Reva Lachica Moore
A red-spotted salamander called the “newt” slowly crawled out from under a rock to look for food. Snails and slugs coming out of slimy vegetation were its target.
But a few feet away, another hungry and voracious eater was also making its rounds. The frog with its sticky, retractile tongue was catching insects within its reach. It spotted the unwary newt. Perfectly camouflaged amongst the dead leaves and soggy dirt, the frog sat very still. It allowed smaller insects to buzz by, for before it was a bigger meal. The frog closed its eyes pretending to be asleep, yet sensing the unsuspecting newt as it crept in closer. When the newt was but a few inches away, the frog rapidly stuck out its sticky tongue, caught the newt and retracted its tongue. In a blink of an eye, the newt was swallowed whole and only its tail showed, and this also disappeared in an instant. I was spellbound as I watched and listened to the narrator on National Geographic on TV.
It may have been a delectable meal for the frog, but it was also its last. The narrator said that this particular newt was capable of producing toxins in its skin excretions as a defense mechanism against predators. A newt could produce more than enough tetrodotoxin to kill even an adult human who is foolish enough to swallow it. So, within a few minutes, the frog shook terribly and made croaking sounds as the newt’s poison entered its body. A few minutes later, the frog was dead.
My eyes stayed glued on the TV screen. I thought what I saw was absolutely amazing! But what I saw next enthralled me even more. From the dead frog’s mouth, the newt slowly crawled out—ALIVE! It had escaped death!
Don’t you wish man had some type of defense mechanism like that of a newt to ward off danger? When we get into problems, or get in harm’s way, wouldn’t it be nice to get out unscathed?
But we do. We have a defense mechanism to fend off danger. It is called PRAYER. God has given us His promise of deliverance in Psalms 91:15… “He will call upon Me, and I will answer him and I will be with him in trouble. I will deliver him and honor him.”
Two days ago I received an e-mail from my friend, Pastor Solomon Mongaya, president of Northeastern Mindanao Mission. His e-mail read:
“We were on our way to Cagayan de Oro City to attend a conference. We had prayed for traveling mercies before we left. I was driving my car and with me were 3 other ministers and my wife. But midway, we met an accident. The road was wet and slippery from an early rain. And there were cars ahead of us. When suddenly, a little boy crossed the highway. I was going 80 km/hr. The boy thought there were no more cars after the three vehicles had passed so he crossed. To avoid hitting him, I swerved to the right. My car went out of control, rolled over and landed in a ditch. Praise God, we all walked out of there safe.
In no time, people crowded the accident site. They couldn’t believe that there was no casualty after they saw our totaled car. I am attaching pictures. It was indeed a miracle from the Lord and we thanked Him for saving our lives. Someone in the crowd commented that had the passengers not been pastors, probably everyone would have been dead. The parents of the boy thanked us repeatedly for sparing their only son’s life.
I had a contusion on my forehead and my wife had one on her left temple. We were admitted to the hospital for one night for tests and observation. All the x-ray findings were negative and we praised the Lord for that. We proceeded to Cagayan de Oro to attend the conference the following day.
The news of our accident spread immediately that night and the following day, I received many calls from friends and relatives. They were glad that we were not seriously hurt. This incident happened last Sunday, June l8, 2006 around 5:00 p,m. but two days later, I was already playing tennis. Indeed, from the looks of our wrecked car, it’s a miracle that we all walked out of it practically unscathed and ALIVE! Praise God!”