On a hot summer day in south Florida a little boy decided to go for a swim in the lake behind his
house. In a hurry to dive into the cool water, he ran out, __1___ behind shoes, socks, and shirt as he
went. He flew into the water, not realizing that __2___ he swam toward the middle of the lake, a
crocodile was swimming toward the __3___. His mother, in the house, __4___ saw the two as they
got closer and closer together. In complete fear, she ran toward the water, yelling to her son as loudly as
she could.
Hearing her voice, the little boy became __5___ and made a return to wim to his mother. It was too
__6___. Just as he reached her, the crocodile reached him. The mother grabbed（抓住）her little boy
__7___ the arms just as the crocodile snatched his legs. That began a(n) __8___ tug-of-war(拔河；拉锯战) between the two. The crocodile was much stronger than the mother, but the mother was much too
__9___ to let go. A farmer happened to drive by, heard her screams, raced from his truck, took aim and
__10__ the crocodile.
Surprisingly, after weeks in hospital, the little boy __11___. However, his legs were extremely scarred（留下疤痕）by the violent attack of the animal and on his arms were deep scratches where his mother's __12___ dug into his flesh in her effort to __13___ the son she loved. A newspaper reporter asked the
boy __14___ he would show him his scars. The boy lifted his pants. And then, __15___, he said, "But
look at my arms. I have great scars on my arms, too. I have them __16___ my mom wouldn't
__17___."
We each have scars, too, mostly just the scars of a painful past. __18___ of those scars are not
pleasant to look at and have caused us deep regret. But, some wounds, my friends, are because God
has__19___ to let go. In the midst of your __20___ in life, He's been there holding on to you. |
