Mike Mann and Mike Hixon, both about 20 years of age, had hiked up Plummer creek in Idaho to go fishing the evening of May 29. Hearing a crackling in the bushes, they looked up and saw two bear cubs climbing up a tree. Looking in another direction they saw a huge cinnamon-colored bear raise up on her hind legs, then drop down and come charging through the brush at them.
Neither of the young fellows realized they could run so fast as they did that day. The mother bear took off after Mann, and he headed for the nearest tree. He was 15 feet up when the bear started to climb up after him. She came up about 15 feet, but by that time Mann had climbed to about 35 feet and was all out of breath. When Hixon began calling to him, he was too scared to answer.
Then the big bear backed down the tree and started after Hixon. Hixon climbed the nearest tree he could find, an old dead pine, and the branches kept breaking off as he climbed. However, he managed to keep out of the bear’s reach.
Running between the trees, moaning, mother bear kept both of the young men in their lofty perches for three hours. She found Hixon’s hat and chewed it to bits.
Eventually Hixon got down and ran for help. The bear and her cubs disappeared. Mann climbed down out of the tree and was soon met by Hixon and the park rangers.
Our late brother, Ernie Wakefield, used to tell the story of two men who also had an encounter with a mother bear, but they did not fare so well. They were on a vacation in Western Canada, and had taken their cameras along. Hiking across the country, they spied a baby bear playing on the mountainside. As they stood to watch, they heard a crashing in the bushes nearby. They knew it was the mother bear coming out of the woods, and so they set their cameras for a picture. When she emerged from the trees, she headed straight for them. Dropping their cameras they ran for the nearest tree and began to climb as fast as they could. One of the two was rather stout, and could get no farther than to hang by his hands from a lower bough.
Poor fellow! The bear, reaching up, with one powerful swing of her big paw knocked down the fat man, and began to tear at him with her claws.
Seeing his friend in need, the other man quickly came down out of the tree, and picking up a big piece of wood, he hit the bear over the head. But this only enraged the beast who now turned on him, knocked him down and began clawing at him too.
At this moment, they could never tell why, the baby bear began to cry. The mother bear left the two men on the ground and ran after her cub.
The men managed to drag themselves to where they could get help-a distance of several miles. There they were cared for and their wounds dressed. The stout man, however, never recovered; he died soon after.
After about three months, the thin man was able to go back to work. At the office he showed his friends the long scars on his head, chest and legs where the bear’s claws had torn him.
These scars he would carry with him for the rest of his life.
As the man told the story of his encounter with the bear and showed his scars, Ernie could not but think what the Lord Jesus has done for us. The one man came down from the tree to try and save his friend, but the bear was too powerful an enemy. He could not save him. The Lord Jesus looked down from heaven and saw us in the grip of Satan. In love and pity He came down to save.
At the cross he met the full power of Satan, and by His death and glorious resurrection, He defeated the great enemy of our souls. But more than that He bore the judgment of God against sin for all those who trust Him as their Saviour—they are safe forever. Yet in His body, the Lord Jesus will forever bear the marks of His sufferings, the nail prints in His hands and the spear print in His blessed side. Surely such love demands the grateful homage and praise of our hearts.
“Who His own self bear our sins in His own body on the tree.”
ML-09/24/1978