So you think you had a tough day yesterday. So did I. My fourth jury duty summons in eight years brought me to the Dallas County Courthouse. It's all such a waste of time, since they're never going to pick a Baptist preacher for a jury. Except that they did. After being led into the jury room for a 15-minute wait which turned into an hour, the bailiff came back and dismissed us. His only explanation was that there were "problems with the case." I think he meant me. We all have a right to trial by a jury of our peers. Apparently no one thinks I am theirs.

At least Eric Nerhus had a tougher day that me. According to this morning's New York Times, Mr. Nerhus was collecting shellfish off the fishing town of Eden, about 250 miles south of Sydney, Australia, when a 10-foot-long shark attacked him. The shark grabbed its victim by the head. "Half my body was in its mouth," the diver later said.

Here's how he escaped: "I felt down to the eye socket with my two fingers and poked them into the socket,' he said. 'The shark reacted by opening its mouth and I just tried to wriggle out. It was still trying to bite me. It crushed my goggles into my nose and they fell into its mouth.'

Mr. Nerhus finally managed to escape the shark's jaws by jabbing at its eye with a chisel. The diver estimates that he spent two minutes inside the shark's mouth, but says his chest was protected from the predator's razor-sharp teeth by a lead-lined vest used to weight him down in the water. The man was rushed to a hospital where he is being treated for severe cuts to his head, torso and left arm. My day is looking better all the time.

There's a reason you and I encounter sharks at sea and sharks on land--our world does not run the way it was intended. This is a fallen planet inhabited by fallen beings. To put things in the context of Jewish history, Jesus has saved his followers from slavery in spiritual Egypt. Now we're on our way to the Promised Land where we'll spend eternity with our King and Father. But today we're still in the wilderness, marching toward home. And our best day in the wilderness will not compare with our first day in the Land.

So we can spend our lives scratching out a little more prosperity from this desert, buying another camel or a larger tent. Or we can use today to serve and honor the One who is leading us to his paradise. We can expect trials and tests from the sharks and sinners we meet today. And we can ask God to redeem all he permits or causes. He accepts all who accept him. Why do you need to know that fact today?

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