Things are different now.
My family and I just got back from my father-in-law's wedding in a quaint, quiet little mountain town in Western Arkansas called Eureka Springs. While on this delightful road trip, my wife and I learned a lot, like we should never take road trips with our kids, or the longer you try to make a 1 year old sit during a wedding, the more piercing her screams become, and always, always keep a bowl of mac and cheese in your bag especially when taking your 3 year old daughter to a reception where there will only be formal hors d'ouvres. The worst part by far was sleeping in the same room as our two daughters. It was impossible. On the last night, we just gave up and let them both sleep in our bed. My oldest daughter put her head on my back and her feet on my wife's butt like we were a hammock while our youngest just kicked and screamed all night. It was the worst. The final thing I have to say about it is the same thing I said the last time I flew Spirit Airlines: NEVER AGAIN.
Something else I learned on this trip is that when I go out of town for an event with my wife's family, I become all-time babysitter. This part wasn't so bad because it meant we got to go out and see the town. The first afternoon we went to a cool cave and walked around. It was kinda fun and the girls sort of liked it. The next afternoon, however, was amazing. We went to this place called Turpentine Creek Wildlife Refuge and saw over 100 tigers, lions, jaguars, panthers, and mountain lions. There were also some bears, a coyote, a monkey, and some sort of weird ant eater thing that I didn't really care about. Kate and Harper (my daughters) both loved it and I couldn't get enough of it. There's just something amazing about seeing so many powerful, apex predators right in front of you. The craziest thing about it is that most of these animals were former pets. People had these lions, tigers and bears (don't say it!) in their homes, or in cages outside their homes. It's crazy. Even in their cages, these things are crazy dangerous. Our guide told us a story about three of the tigers on the property that sort of blew my hair back. They used to be kept in Branson at a place called Predator World. The place was cool, but management wasn't exactly up-to-date on the proper procedures for taking care of giant, killer predators. It seems pretty obvious to me, but maybe they hadn't seen enough you tube videos of tigers attacking people to know not to go into a tiger cage when tigers are in it. So this 16 year old employee goes into the tigers' environment to do a little cleaning and somehow or another, he slips and falls down. Apparently this was the exact opportunity the killer beasts were waiting for because all three tigers literally pounced on him and began to do what tigers do to weak, vulnerable creatures that are dumb enough to come within 50 meters of them. Try to imagine lying on the ground and seeing three tigers running towards you, mouths open, growling and ready to consume you. You're helpless; completely, utterly helpless and absolutely unable to do anything at all to stop these perfectly constructed killing machines from doing whatever they want to you. However, many people seem to think that through behavioral conditioning, training and whatever else that they can guarantee that these wild animals are tame and perfectly harmless, like this guy in the karate outfit: bear attacks woman. The truth is that these animals are killers: it's what they do and no amount of training or discipline can stop that. And that fact got me thinking about this:
"Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour." 1 Peter 5:8
That 16 year old genius who fell in the tiger cage survived. I don't know how, but he did. And I can guarantee you that he will never again enter a tiger cage while tigers are in it. A lot of people have to hit rock bottom before they realize the destructive nature of their sins. We don't choose to learn the hard way, but we grow too addicted to whatever it is to just let go on our own: we have to be forced out. We try to deal with it on our own for a long time. We try to modify our own behavior and discipline ourselves out of the sin, but it just grows and grows until it's like we have a fully grown tiger living in our house just roaming the rooms and hallways waiting to attack us. We keep telling ourselves we have the tiger tamed and completely under control, but it's a tiger; we don't control it, it controls us. It's the same with patterns of sin in our lives. We think we have things under control, but until we truly turn away from those behaviors, and let God take it out of your life, that tiger will keep prowling around your house until the day you slip and fall and he pounces. You can't get that tiger our of your house. You can't just open the door and hope he leaves. You have to get help. Repent and go after God; and eventually, not immediately, you'll be free.
That kid survived, but he's paralyzed from the neck down and has some pretty intense facial scars. When we hit bottom with our sin, we don't often get to go back to the way things were. Don't wait to hit bottom. Let God do what you can't and do it now.
You can't. God Can.
