Yesterday my family and I went to the Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge. We ate breakfast there, and started a hike. We chose a lonely trail, one that we had never yet hiked. It was pretty hot, and there wasn't a lot of shade. But we had plenty of cool water with us. As we were hiking along, I was walking on the edge of the trail. Suddenly, a loud rattle snapped directly in front of me, and I promptly jumped away. It was a rattlesnake sunning itself.I had put my foot about two inches from its head. I had the camera, hence the picture. We were all quite a bit more wary for the rest of the hike.
On our way back home, we stopped at the Visitor's Center to show them the pictures. They immediately recognized the snake as a young Western Diamondback. They said, "The smaller, the deadlier." When we got home, we looked it up in our snake ID book. Part of the description read like this: "Delivers a FATAL BITE."
I don't think it was just a chance that I didn't get bitten. It wasn't just a convienient coincidence, a lucky break. I believe God has a plan for my life, and it's not finished yet. I never thought that anything could ever happen to ME. Sure, things happen to other people, but I just never pictured that I would be in danger. This really made a solemn impression on me that we can't put the most important things off until tomorrow. We were never promised tomorrow. We only have this moment.
I could have died yesterday. What if I had been unkind to my brother earlier? Or disrespectful to my parents? In the words of Sean Nebblett, "This life is but a moment. Your choice is what's important."
