No Fear

My first visit to Yellowstone National Park was in 1984. A friend and I drove from Memphis to Sheridan, Wyoming to speak at the first annual meeting of the Wyoming Baptist Convention. We drove from there to speak at the Idaho-Utah Baptist Convention for their 25th anniversary.

After we finished our speaking responsibilities, we traveled to Jackson Hole for some adventures in Yellowstone. A college friend was an outfitter and guide for hunters, and he invited us to go elk hunting with him one day. There was three feet of snow on the ground, so fortunately, my friend provided horses for our outing.

My Jackson Hole friend had an elk permit, but all we saw on the hunt was several moose. We did not have all the necessary permits to carry a gun and hunt, but it was a great adventure just riding through snow that reached the bellies of the horses.

Cheryl and I toured Yellowstone in 1991 after we had a meeting in Idaho Falls. I have not returned to Yellowstone until last week. Jason and Jeremy planned a fishing trip for the three of us on the Shoshone River near Cody, Wyoming, and in Yellowstone. I have a generous friend who allowed us to use their Wyoming home between Cody and the east gate of Yellowstone, so the house was perfectly placed for fishing on the Shoshone and in Yellowstone.

Now I love to fish, but not as much as Jason and Jeremy. On day four of our fishing trip, I was weary of jumping from rock to rock, stumbling through slippery streams and hiking to the best fishing spots. I saw a washed-out place on a sand/rock bar in the middle of Soda Butte Creek. I found a big rock to put under my head, and I lay down on the warm rocks. It took a few minutes to remove some rocks that were ill placed for a comfortable back rest.

As I relaxed and closed my eyes and put my hat over my face, I started thinking about bears. Yes, we had seen several bears. As a matter of fact, one sighting was a close call. As we were driving between our house and the east gate of Yellowstone, a large grizzly bolted across the road in front of us, and we almost hit the bear. Additionally, earlier that day Jason had a scare. He was fishing on the side of the river with dense vegetation, and he heard a rustling in the tall grass and small trees. Then, he heard what sounded like a growl, and he took off running. As he ran across the rocks in the middle of the river, Jeremy was watching him and laughing. Jason told us that he had seen bear tracks along the river, but he did not think much about that, as we knew there were bears in the area. The only casualty from the scare was Jason’s glasses which he lost during the escape.

So, there I was lying down in the middle of the creek with my eyes closed and wanting to take a nap. But all I could think about was bears. All kinds of thoughts went through my mind, and then I decided that it was silly to be afraid of a bear attacking me. If a bear came along, it would just think that I was already dead if I was sleeping. I don’t know where this came from, but I started thinking about the apparel years ago with the slogan “No Fear.”

I decided that the only thing that I should fear is God, so I removed a couple more small rocks from under my back and I relaxed. I drifted off to sleep. I don’t know how long I slept, but I awakened to some shuffling in the rocks, and it was not a bear. It was Jason working his way along the creek and casting his dry fly.

He took this photo of me and sent it to Cheryl in a text. Jason’s caption for the pic was “This is the biggest catch all day.” Cheryl’s quick reply was “It looks like a keeper to me!”

We grow up being afraid, but with maturity we get over most of our fears. It is interesting to search the web for fears of most adults or teenagers. There is actually an official word for the fear of God phobia—zeusophobia.

For us followers of Christ, the fear of God does not mean that we are afraid of God, but it is more of a submission or a sense of awe in the presence of God. We have nothing to fear but fear itself. What’s a grizzly anyhow?!?