Don't feed the Aklak

Do you ever wonder why God doesn't just miraculously take away sin nature? Why does it have to be a process?

As Paul said, "For what I am doing, I do not understand. For what I will to do, that I do not practice; but what I hate, that I do. If, then, I do what I will not to do, I agree with the law that it is good. But now, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me. For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good dwells; for to will is present with me, but how to perform what is good I do not find. For the good that I will to do, I do not do; but the evil I will not to do, that I practice. Now if I do what I will not to do, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me." - Romans 7:14-20

Why is this? Wouldn't it be better to pray and have the problem just taken away? I realise sometimes God does deliver us this way. He finds us sitting in some inescapable prison, the heavy chains fall to our feet, the gates creak open seemingly of their own accord and his Angel leads us to the street. We have only to follow him out the door and leave the place. But it's not always that way and I think I can guess why.

This past fall there has been a lot of contact between people and bears in BC. At one of my farm sites we had an interesting experience...

The farm sits in a spectacular fjord. With the coastal mountains of mainland BC rising sharply on either shore. Beautiful and dangerous, the shore near this farm is home to many different species of wildlife including the largest land predator Ursus Arctus Horribilis. Or more commonly known as the Grizzly Bear.

Grizzlies have a pretty varied diet which includes; berries, fish, deer, moose, other bears and when chance allows... humans. Fish are a favourite meal. Whenever fish die on the farm they are stored in containers on a a floating platform near the farm called a "mort float" they are kept there until a boat comes by to pick them up and take them to be turned into fish compost. Until that time their odour is not unlike the wild fish rotting in the creeks which bears are attracted to. Anyways this particular grizzly, a young male, showed up, swam out to the mort float and started trying to eat the dead fish.

I realised the staff that live on site would need some protection in case the grizzly decided to put people on his menu. When I was buying bear spray the salesman at the store advised me that one should wait until the bear was within 3m before unleashing the spray at him. "Any sooner and it wouldn't be effective, probably just make him mad". A happy thought. "Wait until he's 3m away" how hard could that be? Armed thus with pepper spray and bear bangers my staff would drive out in a boat and scare him off each time he came out to the mort float.

I called conservation hoping they would swoop in like a Grizzly SWAT team, dart the bear, wrap him up and ship him into some comfy valley deep in the wilds of BC far from me and my crew.

"No way am I sending any of my officers in there", I was told, "it's too dangerous" and apparently if they were to move the bear he'll either get eaten by a bigger Grizzly or die without finding a place to hole up for the winter.

We were on our own.

Remove the morts, lock up the feed shed and sleep with bear spray on your night stand was pretty much our action plan. Okay, that's the sarcastic version. Truth is, we were told to remove every possible attractant and steer clear of the bear at all costs. If there was an immediate danger to anyone we were to call the hotline and they would come and relocate the bear but it would likely mean the end for the bear.

At one point I had the privilege of seeing this bear up close and personal. Before you think I'm some gallant "grizzly man" I was in a boat with roughly 7m of water between myself and the bear. I will admit that even from that relatively safe vantage point I was extremely intimidated by the beast. He was trying to open a mort container and the way he moved was aggressive, almost angry. I yelled at him and he looked coolly up at me. I imagined that I probably looked like a glazed turkey sitting at the controls of my boat. A chill went through me as I imagined what would happen if my engine died and the afternoon breeze gently pushed my boat up to the float he was on. I decided to move my boat around behind him. This put me downwind of him and out of his sight. He didn't like not being able see what I was doing and jumped into the water and swam to shore with me following him.

(Here's a picture I drew, notice the long teeth and angry eyes)

We removed everything that could possibly interest the bear including the mort containers and locked down everything else. He returned one more day and tried to get into one of the feed containers and then went away, probably to sleep for the winter.

Would it have been better if the CO's had come out and hustled him away? Then we wouldn't have to do anything. Or is it better that we had to roll up our sleeves and make some improvements and get rid of the things that were attracting him?

If your right eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to go into hell. - Matthew 5:29-30