"I can't explain it," Linda said, "I just KNEW the children needed to come in the house immediately." Was it woman's intuition that caused Linda to respond this way? Why was there such a sense of urgency?
Byron, Linda and their four children, Melinda, Daniel, Tiffany and Ben recently moved into their new home. They were happy to be in a more rural area of Alaska away from the noise and traffic of town.
The children were delighted with the huge yard surrounded by trees. The swing set, a trampoline, and a tree fort provided many happy hours of play.
Another source of enjoyment was the unexpected visits from the wild life. A long legged moose grazing in the yard would bring squeals of delight. They quickly discovered their yard was the summer headquarters for a multitude of rabbits. Soon the children named the rabbits, each having their favorite.
Early one morning Byron woke up to the children shouting, "Dad, Dad there's a bear in the yard. It's chasing our rabbits!" Byron jumped out of bed and ran down the stairs in time to see a black bear almost catch a rabbit. As soon as the bear got close to a rabbit, the children pleaded, "Please don't catch my rabbit." Everyone was afraid the bear would catch "his" favorite rabbit.
The rabbits scattered to find hiding places and the bear finally gave up his pursuit. Cautiously, Byron opened the door and went outside to chase the bear away. The score after the chase was over: bear - 0; rabbits - still a multitude. This scenario was repeated a number of times, always with the same out come. No matter how many times the bear was chased away, he kept returning. One day the bear's game took a different turn. Ben accidentally bumped the window. The bear stopped chasing the rabbits, came directly to the house, stood on his hind legs, and pressed his large paws against the window.
Byron realized the bear was a hazard to his family. If the bear was bold enough to approach the house, a permanent solution was needed. For the safety of his family, Byron shot the bear.
Now that the black bear was no longer a threat, the children could play outside once again. Life quickly settled back into a normal routine, but the Kincaid family adventures were far from over.
The next episode took place while Byron was away on a hunting trip. Linda finished teaching her last piano student of the day. Instead of fixing dinner, she decided to take advantage of the quiet. While the children and a friend played in the tree fort, Linda sat down at the piano to spend some uninterrupted time playing.
Suddenly, with a sense of urgency, Linda stopped playing the piano and went to the backdoor. "Come in the house RIGHT NOW," shouted Linda to her children. Four obedient children responded immediately to their mother's urgent call. The children's friend asked if he could continue playing in the treasured tree fort. "No," Linda abruptly responded, "You can't stay. I want you to go home right now." The young boy realized that arguing was useless and reluctantly went home.
As the children were coming into the house, Linda looked out the window. She gasped at the sight of a 250-pound brown bear cub walking out of the woods. Only minutes before the children had been playing at that very spot where the bear emerged. Frantically, Linda shouted, "Is everyone in the house?" Reassured all four children were in the house, she called out, "Come here, you have to see this." As they watched the bear, a second cub came out of the woods. Twins, how exciting! When the third cub joined the others bears, the family was speechless.
The triplets quickly discovered the trampoline and easily tore off cover. No, they didn't climb up and jump on the trampoline; they preferred playing underneath and around it. Watching the three playful cubs was exciting. Linda shuddered as she looked at her precious children, "What if I hadn't called them...?"
As she glanced back at the tree fort, Linda cried out in disbelief, "Oh, No!" Mama bear was coming out of the woods and she was enormous! She was nine-and a-half feet tall weighing approximately eleven hundred pounds! The four Alaska brown bears were a magnificent sight! Yet, those bears could have easily killed all five children. Linda was still shivering as she thought of what could have happened.
Was it women's intuition that caused Linda to call the children? No, I believe, it was God's divine providence that saved the children's lives. God was at work protecting His children. The Psalmist said, "For thou, LORD, wilt bless the righteous; with favor wilt thou compass him as with a shield" (5:12). [From Keystone Baptist by Mabel R. Flatt]
