Down near the
According to a news report, the gray-haired sleepwalker wandered out his door sometime before dawn. Currens somehow navigated down a steep embankment and, still fast asleep, waded into an alligator-infested pond.
When Currens finally awoke from his nocturnal stroll, both his legs were stuck fast in the muddy bottom of the pool. Peering into the darkness, he was terrified to see alligator eyes staring back at him.
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A policeman who assisted in the retiree’s rescue said he counted as many as eight or ten alligators circling the stranded man. While waiting for help to arrive, Currens had fended off the hungry reptiles by poking them with his cane.
Not too many of us sleepwalk, thankfully. And most of us live a long way from the nearest alligator. But I would be surprised if a single one of us has failed to share James Currens’ experience of waking up and finding ourselves unexpectedly facing some sort of dire difficulty.
My good friend Tom (not his real name) chose to ignore all the signals that his high-salaried job was shaky. One morning without notice he got his walking papers. He woke up in an alligator pond, and panicked.
Another friend, whom I shall rename Sarah, insisted later that the first clue of her spouse’s unhappiness came when the bailiff rang her doorbell to deliver divorce papers. Until that moment she assumed that her 11-year marriage was solid. That night when Sarah’s husband didn’t come home, she waked up to feel the mud between her toes and see the alligators’ eyes stalking her.
My preacher friend who found himself ruinously addicted to pornography never dreamed there were alligators that big in the swamp.
“Sin crouches at the door,” God warned Cain before he went bad. “It desires to have you.” All sorts of spiritual predators lurk out there just waiting to consume us. We can’t afford to go sleepwalking through life.
Repeatedly the Scriptures warn us, “Be watchful. Stay alert! Be ready.”
James Currens will tell you this is good advice.