Focus Friday: Let's Focus on Alligators

At the risk of turning my blog into a place to bore you with my latest vacation photos, I'm going to share a few more this week. Gary and I took a trip to Florida this week to visit my parents. We took a two-day road trip with my dad to see the Everglades and Key West (My poor mom had to stay home due to some health issues).

Shark Valley was the first part of the Everglades we visited. We wanted to see alligators and we were not disappointed.

We hadn't even made it to the entrance gate and we saw two alligators along the road. We jokingly speculated that maybe they put a couple of plastic ones near the entrance to get everyone excited, but a sign later said that everything we saw there was real.

(Here's the second one.)

My dad treated us to the two hour tram ride through the park. It was definitely worth it as "Tammy from Miami" told us so many interesting things about the alligators, birds, and plants we saw.

Many alligators were lying right along the road we took.

 One thing I can't stop thinking about is what she said about how the alligator often gets his prey. All along the way we could see paths in the water. Tammy explained that the gators would make these paths and then sit and wait patiently out of sight until some unsuspecting fish or other animal used the path. When the prey got close enough, the alligator could snap them up and get a good meal.

I didn't get a good shot of the alligator paths, but this gives you an idea of the paths left by the gators.
( Credit: http://nancyandbillblog.blogspot.com/2011/01/florida-trip-shark-valley-part-i.html )

I can't stop thinking about that, because I think that's how Satan works many times. Sometimes a little sin seems harmless so we keep doing it. Satan clears a path so we think we're going somewhere, but he lies in wait, ready to pounce and devour us because we haven't been diligent or vigilant.

We need to be careful as we go through life. We need to spend lots of time in God's word so we know which way He wants us to go instead of just taking the easy way. We need to pray for wisdom and discernment as we move ahead and we always need to be ready to run the other way when we realize we're heading for danger.

We saw about sixteen alligators in one place on one of the trails we took. 

I realize Gary and I actually went looking for alligators and we were really happy to see them, but in our daily lives we need to stay far away from sin and the dangerous situations it produces.

By the way, we went to the Circle B Reserve in Lakeland, Florida this morning, but we didn't see "Humpback," the enormous alligator spotted there recently and made famous on YouTube. 

"The wicked lie in wait for the righteous, intent on putting them to death; but the LORD will not leave them in the power of the wicked....Hope in the LORD and keep his way." (Psalm 37:32-34a NIV)

Have you ever been "attacked" by some sin that you thought was harmless at first? How can focusing on God help you to be vigilant and ready to turn around when you realize you are heading in the wrong direction in life?