Bowfishing
Hey, do you know what you get when you combine fishing with archery? Yeah, a bunch of fish with holes in them! I’d never been bowfishing until the opening day of duck season in 2015. I’m not sure I’ve ever had more fun.
We were hunting on the bayou of Plaquemines Parish, which is a little south of New Orleans. Josh Galt, who owns Scale Damage Bowfishing, took us fishing that night with a compound bow that’s rigged with a special rod and reel.
As the sun was setting, we took an airboat into the marsh, and one of Josh’s deckhands turned on a big spotlight. I saw fish everywhere in the water. I shot fish with arrows and then reeled them in. We caught redfish, speckled trout, garfish, drum, and flounder. It’s one of the biggest adrenaline rushes I’ve ever experienced.
I believe that God brings people into our lives to fulfill His purpose for us. He also brings people into our lives to teach us things or to remind of us something we might have forgotten.
I think Josh Galt is one of the people God placed in my life. Josh grew up in Louisiana. His mother was a faithful Christian, and her father was a preacher. But their life was far from joyful.
Josh had a tough time growing up. His parents divorced when he was four years old, and he moved into low-income housing with his mother and older brother. After they went bowling one night, they returned to their apartment and everything was gone—even the Christmas tree.
Because of his resentment about his father’s leaving, Josh had trouble with authority. He had a short temper and often turned to fighting to solve his problems. He was kicked out of high school as a junior, and it seemed that he was headed down a tragic road.
Finally, Josh decided it was time to turn his life around. He completed his GED and enrolled at a community college to study nursing.
Josh started running airboats and guiding fishing expeditions when he was seventeen years old. He loved being on the water, and it made him realize that there was more to life than partying and being a knucklehead. Josh started his own bowfishing company and is still running it today. Now he even has his own TV show, Southern Chaos, which is broadcast on the Sportsman Channel.
When Josh was twenty-four years old, he married his longtime girlfriend, Ashton.
On December 17, 2012, Josh was on his way to brush his duck blinds when he received a telephone call from his grandfather. His mother had died. She was forty-five years old.
After his mother’s death, Josh turned to what she had always relied on—faith in Jesus Christ. Josh had peace knowing that his mother was no longer in pain and that God had welcomed her to heaven with open arms. Josh knew it’s where she needed to be.
Josh’s life and faith remind me of God’s purpose for each of our lives and the way God can redeem anyone who’s willing and bring about His good.
Jesus gave us a gift that no one can take away—His blood. It’s up to us to accept His precious gift of salvation. No matter the problems we might be dealing with or the trouble we’re facing, we have to understand that nothing is too great for the Lord to control. God is bigger than any problem we’ll face, as long as we put our trust and faith in Him.