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A Father's Instinct
Three
weeks ago, Johan Otter and his daughter, Jenna, 18,
were hiking in
Montana
’s
Glacier
National Park
. While
coming up on a blind switchback, the pair surprised a
grizzly bear with two cubs just feet away. *
“This
bear is coming right at me,” Otter describes
the bear charging him,
“and mouth wide open, you see the FANGS and you
see the huge CLAWS.”
The grizzly bit Otter to the bone in his right arm,
his left arm and thigh.
It also trampled upon Otter’s back.
“I
think at that point I actually grabbed it by the
throat,” says Otter.
“I mean I was holding onto the bear itself, yeah
because I want to hold it with me;
I didn’t want it to go after my daughter. . . ”
Then
the bear bit Otter’s head, removing his SCALP!
After
a five-minute battle, bitten and broken, Otter finally
played DEAD. He
hoped his daughter had time to find a safe place to
hide. -Reacting instinctively-
the bear
was trying to protect her cubs.
Otter, also -Responding instinctively-
protected his daughter.
“The
main thing going through my mind at that point is
like, ‘don’t get to my daughter, just stay with
me.”
Briefly,
the grizzly turned her attention to Jenna.
The grizzly bit her in the cheek and on the
left shoulder, but Jenna played dead and the bear
eventually left. Discovered by other hikers, Otter was
airlifted to
Harborview
Medical
Center
in
Seattle
. He was
found to have seven broken vertebrae in his neck and
back, three broken ribs, numerous puncture wounds, his
scalp torn off at the bone, and his right eye socket
crushed. Though battered and broken right now, Otter
expects a full recovery.
He figures the only thing that matters is that
his daughter is okay and ready to start her first year
of college.
Consider.
. . A
Father’s Instinct.
It is a loving father’s instinct to
protect his children at all costs, even if it means
giving his life!
YOU
and I are under constant attack by a fierce predator: SATAN
(1 Peter 5:8). Satan
seeks to DESTROY us by using our own weaknesses
against us, tempting
us to sin (James 1:14-15). But it is in the Heavenly
Father’s nature to LOVE us and to seek to SAVE us.
“Instinctually” He has
responded to OUR critical situation by sending His Son
to give His life so that we might be saved (John
3:16-17; 1John 4:9-10).
He will save us IF
we will: place
our faith
in Jesus (Acts 16:30-31), repent
of our sins (Acts 17:30-31), confess
Jesus before men (Romans 10:9-10), and be baptized
(immersed) in the
name of Jesus for the forgiveness of our sins (Acts
2:38). And,
He will CONTINUE to keep us safe as long as we
CONTINUE to follow Him (1 John 1:7).
It’s
a loving Father’s instinct to SAVE.
Will YOU accept
His offer?
God bless you!
David A. Sargent,
Minister
Church of Christ at Creekwood
1901 Schillinger Rd. S.
Mobile, Alabama 36695
* Information based upon
report by Tracy Vedder, http://www.komotv.com/news/printstory.asp?id=39090
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