My family was on vacation some years back when we saw an interesting billboard, at least for Colorado that is. “Come see the Colorado Alligator Farm”, the sign said. We weren’t in a hurry and curiosity got the best of us, so we turned onto Hwy 17 on our way back from visiting the Sand Dunes National Monument Park and before we knew it we were paying five dollars a person to take the self guided tour. The alligator farm is possible in the colder climate because the farm's ponds are naturally heated to 87º by water from a 2000 ft. deep geothermal well.

It seemed that we had arrived at just the right time. There was a man who was walking out into the ponds, calling everyone to gather around to have their picture taken while “riding” on the alligator that he was about to go catch. I immediately turned to my youngest daughter who was 4 at the time, and asked her if she wanted to ride the alligator. I know that sounds a bit dangerous and I certainly wasn’t expecting her to say yes. My wife fought the whole idea and soon realized she was outnumbered when my daughter couldn’t contain her excitement at the thought of getting on one of those alligators. I rationed that if it wasn’t safe, they certainly wouldn’t let people do it, right?

Well, what happened next reminds me of one of the first Bible verses I learned as a Christian. Philippians 4:13… “I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength”. The Amplified version says it this way…”I have strength for all things in Christ Who empowers me [I am ready for anything and equal to anything through Him Who infuses inner strength into me; I am self-sufficient in Christ's sufficiency].”

I know he seemed a bit unstable, but this is the kind of attitude that this Alligator Cowboy displayed. He told the crowd, “I’m going to catch us an alligator”. Then he walked out into the ponds with a rope in one hand and a long stick in the other hand. He slapped the water in front of him with the stick and seemed to stare directly at an eleven foot alligator and he shouted these two words… “Bring it!” I have to admit, that when he went underwater and began moving toward the alligator, and then the gator went underwater, I thought to myself… “This is fixing to get really good and we are probably going to see some blood.”

Seconds later we saw and arm splash up, and then an alligator claw came out of the water as the cowboy was wrapping the rope around the his neck. He then towed the big guy to the shore and secured him to a post and with some extra help stretched him out so we could take turns sitting on top of the gator for photos. I still have the picture of my little girl sitting behind me with wild eyed wonderment as I pulled the gator’s jaw open and back for the photo, (with plenty of instruction from the Alligator Cowboy of course.) But, I have to believe that the way he approached that gator… “ready for anything” is exactly how we are intended to approach life as believers. Maybe it’s time we stopped making excuses for why we can’t do things and started saying “I am ready for anything and everything through Christ who makes me strong!”

Greg Richards is Sr. Pastor of Life Church, located at 607 E. Fair in Kaufman. For more info or for service times, go to www.yourlifechurch.com.