Uncle wrestles shark to shore, retrieves arm

Go get it back. Fight for it.

Vance Flosenzier dashed into the water after a shark bit off his nephew’s arm in 2001 at a beach near Pensacola, Florida. He grabbed the 7-foot bull shark by its tail and hauled the wrangling monster to shore. There, a ranger shot the shark in the head and paramedics extracted the arm from its gullet.

Jessie Arbogast passed into coma because of loss of blood, but surgeons were able to re-attach his arm, and when he woke up, it worked. Recovery has been long and slow. But he has his arm, thanks to the guts and courage of an angry uncle.

There are times when the devil rips you off. He steals your joy, your purity, your marriage. Whatever. Don’t cry and wring your hands by the shore. Go and fight, get it back!

You want what?

Remember

Glow sticks and the gospel

 

By heating a glow stick, you can make it brighter. By chilling it, it will last longer (but be dimmer).

Glow sticks work by containing two separate chemicals that are mixed together when the flexible outer container is bent, breaking an inner ampoule.

When diphenyl oxalate reacts with hydrogen peroxide, it emits light.

Inventors thought it would safer than the flare to cordon off highway hazards. But carnival hawkers have made a killing selling them at nighttime events.

When the Christian allows himself to be broken inside, and when he mixes Bible with prayer, the resulting faith emit lights. Heat it up, and it will be brighter. But you need to keep adding the ingredients or it will die down.

The Inventor of Gospel light intended it to save people from the hazards of sin.

Learn to fall

As I was training for the triathlon this week, I stumbled and tumbled. A few years back this belly flop would have been bloody and banging: scraped hands and knees, bone jarring. I have perfected klutziness.

But this time I didn’t gush O+. On an uplifted sidewalk section, I tripped. But as I fell, I rolled, wasted my momentum, got up and went back to jogging without so much as a scrape. I had learned to fall in soccer.

My previous technique — the one that leads sidewalk carnage — was like a body shriek. My mind panicked, muscles tightened, limbs extended themselves to shock-absorb. Every pound of body weight took the hit.

Then I copied the boys who played soccer with me. When tripped, they curled their bodies up and let themselves roll freely. They didn’t try to “stop” the fall. It saves you a trip to ER.

Christians need to learn to fall. A fall should not injure badly. You should roll out of it quickly, gracefully and without abrasions. Get up and keep running. As you walk with Christ, there will likely be a few stumbles through the years. Christianity is not living in perfection, but constantly aiming at perfection. Learning to get back up after a fall is part of that.