Are you prepared?

Susan G. Terrell

It was pitch-black when I opened my eyes. I heard a noise outside the tent. "Joy, there's something out there!" Cautiously I unzipped the tent and shone the flashlight on the tree where we'd hung our food to protect it from bears. "The food's down!"

And then I saw those green, glowing eyes, staring at us from the base of the tree. We screamed at the bear to go away, yelling till the valley resounded with our cries.

When he had gone, we recovered our scattered, torn supplies. It didn't look as if the bear had taken much, but we felt fairly sure he would be back for more. I was terrified. It seemed as if it would be impossible to keep the bear from finishing off our food—food we needed for the next four days of the trip. While I was thinking up wild schemes like climbing to the top of a giant tree with the food, my friend said very simply, "OK, God, what do we do now?"

Send a comment to the editors

We'd love to hear from you!

Easily submit your testimonies, articles, and poems online.

Submit

Are you prepared?

We'd love to hear from you!

Sign up for unlimited access