eye in fear.
I was still in shock, as I stood in disbelief as to what had just occurred. I could not believe that my initial conclusion that the buck was dead was so grossly incorrect. At the same time, I realized that I had a dilemma. I couldn’t walk away leaving the buck to continue suffering until it died. Should I get my rifle and put it out of its misery? Should I call a game warden, who might not come for hours? As I was pondering these options, I had another thought.
I climbed back over the fence to the same side that I was on when I first saw the buck. I went around that same patch of weeks and walked directly toward the buck, who was looking at me. However, this time the buck instinctively attempted to move backward. After pulling on its antlers a couple of times, it was able to break free from the fence! It immediately ran several yards away, but in its weakened condition, it did not run very far. I watched it for a few minutes until I was convinced that it would be okay.
As I walked away, I was pleased with myself. I had saved a buck’s life! I decided that when I told this story to others, I would name the deer The Lazarus Buck.
My thoughts then turned to some faith and life lessons from this event, and over the years, those thoughts have expanded. I have wondered if this was God’s way, through nature, of leading me in my faith. I have placed those faith lessons into two categories.
First, the buck nearly died because it kept pushing forward on the fence without trying any other options, such as pulling back from the fence. It is so important in our faith to not get so set in our thinking that we aren’t willing to consider some changes in our beliefs and way of thinking. We need to be open to new faith ideas, to be willing to consider and accept different ideas as to how God wants us to live, and to broaden our acceptance of others that have different faith and morality beliefs.
Secondly, my role in saving the buck’s life was a faith lesson on how I could, and should, make a greater effort to help others in their times of need. Sometimes situations can unexpectedly develop where we can help others in life and faith. We need to be ready to recognize such opportunities and be willing to help others through words or actions. At the same time, we need to be open to accepting help from others. It isn’t a sign of weakness to accept help, or constructive criticism. Sometimes, we don’t recognize how others can help us in our lives and in
Loren Polak
August 2023
We hope you are inspired, not only by the faith we express, but by the
challenge to write your own faith story. We are re-posting the stories from last summer hoping you will be inspired to share your faith story with us.
If you write a faith story you would like to share with the congregation, send
it to Bill Tucker for feedback and publication. Only with your permission, we
will publish it on the St. Mark Blog.
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