I was amazed at the headline! Who would not be? After all, it's not everyday one reads: "Man Bitten by Shark, Bear, Snake In Less Than 4 Years".
The article, written by Dom Calicchio and Christopher Carbone and published April 22, 2018 on FoxNews.com, told the story of a 20-year-old man from Grand Junction, Colorado named Dylan McWilliams who “achieved a distinction last week that few people would probably want to match”.
In less than four years, he has now been bitten by a bear, by a rattlesnake, and after Thursday, April 19, in Hawaii, also by a shark. He summed it all up best when he told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser: “I don’t know; I’m either really lucky or really unlucky.”
The shark attack, requiring seven stitches to his leg, took place about 50 yards from Shipwreck’s Beach off Poipu. Last July, he received nine staples in his scalp after a nearly 300-pound bear invaded his Colorado campsite. The rattlesnake bite took place about three and a half years ago in Utah. Luckily, he says, he took in only a small amount of venom, so he was only briefly ill afterward.
He concluded his newspaper interview with what may only be deemed the understatement of the year: “My parents are grateful I’m still alive.” They will no doubt be reminded of that every time they look at him; for he now has the marks to prove how close he came to death three different times!
By God’s grace, even though I have seen each of them in the wild, I have never been bitten by either a bear, or a shark, or a rattlesnake. I hope I never am. And yet, I have been snake-bitten. As have you! And we each bear the marks in our lives to prove it!
Actually, serpent bitten would be the better term. For, according to Genesis, chapter 3, the devil in the form of a serpent, tempted Eve and, through her, Adam. By falling prey to this temptation, they were arguably snake-bitten. For as a result, the curse of sin entered into human history; and it has been with us ever since!
Like the afore-mentioned Dylan, we too have a Father who is happy that we are alive. Only this Father is a Heavenly Father. And we are only alive after being bitten by sin because He stepped in and intervened. He gave us a Divine antidote to sin – made possible by the atoning sacrifice and spilled blood of His Son, Jesus Christ.
As the Apostle Paul puts it (in his New Testament Letter to the Romans, chapter 12, verse 17):
“For the sin of this one man, Adam, caused death to rule over many. But even greater is God's wonderful grace and his gift of righteousness, for all who receive it will live in triumph over sin and death through this one man, Jesus Christ.”
STORY SOURCE: http://www.foxnews.com/science/2018/04/22/man-bitten-by-shark-bear-snake-in-less-than-4-years.html.
SCRIPTURE SOURCE: http://biblehub.com/romans/5-17.htm.
The article, written by Dom Calicchio and Christopher Carbone and published April 22, 2018 on FoxNews.com, told the story of a 20-year-old man from Grand Junction, Colorado named Dylan McWilliams who “achieved a distinction last week that few people would probably want to match”.
In less than four years, he has now been bitten by a bear, by a rattlesnake, and after Thursday, April 19, in Hawaii, also by a shark. He summed it all up best when he told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser: “I don’t know; I’m either really lucky or really unlucky.”
The shark attack, requiring seven stitches to his leg, took place about 50 yards from Shipwreck’s Beach off Poipu. Last July, he received nine staples in his scalp after a nearly 300-pound bear invaded his Colorado campsite. The rattlesnake bite took place about three and a half years ago in Utah. Luckily, he says, he took in only a small amount of venom, so he was only briefly ill afterward.
He concluded his newspaper interview with what may only be deemed the understatement of the year: “My parents are grateful I’m still alive.” They will no doubt be reminded of that every time they look at him; for he now has the marks to prove how close he came to death three different times!
By God’s grace, even though I have seen each of them in the wild, I have never been bitten by either a bear, or a shark, or a rattlesnake. I hope I never am. And yet, I have been snake-bitten. As have you! And we each bear the marks in our lives to prove it!
Actually, serpent bitten would be the better term. For, according to Genesis, chapter 3, the devil in the form of a serpent, tempted Eve and, through her, Adam. By falling prey to this temptation, they were arguably snake-bitten. For as a result, the curse of sin entered into human history; and it has been with us ever since!
Like the afore-mentioned Dylan, we too have a Father who is happy that we are alive. Only this Father is a Heavenly Father. And we are only alive after being bitten by sin because He stepped in and intervened. He gave us a Divine antidote to sin – made possible by the atoning sacrifice and spilled blood of His Son, Jesus Christ.
As the Apostle Paul puts it (in his New Testament Letter to the Romans, chapter 12, verse 17):
“For the sin of this one man, Adam, caused death to rule over many. But even greater is God's wonderful grace and his gift of righteousness, for all who receive it will live in triumph over sin and death through this one man, Jesus Christ.”
STORY SOURCE: http://www.foxnews.com/science/2018/04/22/man-bitten-by-shark-bear-snake-in-less-than-4-years.html.
SCRIPTURE SOURCE: http://biblehub.com/romans/5-17.htm.