Moose By the Road

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When we began our camping trip across Canada, I was sure I would see a moose. We saw plenty of mosquitos, black squirrels, tiny chipmunk-like picas, all kinds of birds, but days had gone by and we hadn’t seen one moose, not one. I so wanted to see one with its huge funny ears and its somber face. I had taken pictures of a cottonwood tree, of beautiful wildflowers, the picas and the shores of Lake Superior. But no picture of a moose.

Then one day as we were about to enter Saskatchewan, there he was. A moose, large as life, grazing in a watery ditch right beside the highway. We eased to a stop only feet away and I scrambled to get the camera and focus in on him. He was totally unperturbed by our presence, interested only in eating.

I snapped a picture, or tried to. With a sinking feeling, I realized I’d come to the end of a roll. I reached in my camera bag for another roll but there were none. We sat and watched that moose for fifteen minutes or more before he lumbered off. I could have taken a dozen pictures if I’d had the film.

The moose picture is still in my head. He was so absorbed in eating grass in that water-logged ditch that he never even looked at us. I studied his big head, his strange ears, his strong sturdy legs. But I have no picture to share.

We never saw another moose on our long trip all the way to British Columbia. We camped in provincial camps in our tent. We trekked across long lonely stretches where it seemed there should be a moose or his cousin, the elk. But, though we restored our inventory of film, we never saw another moose.

Looking back on it, I’m struck by the truth that we need always to be prepared for the opportunities that come. They may never come again. I was sorry not to get that moose picture. But I’m even sadder thinking about the many times I’ve failed to share gospel truths because I was unprepared or didn’t grab the opportunity.

…Be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you…I Peter 3:15