A Hippo Comes to Sunday School

I know, it sounds like the title of a children’s book right?  But it really happened a few weeks ago.  Many of you already know that we have a hippo that lives in the lake in front of our house.  She is not there permanently, she just shows up from time to time. 

Some may not know that the Hippo is one of the most dangerous creatures in all of Africa.  Forget about sweet, kind, Henrietta Hippo from the New Zoo Review (if you are old enough to remember that TV show). An adult hippo weighs up to 2 tons, can run up to 19 MPH and is highly aggressive towards perceived threats.  It could take a man’s arm off in one bite.

Needless to say when our hippo comes around, we keep an eye on her.  She likes to eat the napier grass, which we grow for our cows, in our front yard.  When she comes up out of the water, we yell and wave our arms to scare her off back into the water.

So on a Sunday a few weeks back, the hippo was hanging in the water in front of our house.  The people who pull in the fish nets early in the morning on our stretch of beach spotted her as she raised her head up.  As they were working, they noticed a lone man in a fishing boat that was passing by the hippo’s way.  All of a sudden, they saw her swimming quickly in his direction.  The man in the boat had no idea that a deadly hippo was headed straight for him.  The people on shore started yelling to the fisherman.  They jumped up and down and waved their arms to get his attention.  They told him that the hippo was coming his way.  He immediately increased his paddling speed to get to deeper water far away from the danger.

A few hours later, we were teaching our Sunday School class out on the front lawn.  We had already heard that the hippo was out in the water, so we were on alert.  While the kids were in the middle of Praise and Worship, the hippo raised her head out of the water and was staring at us.  Tracy told all the kids that we had a new visitor to Sunday School and Hope informed them that we couldn’t give her a name tag until she came at least four times.  The kids had all laughed at that.  The hippo never came on shore that day, she just stayed out in the water the rest of the time.  (She missed out on getting her first time visitor sweet, but we were glad she didn’t greet us up close.)

Someone later told us that hippos do not like music (singing included).  Some of the fisherman take radios out on the boats with them to pass the time.  Whenever they spot a hippo, they quickly turn the radio off because they know the sound can cause it to be more aggressive.

The whole incident started me thinking.  The man in the boat had no idea that he was in danger from a deadly hippo coming his way.  The people on shore were safe from attack but could see what was about to happen to him.  They did all they could to warn him and probably saved his life.  They didn’t know that man, he was a stranger to them, but they couldn’t stand by and watch him head towards certain doom.

Isn’t that how it is with sharing Jesus?  We as Christians are safe on shore just working away and minding our own business, while all around us people are headed for peril.  Just like the hippo was coming to snatch that fisherman, so the devil wants to snatch as many people as he can and take them to hell. 

My question to you is: what are you going to do?  Are you going to warn those people they are headed for danger or are you going to sit by and watch them fall into destruction?  What would have happened to the man in that boat if the people on shore used the excuses we as Christians use to avoid sharing the Gospel?

He’s a stranger, so I don’t feel comfortable warning him

.

He might be offended if I try and warn him he’s in danger.

I’m at work and it wouldn’t be appropriate to speak about the danger while I’m in the workplace.

The choice is yours.  The Bible tells us to go into all the world and warn people they are headed for the fires of hell.  We are to let them know they are in danger and show them the way to safety (salvation).  You don’t have to become a travelling missionary to do it.  Just start where you are.  What about your next door neighbor?  How about that guy on the bus going to work or the cashier in the grocery store? 

Many people around you are headed for certain death just like that fisherman in the boat.  Are you going to warn them of the danger coming their way or are you going to sit by giving your excuses why you can’t?  The Bible says today is the day of salvation.  To me, that also means today is the day to share salvation.  So what is stopping you?  The time is short, so get moving.  God Bless!