Watch Your Back

I heard a story on the news a few years back of a hunter who had been killed by a mountain lion.

Some other hunters found his body. Half his back eaten away. His rifle still slung on his shoulder. The lion had apparently stalked him.

He never saw the attack coming.

I am convinced that had that man been hunting with a buddy, he would still be alive today.

On some of my favorite rivers, I have felt that sixth sense several times, that something was watching me. And I looked around and never saw anything there. 

But I knew there was something.

Have you ever felt that sense? That you were being watched? Even stalked?

I enjoy fishing alone sometimes. I relish the solitude. And on these times I fish alone, I always am extra careful to watch my back. But I enjoy fishing with a close friend as much or more than I do alone. And we always watch each others backs.

Life should be like that.

You gotta watch your back in this world. There are some crazy mixed up people out there. And it is best to have close friends around us who will consistently be in the "foxhole of life" with us; friends who have our six.

I know that if my close friends were at the mall and saw some guy trying to mess with my wife, they would pounce on that situation like stink on you know what, and put an end to that nonsense. They'd send that Loser packing! And I would do the same for them. I would protect their kids just like I know they would protect mine. 

Many guys try to Lone Ranger it, go it alone, be tough guys. But there is great comfort and joy being with a Band of Brothers who you know will always be there for you. 

Even Lone Ranger had a Tonto.

At a men's retreat in the Idaho mountains a few years back, I met a young marine who had just finished a tour in Falluja in the middle east. With tears in his eyes, he told us how he had watched two of his buddies get killed, one by gunshot, and the other by stepping on an I.E.D. He said that he and his Band of Brothers had a super-tight camaraderie with each other. They would literally take a bullet or fall on an I.E.D. for one another. 

And that's how it should be in life.

My close friends know that I would literally take a bullet for them. And they would do the same for me. And my life is enriched and better for having friends like this. Men of real integrity and caliber.

These are true friends who stick closer than a brother.

And these are the men who I like to walk the banks of a favorite river, or hike a ridge or canyon with. These are the friends who will likely one day carry my casket when I step into the next life...

—At The End of My Line.