Don't Step on the Alligator

I am a native "Texan" and love to visit the great outdoors in Texas. Fortunately, I live in a state that has over 130 parks spread across the great state. I recently made a visit to the Brazos Bend State Park, near Houston, Texas. The park is a diverse combination of wetlands, marshes, lakes, prairies, and live oak forests. I took over 700 photographs during my visit! This park is a nature preserve with over 300 species of birds and animals, and is home to over 1000 American alligators! I don't recommend taking your pets with you to this park. This is not a park for the squeamish. I was only five or ten minutes into my hike when I spotted what looked like a couple of logs on the side of the trail. As I got closer I could see that it was actually a couple of alligators lounging at the edge of the trail.

I quickly realized that I should have read the warning sign at the start of the trail. Fortunately I had taken a picture of the sign. I quickly went back through the pictures on my digital camera and read the "rules of engagement" for alligators! The rules stated that you need to stay at least 30 feet from any alligator, or risk getting attacked! Great advice, but it's kind of difficult to stay 30 foot away from the alligator that is at the edge of a 6 foot wide trail, with a swamp on one side and a lake on the other side! I looked around for a big stick but there were none to be found (I'm sure that all the sticks had already been picked up by other cautious hikers)! I took a deep breath and started walking slowly, on the opposite side of the trail. I wanted to stay as far away from the alligators as I could, however I didn't want to get too close to the marsh on the other side of the trail. The alligators remained motionless although their eyes were open and seemed to follow me as I quietly walked by. These two alligators were only the first of hundreds of alligators that I saw during my three hour hike. It was like one of the kids puzzles where you try to see if you can spot all the animals in a photo. You could stop at almost any place on the trail and pick out six or seven alligators sunning on the bank or camouflaged by the green algae floating in the water.

I almost stepped on the biggest alligator that I saw during my hike. I was walking quietly trying to get closer to a Snowy Egret. The egret kept moving along the edge of a slough searching for its next meal. Occasionally I would glance at the ground to see where I was walking. I guess I was focused too intently on getting a picture of the Egret, because the next time I looked down at the ground I realized that I had walked within a couple feet of the biggest alligator I had seen that day! I immediately froze as my eyes met his. He was staring at me, probably just daring me to take another step. I slowly backed up and out of his "personal space". I decided that I needed to maintain a more frequent monitoring of the big picture if I was to exit the park safely!

In life's journey we sometime have too narrow of a focus. We only seeing the trials and problems at hand. We fail to keep the "big picture" of life in focus, just as I was too focused on getting a picture of the Snowy Egret and failed to see the alligator in my path. It's our human nature to dwell on the negative things. It's also easy to get overwhelmed by these negative thoughts.

The prophet Elisha's servant was very disturbed one morning when he woke up and saw that their city was surrounded by the Syrian horseman and chariots. The servant was so focused on the Syrian army that he did not see God's horses and chariots of fire on the mountains behind the Syrians. It wasn't until Elisha prayed for him, that he was able to see the "big picture", including God's army.

So, the next time you feel overwhelmed by life's trials and problems, just take a time out and try to look at the big picture. Think about where God has brought you from and where he has promised to take you too.

In Philippians 4:8 Paul admonishes us to think upon things that are: "true, honest, just, pure, lovely, and of good report. He further tells us that when we think of these thing, that the God of peace will be with you!

An Uncertain Sound

I decided to go for a walk in the woods behind my house. After a short walk, I ended up climbing up in the old tree house that is overlooking the creek. It was a beautiful fall afternoon with a gentle south breeze blowing. I started thinking about the varied sounds that I was hearing in the woods. The wind was rustling the leaves on the ground. Acorns were dropping onto the ground every few seconds. Occasionally I would hear the creaking sound of two tree limbs running against each other.


The woods produce a great variety of sounds. These sounds are strange and sometimes disturbing to the untrained ear. Many times, while deer hunting, I would hear what I thought was a deer walking through the woods, only to find out that it was an armadillo rooting around in the leaves. During an ice storm I keep hearing what sounded like gun shots in the woods behind my house. On later investigation I discovered that the noise was coming from trees that were breaking under the weight of their ice laden limbs.

The night time brings even more uncertain and sometimes frightening sounds. The eastern screech owl has a call that sounds just like a woman screaming! When a group of coyotes gather in the woods behind my house and start yelping, it makes the hair stand up on the back of your neck! I even had some new neighbors who called 911 when they first heard the coyotes!

My first night in the Amazon jungle was one that I will never forget. I was staying in a thatched roofed bamboo hut that was about 10 foot above the ground on stilts. The hut was directly under some type of fruit tree. All night long I heard the continual sounds of the tree's berries dropping on the hut's thatched roof, rolling down to the edge of the roof, and then after a second or so, the sound of them splattering on the ground. None of the jungle's night creature sounds were familiar to me. I wasn't sure if the sounds were coming from crickets, frogs, birds, or whatever! It seemed like hours had passed by before I finally drifted off to sleep.

In Bible time the sound of the trumpet was used to direct soldiers during a battle. The soldier's ears had to be trained to hear and interpret the sounds of the trumpet. I Corinthians 14:8 says "if the trumpet gives an uncertain sound, who shall prepare himself to the battle?" The watchmen on the walls of the Bible time cities also used a trumpet to warn the people of impending danger.

There is another trumpet sound, talked about in the Bible, that nobody wants to miss! I Thessalonians 4:16 tells us that a trumpet sound will signal the second coming of Christ and that we will all rise to meet Jesus in the air! So don't be too disturbed by the various "uncertain sounds" of the woods but be on guard for that great and last trumpet call of Jesus!

Be On Guard

Members of the animal kingdom are continually on guard for their lives. Most of the members spend their entire existence running for their lives. Take a walk anywhere in the outdoors. As you walk along the path you are continually hearing a rustling in the weeds or a sound of flapping wing in the air, as the small animals scurry to get away from you. Larger animals detect you from a distance and sometimes disappear before you even get close to them. Animals use their various senses to detect the presence of their enemies.

Can you imagine living where you are continually on the run for your life? This is what the animal kingdom is all about. It is survival of the fittest. Almost every creature in the outdoors have some predator that they must continually be on guard against. Small bugs and insects are eaten by bigger insects. Big insects are eaten by small birds and mammals. The small birds and mammals are in turn eaten by raptors and larger mammals such as foxes and coyotes. The foxes and coyotes are continually running from humans. The same cycle occurs in the ocean with the various types and sizes of fish, mammals, and reptiles.

There are only a few species of animals that enjoy life without having to be on guard continually. The lion is considered to be the king of the jungle and one who is not afraid of any other animal but, when the lion gets old he is usually challenged and driven off by a younger and stronger male lion.

Fortunately the various members of the animal kingdom are given unique abilities that aid them in guarding their lives. If you observe a group of deer feeding in the woods, there is always at least one of the deer that is scanning the area for predators while the others are eating. Upon seeing, hearing, or smelling something that is not normal, the deer will stomp their front feet or snort loudly to warn the other deer of the impending danger. Squirrels seem to run about aimlessly but at the first sign of danger they will start barking loudly to warn their fellow species of some danger.

Sometimes there are multiple levels of danger that an animal must deal with. Recently I was walking down a trail in the woods. I spotted a deer coming down the trail from the opposite direction. The deer spotted me at about the same time and turned around and started a hasty retreat; however just before it got out of sight it turned back around and started running directly back toward me. The deer almost ran over me as it ran past me. I was bewildered by the deer's action until I saw a coyote chasing the deer! Evidently the deer felt that I was the lesser of the evils and decided to ignore me as it ran from the coyote!

In most communities of the world, humans do not share the animal kingdom's need to "be on guard continually", to survive. However Christians are taught to be continually on guard against the forces of evil. If you only go to church several time a year and rarely pray to God, you have nothing to worry about. Satan has you just where he likes you to be and will not disturb you at all. For those Christians who are living for God, attending church regularly, and praying to God on a daily basis, you must be on guard against Satan for spiritual survival.

The Bible has many scriptures that warn us to be on guard against the working of Satan. Luke 12:33 warns us to "watch out and be on guard against all kinds of greed" that can destroy our lives. In Acts 20:31 Paul warns us to "be on your guard" against people who will try to distort the truth. Again in I Corinthians 16:13 Paul warns us to "be on your guard; stand firm in the faith; be men of courage; be strong; and do everything in love".

Just as members of the animal kingdom stay on guard and warn their fellow species of impending danger, we as Christians are also instructed to warn our fellow Christians of various dangers. Paul tells us in 2 Thessalonians 3:15 "if anyone does not obey our instructions... warn him as a brother". We need the support of our Christian brothers and sisters. Working together we can defeat the wiles of Satan and live an overcoming life for God!

Rescue From Hopelessness

    Fall has returned to Central Texas! The leaves are starting to fall. Our second cool front of the fall is due this weekend. As I was walking by my pool yesterday, I noticed a slight movement in the water. There were some leaves and debris floating in the water but upon close examination, I discovered a small, inch long, gecko swimming in the water. The gecko was definitely in a hopeless situation with no way out. I grabbed a net and gently lifted him from the water, rescuing him from certain death. He quickly scampered off into the bushes.
    Later in the day I was sitting in my den when I heard a loud thud from the window and then an immediate second thud. I looked out the window and saw that two hummingbirds had evidently flown into the window glass, and were now laying injured on the deck. One was laying motionless on its side.

The other was upside down and would give a spasmodic kick every 3-4 seconds. I expected the second bird to die after a few seconds, but it was still kicking several minutes later. I went outside to see if I could help the injured bird. I gently turned it right side up and to my amazement it seemed to gain its composure. It looked around for a few seconds and the flew off in a slow wobbly flight, to the safety of a nearby tree. I was happy to rescue the small hummingbird from its dire situation. To my surprise the first motionless bird righted itself and also flew away after another five minutes. I felt like I had done my good deed for nature, rescuing both the gecko and the hummingbird.

     There are times in our lives that we encounter the seemingly hopeless or impossible situations, just as the gecko and hummingbird. Fortunately, we have someone we can always call upon. Colossians 1:13 tells us that God rescues us from the dominion of darkness and Proverbs says that God rescues the righteous man from trouble.
    Daniel experienced several seemingly hopeless situations. In the first, the king of Babylon was upset that none of his wise me could tell and interpret the dream that he had, so the king issued a decree to have all his wise me executed, including Daniel. When Daniel hear of the decree he got together with his friends and prayed to God. God heard their prayers, and revealed the dream and its interpretation to Daniel, saving Daniel and all the wise men of Babylon. Some time later, evil people conspired against Daniel to get him thrown into the den of lions, but once again God intervened and kept Daniel from getting eaten by the lions.
     In II Peter 2:9 Peter tells us that the Lord knows how to rescue Godly me from trials, so the next time you are flat on your back and can't get up, or perhaps you have just been thrown in a "den of lions", just remember, there is nothing impossible with our great big God!

A Quick Escape

    Summer has arrived in central Texas! It is hot and really dry!  I was out early this morning at the break of dawn, for my morning walk in the woods, trying to stay ahead of the heat. It was to no avail; within ten minutes I was wet with sweat. I don’t mind the sweat too much but I do not like the biting horse flies that are attracted to my sweat in this very dry weather. I usually walk with a walking stick in one hand and a fly swatter limb in the other hand! Thankfully I usually hear their buzzing and scare them off before they start biting on me. At one point on the trail today, I heard a lot of buzzing and started looking around for the horse flies.  I then decided that it must be flies swarming around something dead on the ground. I started looking around to find the source of the buzzing. As I was walking the sound was getting louder and louder. I finally detected the source of the noise, after looking up in a large oak tree. There was a big hole about ten feet up the side of the tree. There must have been a hundred bees surrounding the hole and they seemed to be very agitated.

  By then I was only a couple of feet away from the tree and they appeared ready to attack!  I quickly took a couple of steps backwards and then turned and took off running, not stopping until I was a long ways away! Having already had several run-ins with bees, I was not going to give them a chance to attack first. A couple of years ago I was clearing out a new trail in the woods when I noticed something buzzing around me. No realizing the danger I kept on hacking at the brush with my machete. Too late, I saw the swarm of bees roaring out of a hole in the ground and swarming around me.  I took off running at full speed and ran for at least a hundred yards, until the buzzing stopped! Then I started pulling the bees off my body. I had been stung multiple times. It was an experience that I did not want to repeat. I found a new route for the trail, giving the bees plenty of space. 

     The Bible contains many scripture where we are instructed to turn away from various situations or temptations; and then there are scriptures that instruct us to flee, or run away quickly, from something of danger or evil! As Christians, we need to pay special attention to the things that the Bible tells us to flee from! These are things that can overwhelm us as quickly as a swarm of bees, if we are not alert!

    In I Corinthians 6:18, Paul tells us to flee fornication or sexual impurity. In I Corinthians 10:14, Paul instructs us to flee from idolatry, or as the Amplified Bible translation put it: flee from “loving or venerating anything more than God”. In I Timothy 6, Paul talks of the “love of money” and tells us again to flee from these things. It’s ok to want to be successful, but some people have such a strong craving for riches that it causes them to lose their Christian faith. So the next time you are faced with one of these temptations, just remember, don’t walk but run in the opposite direction until the “buzzing” stops!

The Spider’s Strength

     I was eating breakfast a couple of mornings ago, when I noticed something crawling on the table, or so I thought. I was sitting at a glass table so I wasn’t exactly sure where the “crawling creature” was. I first thought that the creature was under the table, but finally discovered that I was seeing the reflection of a spider who was building a web just a couple of inches outside the nearby window. Realizing that this was the perfect situation for photographing the spider up close, I got my camera and started snapping pictures. It was fascinating to watch the tiny spider engineer its web. It has already setup the “spokes” for its web and was now laying down the circular spirals. Looking through my zoom lens I could actually see the spider using one of its eight legs to attach the silk thread to each spoke, as it circled the web in smaller and smaller circles. The spider seemed to be working at a feverish pace, and within a couple of minutes had completed the web. The spider was quickly rewarded for its effort when a small bug flew into the web. The spider quickly ran over to the bug, encircled it with more of its silk, and started to feast!

     This morning I went outside to get some birdseed out of a container. I noticed another spider that had build a web connected to the birdseed container. As I walked up the scared spider abandoned his web and made an almost immediate decent to the ground, three foot below. I moved my foot close to where it landed and it made an unbelievable rapid climb, back up its silk thread to its web! With a little prodding, the spider made the descent and ascent trip, several more times. I was amazed at the strength of this little creature!

      I found it really fascinating watching these two spiders perform their awesome feats. The spiders were only about a half inch across, but were very strong for their size. The first spider’s web was almost two foot across, or 50 times bigger than the spider. It is surprising that the spider could contain enough silk thread material in its body to build a complete web that is much larger that its body. Who teaches the spider how to build a web? How can they build such a perfect circular web, in a flat plane, without anyone else helping them? The second spider climbed to a level that was over 150 times it own height in just a second or two! That is equivalent to a man climbing an 80 story building, in a couple of seconds!

     Spiders have amazing mental and physical abilities for their small size. The Bible contains only a couple of references to spiders, but says that they are little but are exceeding wise (Proverbs 30). Sometimes we as humans think that we are so weak and unimportant that we will never accomplish anything. Those that think that way need to take a lesson from the small spider. Despite its small size it is able to accomplish remarkable feats. Proverbs 30 also says that the spider inhabits the kings’ palaces. So, learn a lesson from the small spider and realize that, no mater how small or insignificant you may be, you can still achieve great and awesome feats for God!

Responding to a Crisis

    A couple of years ago, my son and I decided to expand our horizons to the underwater world and we signed up for scuba diving lessons. We took the classes and did our initial dives in near by Lake Travis. I was a bit apprehensive, depending on all this new “gear” for survival, but I made it through the class. For our first real dive, we scheduled a trip to Belize, to visit the world’s second largest barrier reef. Our first dive had an exciting start; with ten foot swells at our launch site. It was a bit difficult, putting on our diving gear, but it was peaceful, once we entered the water. We went down 70-80 feet to an area with beautiful coral formations and large groups of fish.  The underwater videos that people take are great, but they are nothing compared to actually experiencing the underwater in person! My son’s weight belt came loose, but fortunately he was able to quickly retrieve it before it sunk to the bottom.  I think my nervousness combined with my heavy breathing resulted in me being the first to run low on air. I signaled to the dive master that I was down to the 600 pounds of air limit and he instructed me to go back to the surface. I slowly made my way back to the surface, to insure that I didn’t get the “bends”. Once at the surface I was again met by the ten foot swells. Our dive boat was nowhere to be seen!  I could only get a view across the water, once every 8-10 seconds, when I was at the top of a swell. I finally was able to locate our boat which had drifted some distance away. I started a futile effort to swim to the boat. Thankfully the boat spotted me and motored over and picked me up. The others started coming up after a few more minutes, although the rocking boat combined with our exhaustion from the dive resulted in most of us getting sea sick.

     Our dive the next day was to a much calmer area with very small swells, although we were warned that the currents were very strong. The area was beautiful with new fish and coral formations that were totally different from our first dive. We started the dive, swimming with the current and then later turned around and started swimming back, against the strong current. Towards the end the current seemed to get stronger, although it was probably me just getting tired. At times it seemed that I was not making any progress against the strong current!  Once again I was the first to start running out of air. I signaled my dive master that I was down to the 600 pounds of air limit and he motioned me to just continue with the group. After getting down to 400 pounds I was starting to get a bit nervous and again signaled the dive master. He again motioned me to continue with the group.  I was starting to wonder if he was just going to let me run out of air! With the combination of my exhaustion and my fear, I was quickly down to 200 pounds of air! I was really starting to worry now! I again signaled the dive master and was greatly relieved when he motioned to me to take his spare regulator and breathe from his tank, ending my crisis. After getting back on the dive boat I was relating the difficulty of swimming against the current and my son started laughing. When I asked him why he was laughing, he told me that he had gotten tired of swimming against the current and held on to my air tank and let me pull him along! Then I understood why I was having such a difficult time swimming against the current! We later took a night dive and were again met by a totally different collection of fish, including lobsters and squid. The under water beauty of the ocean far outweighed my apprehension and fears. I hope to return their some day.

     God’s timing is rarely aligned with our personal sense of timing. God speaks to us and tells us that he will take care of a crisis situation, but often we get tired of waiting on him, or we think that he is not going to answer our prayers, and we decide to take things into our own hands.

      I Samuel 13 tells the story of Saul getting ready to go to war with the Philistines. The prophet Samuel had told Saul that he would come in seven day to make a sacrifice before they went to war. Saul started doubting that Samuel would show up and finally caved in to the demands of his solders.  He decided to make the sacrifice himself (even though he was forbidden to make a sacrifice). Just as Saul finished the sacrifice, Samuel arrived and reprimanded Saul for taking matters into his own hands and told him that the kingdom would be taken from him, because of his disobedience.  

     Genesis 17 tells the story of Abraham and Sarah, who God promised a son in their old age. They believed in God but decided that God needed a little help and Abraham had a son by Sarah’s handmaid. Only when the hundred year old Sarah had their son Isaac did they realize their mistake. The children of Israel suffered many hardships at the hands of Ishmael’s descendants. Just as Saul and Abraham suffered great loss, after taking things into their own hands, I would have probable suffered also, had I not waited on my dive master or followed his instructions. Remember, when you are faced with a crisis situation, just stay on the course that you know is right, wait on God, and He will help you through the difficult situation!