Stay Close to the One Who Made You.

November 1, 2023

I sensed my wife’s anxiousness even though she was at least fifty yards behind me. “Tim! Come back to the car.”

I waved her off.

The soft muck sucked my rubber-clad feet deeper and deeper with no promise of letting me go if I tried to pull out fast. I kept checking my waders, making sure the cold Wyoming water didn’t slosh over the bib. Getting out of the marsh fast was going to be tough enough without having waders full of water.

My son-in-law stood about twenty yards to my left, well behind the moose, just inside my peripheral vision. His hands clamped the top of his head. “You might want to back up a bit, Tim.” His words floated over the water, barely above a whisper. “You’re way past the safe distance and it’s fall. We talked about a Bull Moose and their territories this time of year.”

I had to get the shot. We’d been looking for moose the whole week and I wasn’t going to pass up the chance on a close-up. I lifted my right foot and felt my sock slip up and out of the bottom of the wader while the wader stayed in the mud. I wasn’t going anywhere.

The moose lifted his gaze from the marsh grass to stare straight at me.

The warnings we’d gotten from the park employees and all the reading I’d done flashed before me. I knew I was in his territory, and he was going to get to me well before I could run.

He snorted and raised his giant head just before charging…

If you’ve read some of my earlier posts, before you even got partway through that story, you were likely saying to yourself, “That’s not Tim Richards. Not the guy who worries about everything and takes the safe route through all walks of life.”

And you would be right.

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I took the photo of the moose with a 600 mm zoom lens I’d rented just for our trip out to Jackson Hole and Yellowstone National Park. I knew the dangers of getting too close to wildlife and I snapped the picture from the road, next to our vehicle. I was in no danger at all. The moose didn’t charge. He just stood there lazily munching on his greens.

The image reminds me of the dangers of getting to close to Satan and too far away from God.

I love what James tells us in the book of James.

“Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.” (James 4:7, NIV)

This is great advice. We want to stay as close to God as possible while distancing ourselves from the sin of this world.

By keeping my distance from animals, I knew could hurt me, I was able to safely take pictures to remember what I’d experienced. By distancing myself from sinful thoughts, desires, and actions, I’m also able to safely participate in this world God has let us live in.

There’s great hope in James’ words. Just before verse seven, he tells us when we oppose the proud (those things that reflect selfishness and desires for things God knows we don’t need), we receive God’s favor. He takes care of us and watches over us.

My prayer is for you to stay close to the One who made you.