Bear Hunting In Alaska

 We know that in everything God works for good with those who love him, who are called according to his purpose. Romans 8:28

A Texan went with a group of men to Alaska to hunt the huge Kodiak bear. As the group walked the trail to their mountain cabin, one of the men noticed the Texan did not have a gun. All he had was a large, straight stick he used for walking. A few of the men began to make fun of the Texan. “What are you going to do,” they asked, “spank the bear with a switch?”

“Shucks,” replied the Texan, “that’s the way we hunt bears in Texas.” That was all he would say to their jeers.

When they got to the cabin the Texan said, “We’ve got plenty of daylight left. I’ll just go get us a bear.” With that he started out the door with nothing but his stick.

At first the other men thought he was teasing. After almost three hours, they started to get worried.

“What if he got out there and got himself lost or hurt? Maybe we should not have teased him so much,” one of the men said. They decided they had better send out a search party.

Just as they walked out the door to look for the Texan, they looked up the mountain and saw the Texan run across a clearing. Right behind the Texan was a ten foot tall Kodiak bear. The bear would almost catch the Texan and the Texan would use his large pole to vault down the mountain. It looked as if the Texan might make it to the cabin – with the help of his stick.

The Texan burst into the edge of the clearing near the cabin. The bear was right behind him. The men in the cabin yelled encouragement to the Texan as he came closer to the cabin. The bear got closer to him as he got closer to the cabin. The men in the cabin opened the door of the cabin and yelled for the Texan to close the door as he came in.

Just as the Texan got to the cabin, he sidestepped the door and stayed on the outside. The bear could not stop and charged into the cabin.

The Texan started to close the door from the outside and yelled, “You guys skin this one and I’ll go and get another one.”

Most of us have known that kind of feeling. All of us have felt like life has locked us in a cabin with a ten foot bear. In troubled times we realize we need a strength that beyond our own. When we have that trapped feeling in life, it is good to know that help is only a prayer away. God can give us the strength we need for the situation we are in.


By: Ed Handkins