Swamp Ice
There seems to be an annual occurrence that takes place in the South; it usually lasts for a week or two and it is not greeted with much enthusiasm. It is the cause of much activity, usually at the grocery store. We southerners are notorious for making runs on the local grocery store when given the word that cold weather is coming and bringing ice. Yes, the arrival of winter. It comes, whether we need it or not, regardless of mill inventories or timber sales or planting plans. It comes with cold, wet weather and it seems to delight in our thin skin.
The work of the forester still calls him to the outdoors even in the depths of winter. Loggers still need to work, mills still need wood, and the truth of the matter is, the woods are great in the winter. The mosquitoes have to wear coats; thus, you can see them coming through the woods and they are very easy to avoid. The snakes are curled up in holes, and the flies and spiders are gone. Walking through the woods in the winter is a breeze…until you get to the swamp. The swamp has been slowly accumulating water all fall and now it basks in all of its glory. It is full. It is across this full swamp that we have to travel. But upon closer inspection, we find the swamp frozen. It lies covered with ice, with cypress knees sticking out here and there. An occasional branch carelessly discarded in the fall lies under the ice, sticking up a wooden hand.
As we step onto the ice, we wait to hear the silence that says, “No, I won’t break.” We slide across from tree to tree, waiting, preparing and hoping that the water below the ice is not higher than our boots. But it is swamp ice. The silence is broken by a faint cracking sound. We stare at the ice and we see the runners, shooting out across the bottom of the ice. Gravity is about to call trump on you, and you are going to see what is under the ice.
Swamp ice is an illusion. It looks solid, strong, like it will hold your weight, but it deceives. It has so many impurities in it, debris from the swamp, that it never seems to freeze solid. The branches under- neath, along with the cypress knees, seem to create a suspension bridge of ice, a bridge that will lure you out onto the middle of it, then collapse. Then the fun starts. Breaking through the ice to find a stump hole or a beaver run is an exhilarating way to start your day trust me! Not only is there the excitement of knowing you are going through the ice, but then to find you are over a stump hole is like winning the winter lottery. You will be a Popsicle by the time you slosh back to your truck.
I have learned to not put my trust in swamp ice. I carry my beaver rake, and go to great pains to break the ice and wade through the water underneath it. When doing so, it is good to think warm thoughts. One such thought comes from the story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, found in Daniel chapter 3. These three teenagers found themselves on the edge of a rather nasty swamp. The king of Babylon, Nebuchadnezzar, had made a decree that all would worship his image, and if they did not, those folks would be thrown into a fiery furnace to die. The king gave the choice to the three teenagers, expecting them to surrender their faith, to turn their backs on God. Obviously, the king didn’t know teenagers any better back in that time than we do today. Faced with death in the furnace or denying God, here was their reply:
“If that is the case, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and He will deliver us from your hand, O king. But if not, let it be known to you, O king, that we do not serve your gods, nor will we worship the gold image which you have set up.” —Daniel 3: 17, 18
The king responded by tossing the kids into a furnace so hot that the soldiers who carried them to the door and threw them in, collapsed and died on the spot (verse 22). That is a nice toasty thought as you are halfway back to the truck, your pants having frozen solid, making you walk like a toy soldier. Your cell phone has been ringing, but your hands are too numb to open it up; and don’t even think about trying to push any of those little buttons.
Those kids, they had confidence in their God. They were faced with life and death; and even as teenagers, they got it. They knew that something is bigger than this thing we call life. God is. Our relationship with him will last us for eternity, an eternity in which the length of this lifetime will pale by comparison. They knew that it is what we do with God in this life that is important. Today folks are relying on swamp ice. They are stepping out into the swamp, hoping that the ice holds them; that the way they want to live life is good enough; that the decisions they make about eternity will be sufficient and that they can ignore God. They hope that the ice will hold them up. It won’t. The ice will crack, it will bend, and soon it will break. When it does, the results will be catastrophic. Lives will lie in ruin. Eternity will be entered unprepared.
The three teenagers had faith that God would either deliver them or take them into eternity with him; and either one worked for them. In this instance, the Bible records that God delivered them on the spot (verse 26). They came out of the fire, and the king himself saw what it meant to surrender to God.
Winter comes into all of our lives. There is a time when we face eternity head on, when the reality that we are not going to live forever faces us. It is brutal and it is harsh. It chills us. The swamp is frozen over, and we stand with a decision to make. Crossing the swamp is not an option; it is a requirement. Will you step out onto the swamp ice? Will you succumb to the false kings of this world who tell us to go their way, to worship their gods, to put our faith and eternity in their hands? Or will you keep your feet on the solid ground of God’s Word, a solid rock that will keep you from falling?
Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, and to present you faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy, to God our Savior, Who alone is wise, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and forever. Amen. —Jude: 24, 25
Excerpted from Faith, Fur, and Forestry, Bradley Antill, author. See more at www.onatreeforestry.com
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