A Few Years Ago My Wife And I Spent A Few Days At ...

A few years ago my wife and I spent a few days at Triple Creek Ranch near Galena, IL. It’s a retreat center for ministry couples. We enjoyed long walks through some parts of the ranch, and drove through some more remote areas. In one section there were a number of Llamas. It was interesting to see how they behaved when they saw our car coming down the lane. They raised their heads high and walked straight toward us, even blocking our path. We weren’t sure if they were just curious or trying to pick a fight. But we did feel safer staying inside the car.

I recently read about Lexy Lowler, a sheep rancher out west. Coyotes were killing here lambs. She tried everything but nothing stopped them. Finally she discovered the llama. She said, “Llamas don’t appear to be afraid of anything. When they see something, they put their head up high and walk straight toward it. That is aggressive behavior as far as the coyote is concerned, and they won’t have anything do to with that…. Coyotes are opportunists, and llamas take that opportunity away.”

Llamas illustrate our posture in response to the devil: "Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion [or sneaky coyote] looking for someone to devour. Resist him, standing firm in the faith…" (1 Peter 5:8-9a, NIV)