I Call Shotgun!

By Joshua Bosveld
Growing up in Grand Rapids was never really thrilling, I never went on adventures or had

crazy experiences around my hometown. My childhood didn’t really seem to be anything special

so when it came down to writing a memoir I was lost. My life hasn't been a fascinating story,

neither has it been really an example to anyone so deciding what to write a memoir on was

difficult. It took me a while but finally I came up with something to write about.

This memoir consists of a combination of things that over my life have influenced me

greatly to become a better person than I was. I know most memoirs focus on family or a certain

character trait, but this ones different. I know that without certain people and events I would be

very different than I am today.

I have learned much through certain people and events and it stills applies to my life to

this day. Experiences shape us and so do people. I am who I am because they were who they

were and it is something worth writing about.

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The Trip of a Lifetime

The first major event in my life (that I remember of course) should have been spectacular.

The entire Spring of 2014 felt like the day before Christmas for 12 year old me. The reason? My

family was going to Australia in the summer!

For the first time in my life, I was going to meet my cousins.I walked off the plane and

was left speechless. There I stood, halfway around the world, almost as far from home as I could

get, and I was disappointed because it wasn't exactly what I expected. For some reason I

expected to see beautiful, cool towns and awesome scenery. After stepping off the plane all I saw

was brown fields, a boring airport and nothing worth really mentioning.

It's pathetic, I know. It makes me sound like a spoiled brat, not many people get to do

what I was doing, but I decided I would rather spend time playing computer games than meeting

people and enjoying God’s beautiful creation.

Three weeks went by, and it was time to pack up and head home, as we headed to the

airport I thought, ​Josh, what was your favorite moment of the trip?​ and to be completely honest, I

didn't have a favorite part, I hardly remembered any of it.

Life always has a way of giving you reality checks and this is one of the harshest ones

I've ever received. About a year after my first trip, we were told my Grandma had Parkinsons

and that my grandpa had a heart attack and needed a pacemaker. This meant both of them would

be unable to travel to the U.S and I might possibly never see them face to face again.

Thankfully, God graciously saw fit to allow me to go back two more times and each time

I made an effort to appreciate even the smallest of things. We never know if we will see someone

again or if they will be in our lives much longer. I needed to learn to appreciate my blessings and

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instead of just giving that ability to me, God gave me a chance to see what I was missing and to

become better because of it.

Looking back, I know I was disappointed when we landed and to this day I'm

embarrassed of that. However, there is no doubt in my mind that if I had never visited Australia,

I would be different than I am today. I have learned to appreciate the time spent with someone

even if you aren't doing what you like.

Through the people I've met and the friends I’ve made, I have been taught a lot. First of

all, never judge a book by its cover. Everyone is aware that I'm not too clever with words so I'll

use a clich​é without feeling bad. Some of the coolest and funnest people I've met were in

Australia and at first I would have written them off as boring and weird until I really got to know

them.

Secondly, if given the chance to do something different, enjoy it and make it memorable.

I didn’t and I regret it, I've learned to appreciate the little things even when the big picture

doesn’t go how we imagine.

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A Change for the Better

My body shook and my hands trembled. My smile was a country mile wide and the

epitome of happiness. I was about 14 years old and the happiest kid on planet earth. I had

received my first gun. Not only had I received it, but I'd won it and it was all mine.

This event would mark a major milestone in my life, one that I can see as the beginning

of a major change. Getting a gun in the Bosveld house has always been a big deal. Every kid got

one for a birthday somewhere along the line, but I cheated; I got mine early and not even as a

gift. I, being like the average person with a new toy, wanted to use it immediately.

I learned to oil it, clean it, and be safe with it. Before long, videogames and legos became

a thing of the past. Soon enough, I grew to love the outdoors; God’s creation was beautiful and

awesome. Before I knew it, I was taking my shiny new gun clay shooting and then duck and

goose hunting. As a hunter, I will say there is nothing I have ever experienced as amazing and

breathtaking as a morning hunt. The sun reflects off the waters and lights up gorgeous ducks

flying past faster than you can blink.

This little gun changed me from a videogamer to a kid that loves the outdoors and would

prefer to spend every waking moment in them. It made me spend time outside and see God’s

creation like I’d never experienced before. It was such a little thing and could well have been just

another blip in my life and yet it made me look around and realize how much there is to life.

Often in our lives, it’s little things like this that make us who we are. We have to

appreciate and remember those memories because they will shape us. I still have that gun and I

will keep it as long as I can because it is very much a part of who I am. It is by no means the best

gun I've ever seen nor the prettiest, but I'm happy with who it made me.

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I don’t want to leave the impression that I am anti-video games or that you have to go

outside in order to have a good childhood. I will say this though, going outside is beneficial

physically, but mostly spiritually. We aren’t called by God to spend our time playing games

created by man for our own personal entertainment and for a while that was almost all I ever did.

God's creation is the second method he uses to show himself to us and there is great

benefit in spending time in it and appreciating it. God uses special means to get us to spend time

in that creation and in my case it was in the form of a gun.

I have benefited greatly from spending time within God’s creation and it has brought me

closer to Him; so much so that when I am feeling down or upset all it takes is to spend some time

in the great outdoors and it cheers me up and brings me back to Him.

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The Greatest Man I’ve Ever Known

As I rode in the white truck, barely being able to hear myself think, questions poured out

of my mouth one after the other. What does this sign mean? Why does that truck look like that?

Why does this truck move? My dad would calmly answer each of my questions, only prompting

more questions from me. Many times throughout my life, especially during my younger years, I

would go on long road trips with my dad to pick up heavy machinery from one job and move it

to another. This was just one of the many ways that my dad would spend time with his kids.

Unlike most parents, he expressed his desire to be with his kids by taking us with him to

do things. He never really played board games or played sports with us. Rather, he would take us

to work or take us on road trips.

He showed his kids a language of love that not many people experience. Too a young kid

he knew everything and was able to answer any question. Often, to my younger self, he seemed

to have all the answers and no matter what it was that I wanted to know he could give me an

answer, whether it was just common sense knowledge, spiritual knowledge, or intellectual

knowledge.

Throughout my life, he has been an example to me of someone who perseveres and does

not let anything get him down. He taught me to work hard in order to get what you want, don’t

ever expect anything to be handed to you. More than once he has given me fantastic life advice,

really making me who I am to this day.

I remember vividly in sixth grade seeing him come home after watching his shop burn

down and sitting at the dinner table with us and laughing and joking for our sake. He had just

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watched every dream he had get destroyed, and yet, he cared for his family enough to put on a

brave face and joke with us. At the time, I didn’t fully understand the magnitude of what had

happened; it was only in later years that I really understood and appreciated his reaction. He

taught by example that if you want something you have to work for it.

After moving with nothing from the opposite side of the world, he put himself to work

and made a life here. More than once he has almost lost everything, first in a fire, then in

lawsuits over a dead employee, and yet he led a life of example. He taught me hard work and

faith, he taught me that in every part of my life God must be the center of my life. He showed

that in tough times you don’t get mad, you don’t throw a fit and blame God, and especially, you

don’t quit.

He’s gone through a lot in his life whether its struggles in his business, in his personal

life, or in the church, and he has taught me never to give up but rather when you’re struggling to

look to God and to get strength from him. After moving here and joining the P.R. Churches, he

grew to love them deeply. It was the purest form of the preaching he had heard and the

fellowship was how it should be. Even after some of that took a change for the worse he chose to

stick it out. When things didn’t go his way he let me see in his own example that you have to

stick it out and trust God to find the right way.

He taught me what true perseverance and faith were and how to hold onto those things in

my own life. He has stood up for his faith even after having switched from Presbyterianism to

Protestant Reformed and he has shown me that you have to stand for something. If you never

stand for something then you will fall for anything.

His philosophy has always been to stand up for what you believe, especially your

religion. He taught me never to back down if you’re in the right and if you work hard then you

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can achieve your dreams. I learned from his example to work hard and hold to your Faith even

when it's put to the test and it is something that I’ve held to my entire life.

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Through all of these major parts of my life I have been made a better person. There is no

doubt that without everything that’s happened in my life I would be nothing close to the person I

am. It’s funny to look back and see how the littlest things change you and really shape you. At

the moment it can be very difficult to do God's guiding hand and it’s too easy to brush it off as

just one more irrelevant moment in our lives.

I have learned from all of these things to appreciate the little things in life. I’ve learned that

even if vacation isn’t what you expect to always make the best out of it,i know now to never let

my expectations make reality feel worse. I’ve been taught that just reviewing one gift can change

who you are entirely. It can flip your little world on its head and before you know it you aren’t

the person you used to be.Finally, I’ve learned to appreciate the people in our lives who take care

of us. We need role models in our lives and sometimes we choose a role model without even

realizing it. I’ve learned to choose good models and to use their actions to help shape my life.

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About the Author

Joshua Bosveld currently lives happily on the outskirts of Grand Rapids Michigan. He

lives there with his family and two siblings as well as their dearly beloved German Shepherd.

His favorite pastimes include shooting guns, hunting, and working on his truck. He is currently

employed at Bosveld Builder Inc.

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