July 1, 2013 - Gar Fish, Really?

Hello and good Monday to you all, How many of you know that sometimes it's best to NOT KNOW what your enemy looks like? I am truly just kidding. I think it's always critical to know what something that could potentially harm us really is. So how about I join some friends for great couple of days at a lake only to discover ONE of the fish in the lake is a gar fish. Growing up I was well acquainted with swimming in lakes and dealing with fish. I was young and stupid. But as of late, I would like to know what lurks beyond the water in which I am about to swim and float. No worries - I hear that one of the fish in this lake is a gar. My husband proceeds to inform me that they look like baby alligators, have teeth, and bite white legs and booties. YIKES! Can you get a picture of my bootie hanging through an inter-tube with a dangling sign that says "Free Dinner?" At first, I determine that I cannot get in the water, but I see no fish at all. Slowly I relax my apprehension and decide to pray, consecrate the water and kick my legs like a banshie to scare anything away that is considering me as free food. Plus I REALLY want to work out with my water weights and do an hour of water aerobics. AGAIN - I see no fish. To my surprise I spent almost 90 minutes in the water with no nibble. In case you are wondering, prayer works. LOL After dinner, the boys are fishing ONLY to inform me they saw 4-5 gar fish in the area. No worries again - gar fish probably have no teeth and do not look like alligators and I have been "played like a fiddle." NOT..... After getting home I decide to see if everyone has laughed at my expense or if gar fish really exist. Can you see this picture? (Sorry - those who are reading this post, the picture I copied didn't place here. Find a picture of a gar fish and hold that thought.) They do exist, they do have teeth and they do look like alligators. When I found this, I shuttered and thanked God for His protection because if I had seen one while swimming, I might have fainted. But isn't this just like life? Sometimes the things we cannot see lurking just below the surface pose such a threat. We cannot be afraid to play in the water; we simply need to recognize the potential for attacks from those things hidden and make a plan. I have a friend who's battling cancer currently and missed the lurking signs. There were a multitude of warnings, but when the diagnosis came, the battle was much more intense because the "critter under the water" (cancer) had grown in size and the fight is now great. I am praying for my friend and gathering all the insight I can from the gar fish experience. Just because I didn't see any while swimming, didn't mean they weren't present. Just because we are in a season to eat anything we want (especially our young ones) doesn't mean we are safe. There is an incredible amount of information to give us clear pictures of "gar fish" within our lives that often are perpetuated by poor health choices. Here's what I think, I would rather choose health daily and let the gar fish starve. Yes, I would. Gar fish, to me, resembles diabetes, high blood pressure, reflux, etc.........and our health choices definitely give them liberty to swim in our water. I am posting a sign, "Just Say No to the Gar Fish." Maybe you're smiling, but you know this is true. PK