That's A Bunch Of Croc!

I couldn’t help but notice the picture and the headline as I was on-line earlier today.  In some remote village in the Philippines, villagers and several veteran hunters caught a crocodile late Saturday.  And not just any crocodile.  A big one.  Huge is more like it.  The crocodile measured 21'.  That’s right, 21'!  And about half of it was tail.  (It is about as long as the body of the croc you see in the picture).  Can you imagine getting hit by that?  It would have to kill you.  I guess I’d rather get killed by a snap of the croc's tail than by his bone-crushing jaws!

Of course, everything else on this larger-than-life crocodile was huge as well.  The head was scary big.  The teeth were monstrous!  It took over 100 people to finally capture and secure the reptile.  That was after the croc had destroyed 4 earlier traps.  They had to resort to using steel cables.  Then a crane had to be used to lift it on to a truck.  The reason why is that the croc weighed in at 2,370 lbs.  Or slightly over a ton! 

The crocodile is a veritable monster.  I had no idea that any crocodile, anywhere, could get that large.  The first thing I thought of when I saw its picture is - what does it eat & how much does it eat?  Apparently, it ate a fisherman who went missing in July.  And last month it ate a water buffalo.  A water buffalo!  That’s not exactly in the same category as a chicken.  A water buffalo is big game.  Then again, this is a big croc.

The crocodile was captured alive so that it could be the star in a planned eco-tourism park in the southern Philippines.  It makes we wonder what kind of enclosure they are going to have to build to house it?  And what is it going to eat?  And who is going to feed it?  Somehow I don’t see the late Steve Irwin wrestling with it.  What is absolutely amazing about this is that the locals (and the crocodile hunters) feel that there is an even bigger crocodile lurking around nearby.  All I can say about that is, wow!

In my way of thinking, this huge crocodile is a picture of sin.  Sin is not a cute, furry bunny rabbit.  Or a fuzzy little chic.  Sin is a monstrous crocodile.  It swims in the dark, murky waters of the world.  It is dangerous.  It cares about only one thing - feeding itself.  As such it carefully stalks its prey.  It doesn’t matter who that prey is.  Man.  Woman.  Teen.  Child.  It has an insatiable appetite and will devour anyone and everything.  Only a fool would think that they are strong enough to take it on and win.  As such, sin is a menace.  An ever-present evil that can strike at any moment.  Every day untold millions of people are devoured by it.

Fortunately, there is one person who has conquered sin.  Jesus.  The Son of God.  In I Corinthians 15:56-57 we read, “The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the Law; but thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.”  When Jesus died on the cross, He defeated Satan and forever broke the power of sin.  The crocodile’s jaw was broken.  Its teeth were removed.  It is still fearsome to look at but it no longer has any power over God’s people.  Someday, it will be destroyed altogether.  And even its memory will cease to exist.  Praise God!

Lord, I thank you that, through Jesus, sin has lost its power.  While it still looks fearsome and intimidating at times, it is toothless.  It cannot harm me.  May I realize this and daily live in victory over it.  In Jesus’ name, Amen.

The Errant Magpie

A couple weeks ago I came home late.  I usually enter the garage and the side door.  As I was entering the house I closed the garage door.  Talking to Beth in the bedroom she asked if the bird had flown out of the garage yet.  I really hadn’t noticed any bird there so I assumed that it had.  Well, the next morning my assumptions were proved wrong.  There was a magpie in our garage.

From time to time birds end up in our garage.  I don’t know if they end up in yours too or not?  One of the reasons why they end up in ours is that we have a window at the end of our garage.  The window is 4' x 4'.  A huge window.  Flies, bees and sometimes birds fly into our garage thinking they can just fly right out the back end.  Wrong!  There are a lot of dead insects on the window sill who couldn’t find their way out.  Neither could this magpie.  When I heard it squawking in the garage I immediately opened the garage door.  I waited for a few minutes but the bird was still perched on top of my universal gym facing the window.  The opposite way from the open garage door and freedom.  I tried shooing it in the right direction with a broom.  (A rather bold move by me considering the magpie was much larger than a small sparrow!)  It still wouldn’t fly out. 

Then I got a really bright idea.  I went around the garage to the outside of the garage window.  My intent was to frighten the bird so that it would turn and fly out the other end.  When I arrived, 5 or 6 magpies that were on the ground flew away.  They must have been family or friends trying to give directions.  Or encouragement.  Take your pick.  Anyway, here I am at 7:30 AM banging on the garage window and making a lot of noise.  I’m not sure if the neighbors saw me or not.  Apparently I am not all that scary.  (I take this as a good thing.)  The bird still would not fly away.  Finally, I headed for the office leaving the garage door open.  (Which is what started this whole affair in the first place.)  I am glad to report a happy ending.  At some point in time that day the magpie eventually flew out of the garage.  But not before leaving excessive amounts of droppings all over that part of the garage!

In my efforts to ‘free the magpie’ (sounds like an animal right’s liberation slogan doesn’t it?) I thought of a spiritual parallel.  In Proverbs 14:12 we read, “There is a way that appears to be right, but in the end it leads to death.”  The exact same verse is found in Proverbs 16:25.  This is God’s way of underlining important spiritual truths.  Like that errant magpie, there are many people who think they see the right direction to go in life.  So they head toward it.  Unfortunately it doesn’t lead to freedom.  But they keep trying.  And trying.  After butting their heads against the glass a few hundred times you think that they would smarten up.  Some do.  They finally figure out that they were going the wrong way and turn to the freedom found in Jesus.  Others never see the way.  Transfixed by the view in front of them they die without ever reaching their goal.  That is sad.  This is why, as Christians, we try to point out the Way to others.  Why we try to shew them in the right direction.  Why we sometimes get in their face.  And bang on the window.  So that they will turn around.  Repent.  Fly to Jesus.  Unfortunately, they don't always want to listen.  Or understand.  Fortunately, God leaves the door of salvation open.  Hopefully they respond before it’s too late.

Lord, I thank you that I saw the Light.  That I was able to find freedom in You.  I pray for those who are trapped.  Who can’t see the right way to go.  I pray that they would see that, as appealing as it might look, there is no future in the direction they are heading.  That they will repent.  Head in the opposite direction.  Find the freedom in You that they are so desperately searching for.  In Jesus’ name, Amen.