Before I left for the American Bass Anglers Military Championship on Lake Hartwell, I was packing my bags and the challenge coin pictured below fell out of the pocket of a folded pair of shorts in the closet. I had bought 10 of the coins a few years back to give to some of my friends. The inscription on the coin is scripture from the Book of Ephesians in the Bible. I told Lisa about it and showed her the coin that was tucked away in the closet for months. I have no idea how the coin got there but I felt a strong desire to put it in my pocket and do some praying for our trip. I prayed for our safety, strength, patience and as far as the fishing went, I said that if it was his will to provide the fish, it was my will to give him the glory. I carried that coin for the next 5 days and I gotta thank the good Lord for the armor, the fish and the hardware! On the 5th day and the last day of the tournament we caught exactly 5 fish early and never caught another bass all day. It’s the 5 fish that we needed for a second-place finish in a 90-boat field, and the good Lord knows that we battled some adversities for that finish. It was such an awesome feeling on the final day.

Speaking of hardware, it was around 15 years back when a good friend from the Navy and I cruised over to Lake Hartwell pulling my center console for a big striper tournament and we took home some hardware for another species of fish. The trophy and picture sit in my man cave and sometimes you can see the picture in our podcast. My dad gave me that picture years ago. I had given him a smaller picture and he had it enlarged and eventually gave it back to me. That makes this trip extra special.