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Gators Make Awful Pets

By Guy K. Henry

www.GuyHenry.com

The other day I took a trip to one of my favorite places, the zoo. I visited all of the usual creatures that you would expect to see. There were Giraffes, Elephants, Bears and Monkeys to name a few.

But when I arrived at the alligator pen, I saw something very unexpected. Oh, sure, there were alligators, lots of them. As interesting as they were, I could not take my eyes off of what was sitting in the middle of their pen. I blinked my eyes many times to make certain that they were not fooling me. In the middle of the gator pen sat a man reading his newspaper.

“Hey mister,” I shouted across the deep moat, “are you crazy? Those alligators are going to have you for lunch!”

The man poked his head out the side of his newspaper. “Bill is my name,” he happily answered, “and you need not worry about me. I am perfectly safe.”

“Oh, I get it, you must be one of those people from Animal Planet,” I said. “You are one of those professional alligator trainers. Right?”

“No I am not,” Bill answered as he turned the page of his newspaper.

“Are you one of the zoo keepers?” I asked.

“No, I work at the post office,” he calmly said. “This just looked like a lovely place to read my newspaper.”

“I was right,” I told Bill, “you are crazy!”

Bill’s voice became angry. “Just because I want to read my newspaper in this beautiful shady spot does not mean that I am crazy.”

“Bill!” I shouted, “You are going to be eaten by those big strong alligators!”

“Who? Them?” Bill laughed as he pointed to the pond that was filled with gators. “I have been here all morning. They are not going to hurt me!”

“Listen Bill,” I yelled back, “I do not know how you made it this long without being eaten, but you are in great danger!”

Bill became annoyed. “Listen, whoever you are," he said, “It is very hard to read my newspaper with all of your babbling!”

“My name is Guy,” I said, “and excuse me for caring that you are soon to be Alligator Chow.”

I looked around for anything I could use to rescue this foolish man. The best thing I could find was a white sheet on the back of a zoo keeper’s go-cart. “Perhaps I can throw this sheet across and pull Bill to safety,” I said to myself as I returned to the edge of the alligator pen.

“Bill!” I called, “Here, catch this!”

Bill put down his newspaper and spied the sheet I was holding. “Hey!” Bill said smiling, “That is a super idea!”

I held onto one corner of the sheet and tossed the rest across the moat. Bill caught it and said, “Thanks!”

I expected to pull Bill across the divide. But, instead of swinging to safety, he yanked the sheet out of my hands.

“Hey!” I growled, “What did you do that for?”

“This sheet will make a perfect hammock!” Bill chimed as he knotted one end around a tree.

“Bill!” I desperately pleaded, “If you do not get out of the alligator pen, you will surely be eaten!”

“Oh, Pish, Posh!” Bill said as he picked up his newspaper and jumped into his hammock, “You worry too much!”

I wondered to myself why I was wasting my time trying to save Bill when I could be enjoying the Dolphin show. “It is because I care!” I thought, “I can not just walk away knowing that Bill be eaten!”

Then my eyes were drawn to some splashing water. One of the biggest alligators had spied Bill and was happily slapping its tail in the water. The beast then bounded out of the pond and swaggered straight towards Bill.

“Bill! Bill!” I hollered.

“What now?” Bill said, clearly annoyed.

“Bill!” I continued, “A big hungry alligator is headed straight for you!”

“That is nice,” Bill said as he yawned.

“Bill!” I cried, “That alligator looks mean and really hungry!”

“What is your point, Guy?” Bill grunted.

The alligator walked under Bill’s hammock. As it did, the gator lifted its snout and ran it along Bill’s back. All that separated Bill and the alligator was the thin sheet.

“Ooooh,” Bill giggled, “you are tickling me!”

Bill dropped his hand over the edge of the hammock and stroked the alligator. “There you go big fellow,” Bill said as he massaged the gator’s back.

“Bill!” I exploded, “That alligator is seconds away from eating you!”

“Thanks for the tip, Guy,” Bill answered.

“Bill, you have got to get out of there!” I shouted, half believing that it was already too late for Bill to escape.

The alligator took a deep sniff and then violently swung its head around. Its mighty jaws opened and snapped shut around the end of Bill’s hammock. Its sharp teeth tore the sheet off the tree and dumped Bill onto the ground.

Bill and the alligator stared at each other. The alligator had shreds of the sheet hanging from its mouth. Bill had only his newspaper to defend himself with.

I screamed with all my might, “RUN BILL! RUN!”

Bill finally believed me and realized the dangerous situation he was in. He sprung to his feet while the alligator picked pieces of the sheet out from its yellow teeth.

Bill ran towards me. The alligator was not far behind him. Soon Bill reached the moat.

“Jump Bill!” I bellowed as I stretched out my hands.

Bill bent his knees and leapt into the air. The gator lunged at its escaping meal. Its powerful jaws snapped at Bill, and caught the bottom of his shoe.

One of Bill’s hands fell into one of mine. I clasped his hand with both of mine. “Hold on!” I yelled as Bill dangled against the wall. I found all of my strength and slowly lifted Bill to safety.

I helped Bill climb over the last fence. Bill shook with fear as he watched the alligator chew his shoe as if it were a piece of chewing gum.

Now it was my turn to smile. I nudged my new friend and asked, “Hey, Bill. Are you up for a visit to the sharks?”

Almost every one knows that alligators are very dangerous animals. We know that if you spend any time with one of these beasts, they will eventually eat you.

Gators are dangerous. But, there is something that many people fool around with that is even more hazardous. They get as close as they can to it, and when it doesn’t bite them they announce, “Look, it can not hurt me!”

I am not talking about a wild animal. No, this dangerous thing is a choice that we make.

When God wrote the Bible, He us the things that He wants us to do, and the things he does not want us to do. Even so, we often choose our own way, instead of what God has told us He wants. When we do that, it is called sin.

For example, when I choose to lie my way out of a problem, I am ignoring God’s command to tell the truth (Matthew 5:37). I choose my way, the lie, instead of God’s. That is a sin.

Think about a person who sees money sticking out of someone’s purse and takes it. What they are really doing is ignoring God’s promise that He will “supply all our need, according to His riches and Glory” (Philippians 4:19). When we steal, we are choosing our own way instead of God’s better way. That is a sin.

Those are just two examples of how we can disobey God by choosing our own way. I am sure that you can think of many more.

Now what is the big deal about sin? We do these things all the time, and nothing bad seems to happen. The Bible tells us of the great danger of sin in Romans 6:23 “For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” That is right, sin is killing us! And it is not only killing our bodies, but our spirits also.

The wonderful news is that instead of eternal death (hell), Jesus offers us Eternal Life with Him in Heaven.

Jesus accepted the horrible part of this transaction. You see, Jesus lived a perfect life, always obeying God. He had no sin, so He did not have to die. Yet He chose to die on the cross, even though He did not deserve death. When Jesus did that, He took the punishment that you and I deserve.

We have the easy part. All that we must do is:

- Realize that we have disobeyed God, and are in great danger because of it.

- Believe that Jesus came to earth, never sinned, and chose to die so that He could take the punishment that you and I should get.

- Trust Jesus to take our sin and make us ready to spend forever with Him in Heaven. We need to stop trusting in the things we do to get to heaven. Jesus has done it all!

- Open up our mouth and ask Jesus to take away our sin.

When we do that, Jesus hears us and rescues us from sin.

This is wonderful Good News, that everyone needs to hear. To tell someone of the danger that they are in, and how they can be rescued from it is to really love them.

Most of us meet people every day who are sitting comfortably in their sin. They don’t realize the danger that they are in. When God brings these people into our lives, we are faced with a choice.

Do we love them enough to take a moment and share the gift of Salvation that we have experienced?

Or do we hate them, and continue on our way?

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