“Gator aid” or “Gatorade?”
Long before the University of Florida
(Gators) developed “Gatorade” in 1965 as a sports drink to replenish the
carbohydrates and electrolytes of the school’s student-athletes, an
enterprising lieutenant* had his own version of ‘gator aid.’ In the early 1940’s in a sweltering hot
Florida training camp preparing GIs for World War II, the lieutenant had a real
quandary. On the final stretch of the
endurance test designed to strengthen the men’s resolve, they were to cross a rope
strung across a shallow pool of water.
Increasingly, as the men saw the inviting water below them, instead of
pressing through their discomfort to cross the pool, they purposely let go
of the rope mid-way. The problem was
quickly resolved when the lieutenant made the pool home for a large
alligator. From that day on, the
recruits left the ground 15 feet from the water’s edge and fell sprawling in
the dust on the other side.
How insensitive could this lieutenant be
when judged from the perspective of comfort!
Fortunately for those recruits, the goal wasn’t comfort but battle
readiness and survival. How often do we
as believers complain when God allows the alligators of our lives to threaten
us and push us to the other side of the pool?
But wait! His design and purpose for our lives is not
comfort but conformity, i.e. He predestined us to be conformed to the image of
His Son (Rom. 8:28-30). It’s not about
your comfort but your growth. Don’t
waste your trials. Grow. Grow up and grow
in Him. As the Psalmist said, ‘My suffering was good for me, for it taught
me to pay attention to your decrees (Psalms 119:71 NLT). Whatever alligators may be threatening from
below chose to set your gaze heavenward.
God is preparing you for the battlefield. Souls weigh in the balance.
*The
story of the lieutenant was taken from July 3, 1997 Daily Bread
