My boys and I love watching the Discovery Channel program, “Man
vs. Wild,” with Bear Grylls. If you’ve never seen it, British born Grylls was
part of the UK Special Forces, climbed Mount Everest, and is an all around stud when it comes to outdoor survival. Andy and Brady love watching Bear climb up mountains, jump out of helicopters, eat bizarre insects, and climb through ice caves.Watching together is a wonderful time for us to share.
One episode featured Bear swimming through a stretch of water between two islands that contained sharks. This got the attention of my two little guys. “Oh no, is he gonna get eaten?”
“Of course not,” I calmly replied, praying that we were not all in for a
gory and tragic surprise. In the midst of the intensity, Brady asked a serious question. He turned away from the action, looked me in the eye and said, “Daddy, would a shark bite hurt?”
Not a crazy question from a three year old, and definitely one I thought
I could handle. “Yes Brady, a shark bite would hurt, at least for a little
while.” Without missing a beat he followed with, “Would it hurt even if we put a Band-Aid on it right away?”
I laughed. Then I put my arm around him and told him it would indeed
still hurt even with a Band-Aid. But I began to think. (I assume Bear made it across the water to the other island without being attacked, but I didn’t really notice). I continued thinking about Brady’s question, which, upon consideration is a good one.
Would a shark bite hurt? Of course. But applying a Band-Aid? That’s
ridiculous. We can’t put a Band-Aid on a shark bite…or can we? Better
question…do we? I think I’ve done that before. Like most people, I’ve been hurt by others. Sometimes hurt pretty badly. Usually its something someone says about me behind my back. Of course, the size of the bite is determined by who is swimming nearby. When it’s family, or a close friend, the bite seems more intense, especially when they quickly swim away.
So, how have I handled it? With a Band-Aid sized remedy. Have
you ever done this? Maybe we swim to shore and dry off, glance at the wound and assume it will heal. Perhaps we never address the wound at all, we just pretend it isn’t there. Sometimes the last thing we consider is confronting the shark, and may never even bother to stop the bleeding. We just peek at it once in a while to see if any healing has taken place. Have you ever just kept on swimming, ignoring the bite, getting more hostile toward the sharks, and
resentful toward the one who created the sharks and the sea we all swim in?
So the wound never heals, while our blood keeps seeping out past that
tiny, soaked, pathetic Band-Aid that covers a small portion of a deep wound.
What does God want us to do? Certainly not apply a Band-Aid to a shark bite.
It hurts to be fired from a job, left at home to raise the kids
alone, be abandoned by rotten parents, be talked about by a close friend, or be sexually abused by someone we thought we could trust. So looking for a Band-Aid to apply to a vicious wound is going to allow the infection to spread and blood keeps flowing out. According to the Bible, the best thing for us to do after the bite is raise our hands right where we swim and cry for help:
“Surely the arm of the Lord is not too short to save, nor his
ear too dull to hear,” (Isaiah 59:1).
That should be our very first reaction; an instinct really. He is a God who rescues. I suppose its admirable to swim to shore, but wouldn’t you rather climb into a rescue basket being lowered from a helicopter if it was on the
scene? The 55th Psalm teaches us to cast our cares on the Lord, so he can sustain us. The Psalmist also speaks of the Lord’s merciful manner in addressing the wound: “O Lord my God, I called to you for help and you healed me...He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.”
(Psalm 30:2 & 147:3).
Our heavenly father desires to reach down, pull us from the water, and
size up our wound. He knows exactly the way to treat it. And sometimes, we may find he first lets us cry in his arms for a while before he starts to bandage us up. Do shark bites hurt? You bet. Put a Band-Aid on it? Seems that’s the worst thing we can do.
vs. Wild,” with Bear Grylls. If you’ve never seen it, British born Grylls was
part of the UK Special Forces, climbed Mount Everest, and is an all around stud when it comes to outdoor survival. Andy and Brady love watching Bear climb up mountains, jump out of helicopters, eat bizarre insects, and climb through ice caves.Watching together is a wonderful time for us to share.
One episode featured Bear swimming through a stretch of water between two islands that contained sharks. This got the attention of my two little guys. “Oh no, is he gonna get eaten?”
“Of course not,” I calmly replied, praying that we were not all in for a
gory and tragic surprise. In the midst of the intensity, Brady asked a serious question. He turned away from the action, looked me in the eye and said, “Daddy, would a shark bite hurt?”
Not a crazy question from a three year old, and definitely one I thought
I could handle. “Yes Brady, a shark bite would hurt, at least for a little
while.” Without missing a beat he followed with, “Would it hurt even if we put a Band-Aid on it right away?”
I laughed. Then I put my arm around him and told him it would indeed
still hurt even with a Band-Aid. But I began to think. (I assume Bear made it across the water to the other island without being attacked, but I didn’t really notice). I continued thinking about Brady’s question, which, upon consideration is a good one.
Would a shark bite hurt? Of course. But applying a Band-Aid? That’s
ridiculous. We can’t put a Band-Aid on a shark bite…or can we? Better
question…do we? I think I’ve done that before. Like most people, I’ve been hurt by others. Sometimes hurt pretty badly. Usually its something someone says about me behind my back. Of course, the size of the bite is determined by who is swimming nearby. When it’s family, or a close friend, the bite seems more intense, especially when they quickly swim away.
So, how have I handled it? With a Band-Aid sized remedy. Have
you ever done this? Maybe we swim to shore and dry off, glance at the wound and assume it will heal. Perhaps we never address the wound at all, we just pretend it isn’t there. Sometimes the last thing we consider is confronting the shark, and may never even bother to stop the bleeding. We just peek at it once in a while to see if any healing has taken place. Have you ever just kept on swimming, ignoring the bite, getting more hostile toward the sharks, and
resentful toward the one who created the sharks and the sea we all swim in?
So the wound never heals, while our blood keeps seeping out past that
tiny, soaked, pathetic Band-Aid that covers a small portion of a deep wound.
What does God want us to do? Certainly not apply a Band-Aid to a shark bite.
It hurts to be fired from a job, left at home to raise the kids
alone, be abandoned by rotten parents, be talked about by a close friend, or be sexually abused by someone we thought we could trust. So looking for a Band-Aid to apply to a vicious wound is going to allow the infection to spread and blood keeps flowing out. According to the Bible, the best thing for us to do after the bite is raise our hands right where we swim and cry for help:
“Surely the arm of the Lord is not too short to save, nor his
ear too dull to hear,” (Isaiah 59:1).
That should be our very first reaction; an instinct really. He is a God who rescues. I suppose its admirable to swim to shore, but wouldn’t you rather climb into a rescue basket being lowered from a helicopter if it was on the
scene? The 55th Psalm teaches us to cast our cares on the Lord, so he can sustain us. The Psalmist also speaks of the Lord’s merciful manner in addressing the wound: “O Lord my God, I called to you for help and you healed me...He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.”
(Psalm 30:2 & 147:3).
Our heavenly father desires to reach down, pull us from the water, and
size up our wound. He knows exactly the way to treat it. And sometimes, we may find he first lets us cry in his arms for a while before he starts to bandage us up. Do shark bites hurt? You bet. Put a Band-Aid on it? Seems that’s the worst thing we can do.
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