We all have days when we feel like we should have stayed home. An accident happens, something painful occurs, or we simply have a bad day. And we say, “I never should have gotten out of bed!”
Dylan McWilliams knows that feeling. In the last four years, a bear, a shark, and a snake have bitten Dylan. Yikes!
In one instance, Dylan was sleeping in the woods at a summer camp in Colorado. He awoke to hear a crunch as a bear bit down on his skull and dragged him 20 feet. He managed to break free as friends chased it away. In another instance, while surfing in Hawaii, a shark bit Dylan’s leg and he barely made it to the shore. Finally, when hiking a canyon in Utah, he was bitten by a rattlesnake and was sick for days.
When I first heard Dylan’s story, I admit, I thought – “you should probably stay home!” Haven’t you heard, “once bitten, twice shy?” It is dangerous out there.
Dylan’s story reminded me a little of Amos 5:19. “As when a man flees from a lion and a bear meets him, or goes home, leans his hand against the wall and a snake bites him.” Sometimes getting bitten seems inescapable!
Of course, Amos 5:19 was about hypocrites who thought they would escape judgment. But even if you are doing right, you might get bitten. In fact, the odds are pretty good that you will get bitten if you share the gospel. But “staying home” is not an option for the Christian.
To Dylan’s credit, he continues to put himself out there, and so should Jesus’ disciples. Have you gotten too comfortable, for fear of getting bitten? Remember Jesus’ primary command, “Go!”
Risk getting bitten for the Kingdom and your scars will tell the tale of a soldier for Christ. Paul spoke about his scars in service to the gospel: “I bear on my body the brand-marks of Jesus” (Galatians 6:17). Be in the world, but not of it (John 17); and, if necessary, risk being bitten for the gospel. #go
