- 20
- Sep
Whether or not you thought Steve Irwin was courageous or crazy; one thing is for sure, TV’s “Crocodile Hunter” was not immortal. Television has a way of making everyday people seem larger than life.
Week after week, Irwin tempted fate by dancing like bait before some of nature’s most dangerous animals. His playful antics and outback adventures made him a favorite TV personality. Unfortun-ately, Irwin was killed recently during the taping of a TV special featuring his interaction with some of the ocean’s most deadly animals.
According to eyewitnesses, Irwin swam too close to a large stingray. Before he knew it, the normally calm sea creature stabbed him in the heart with its poison stinger. The affectionate adventurer was dead within a matter of minutes. His companions and crew were shocked to learn the man who had escaped danger so many times before had finally met his match at sea.
In some ways, there is a little bit of Steve Irwin in all of us. Somehow we fail to see how dangerous our lives have become. At first we play with sin from a distance. Like Irwin, we tease and flirt with disaster. We survive a few near misses and gradually grow more and more comfortable with the risks we take.
For Irwin, it was crocodiles, snakes and stingrays. For others it is a quick glance at Internet pornography, a quarter in a slot machine or a sip from a bottle of beer that leads them down a path that ultimately brings them too close to the fire. Eventually, they get burned.
Sin has a way of drawing us into its trap. Slowly but surely, like bugs drawn to the light, we are mesmerized by the lure of the bait. When we least expect it, sin delivers its poison barb straight to the heart. In an instant, a life is ruined, and what we call “life as normal” is no more. Our family and friends are stunned. How could it happen? What went wrong? Heaven weeps as Satan and his cronies get the last laugh.
Such doesn’t have to be the case. Paul encouraged Timothy to flee sin and to hunt down righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness. Those who fail to do so will wander from the faith and pierce themselves with grief.
Steve Irwin was known as the “Crocodile Hunter.” What kind of hunter are you? Are you playing with sin or is sin playing you? The book of I Peter says the devil is like a roaring lion seeking someone to devour. Beware that the hunter doesn’t become the hunted.
September 22nd, 2006 at 10:19 pm
how dare you compare what steve irwin did to being ensnared in the traps of sin. what a ridiculous comparison! he lived his life attempting to educate individuals and for you to have the audacity to do this is in extremely poor taste. it’s no wonder that people sometimes view baptists as too caught up in the religion and not caught up enough in the relationship with Christ. it’s like you’re looking for anything that you can possibly find within culture to make some silly little christian comparison, and you can’t do that. thanks for reminding me just how stuck in the “bubble” baptists still are. i am involved in a southern baptist church, but as a follower of Christ, i am disgusted at your tactics within this editorial.
September 28th, 2006 at 5:18 pm
I encourage you to take a second read on my editorial. I didn’t say Steve was ensnarled in sin. The point was that all of us can become ensnarled in sin.
Your comments about Baptists appear to be more rooted in personal perspective than fact or public opinion. A recent statewide poll ranked Baptist Churches at the top for places of worship.
By the way I am a huge Irwin fan. He did a great job raising awareness about wildlife. I think Steve would be pleased to know my comparison might give someone second thoughts about the danger of sin. A stingray is nothing compared to hell!
October 29th, 2006 at 4:33 am
Hello Dr. Ray: I love your website. Very well done. Hope you are well. So sad to have lost Steve so young. We too were big fans. Blessings to you my friend. All my best, B.J. Wexler