"Nahh, Yeah, I Guess So."

When I heard this piece of news my reaction was "Nahh, that can't be."  But then when I heard and read some data, I said, "OK, I guess it's so."

 

The most dangerous mammal in North America is the Whitetail Deer.  

That's right.  Bambi will get you.  I'm not figuring there will be a scary movie about Odocoileus virginianus, complete with music that gives shivers in the spine,  any time soon, but it's true.  

The current numbers of deer in North America are about what they were before Miles Standish arrived, but the current number of us has increased greatly.  Much of the vast woodland where deer roamed freely, providing food for bears, cougars, and Native-Americans three millennia ago, has now become shopping malls and freeways, roamed by, well, us.  The problem is the deer get in the way--or perhaps more accurately we get in their way.  Something like 1.5 million times a year car meets deer with disastrous results.

Everybody who has ever had such an experience raise their hand.

One of the less graphic pictures I found:

I thought so.  You'll notice both my hands are up.  Fortunately no one in my car was hurt either time.  I can't say as much for the deer.  Add to that the spike in Lyme Disease--deer are a key component in the transmission of the disease, and, "Wallahh," the graceful shy creatures easily rank as North America's deadliest.

 

 

So, is this just a nature lesson, and a lame one at that?

 

No, the point I hope you will take is that we often fear the wrong thing.  Because something is familiar we tend to discount its potential for mayhem.  The spiritual implications of this concept are great.  I'll give the Apostle Peter, and his fisherman buddy John, the last word.

 

"Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour"  (1 Peter 5:8, ESV). 

 We just don't pay much attention because, 

"[T]he whole world lies in the power of the evil one"(1 John 5:19, NASB).

Watch out!

It's STTA.