Kurt Clark, 16, of Ramona, S.D., is a consummate outdoorsman. He’s hunted and hiked all over the woods near his home. He’s seen elk, coyotes and lots of other wildlife, but never a mountain lion—until April 23, 2006.
That evening, Kurt was home alone playing in the yard with his yellow Labrador retriever, Bo, when he saw a mountain lion stalking the edge of their property. He dashed into the house and grabbed his rifle. “We raise pigs, so I knew I had to protect them,” he says.
Kurt fired a warning shot, hoping to scare the 100-pound cat away, then searched the property.
“It was still light out, but I couldn’t see the cat anywhere,” he says. He gave up, deciding he’d scared it off—and turned to find the cat behind him. “It hissed and pounced right on my chest,” he says.
Kurt fell flat on his back; the blow knocked his rifle away. The mountain lion crouched as if to leap again. Kurt breathed a silent prayer: God, please protect me.
Suddenly Bo charged at the mountain lion, barking and chasing it away. “What was really weird is that Bo was always afraid of everything,” Kurt says.
What’s even weirder is that Kurt’s T-shirt was shredded, yet he didn’t have a scratch.
“It was almost like God put a shield over me. I can’t explain it, but it had to be kind of what Daniel went through in the lion’s den,” he says.
Today Kurt lives out his faith and tries not to take anything for granted.
“I used to think I could take care of myself,” he says, “but now I know it’s God who has my back. That’s why I want to go into the Marines: With God’s help I can protect others.” 
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