Rev. Ethan Brown, Pastor and Minister of Care & Discipleship

We were told there were bears in Black Mountain. The signs were everywhere: "Caution, Bear Territory;" or "Nature Area—Bear Habitat;" or my favorite: "Bears live here. Use Common Sense." We were even shown a video of a bear at night wandering through the area in which we would be staying. There is a difference, however, in knowing that bears live in an area and personally encountering a bear. Our first encounter with a black bear occurred as we were winding our way down from Mount Mitchell on...