Rocky McElveen with his wife, Sharon, are owners of Alaskan-Adventures. Rocky, the son of an Alaskan missionary and a seminary graduate, was raised in Alaska and knows Alaska's charm and challenges better than anyone. For twenty years he has been a professional guide in that state. His knowledge of the primitive frontier along with his warm, hospitable manner adds an unprecedented dimension to his credentials as a master fishing and registered hunting guide. He is esteemed as friend by many who have been under his guide: President George Bush, Sr.; General Charles E. "Chuck" Yeager; Major League Baseball player Dave Dravecky; Bob Seiple, president of World Vision; Pastor Chuck Swindoll; and Oakland A's pitcher Mike Moore, to only name a few. I stood in the back of the boat, paralyzed by fear. My terrified partner was huddled in the bow, which was inexplicably lodged against the riverbank. Mere feet away, towering above us, was a huge, roaring, nine-foot grizzly bear. He stood on his hind legs, massive arms swinging back and forth, foaming at the mouth, nostrils flaring, eyes blazing, and ebony-sharp teeth gleaming in the early morning light. Water from his recent swim dripped from long, sharp claws. I hoped my blood would not soon be dripping from them,   It had taken only moments for us to drift from the comparative safety of the river into a death trap. Silently I prayed for mercy, knowing that the next few seconds would determine whether we would suffer a painful, cruel death by mauling, or somehow be spared. The choice was not mine to make. It was up to this beautiful, powerful, angry beast-and God. [Read More] My mother was known by her friends as a "fishing and hunting widow." That's because my missionary/pastor father loved to hunt and fish in the Deep South, where we lived. Mom had rarely been out of the Deep South-rarely out of Mississippi, for that matter. So when Dad announced that he had experienced "God's call" to Alaska-and that he was taking her, his three sons, and his toddler daughter to live there-she just stared at him, wide-eyed. [Read More]