When I was a boy, I mowed lawns and kept grounds for a retired Seventh-day Adventist missionary named Eric Beavon. He used to tell me stories about his adventures with the natives and the wild life in far away Africa. Once while hiking through a marshy area, he and the natives with him were charged by an angry rhino. The natives scattered, and Beavon scrambled up the nearest 20 or 30 foot tree to make his escape. It wasn’t until after the nearly-blind rhino had thundered by, flinging wads of swamp grass and mud in his passing, that the missionary noticed the tree he was perched in was covered with two inch long thorns!

This little lyric is just for fun, but does metaphorically speak of my own situation in less exotic locals on any number of occasions. A Bible promise I’ve always valued and found to be true says, “No weapon that is formed against you will prosper; and every tongue that accuses you in judgment, you will condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, and their vindication is from Me, declares the Lord.”

Sometimes, its best to simply wait, let things unfold below as they will, and spend the quality time provided talking with God.

The Lions Chased Me Up This Tree
(But Good Lord, What a View!)

The lions chased me up this tree,
But Good Lord, what a view!
I think I’ll sit up here awhile,
And have a chat with You.
They circle there below me,
To see what I will do.
The lions chased me up this tree,
But Good Lord, what a view!

I can see striped zebras
At the water hole–
Where crocodiles lie lurking
To snag them by the nose.
I can see the giraffe’s tongue,
Licking tree top leaves.
Its purple and its two feet long–
No French Kiss for me!

The lions chased me up this tree,
But Good Lord, what a view!
I think I’ll sit up here awhile,
And have a chat with You.
They circle there below me,
To see what I will do.
The lions chased me up this tree,
But Good Lord, what a view!

I can see great elephants
Wallowing in the mud.
They’re squirting at each other
Dirty river crud.
I can see the rhino–
I’m glad he can’t see me.
I hear big cats snarling,
Down below my tree.

The lions chased me up this tree,
But Good Lord, what a view!
I think I’ll sit up here awhile,
And have a chat with You.
They circle there below me,
To see what I will do.
The lions chased me up this tree,
But Good Lord, what a view!

I hear hyenas laughing,
They lounge below and wait.
They want to lick my bones,
When the lions fix my fate.
I see the vultures circling,
Expecting me to die.
The savanna’s firmly fixed me
In its hungry eye.

The lions chased me up this tree,
But Good Lord, what a view!
I think I’ll sit up here awhile,
And have a chat with You.
They circle there below me,
To see what I will do.
The lions chased me up this tree,
But Good Lord, what a view!

The cannibals are coming,
They’ve spotted me on high.
They shake their spears and arrows,
And ponder, “Boil? Or Fry?”
Now they meet the lions,
As the vultures start to grin.
No matter how things go now,
They know they’re going to win.

The lions chased me up this tree,
But Good Lord, what a view!
They fight and bite there below,
As I chat here with You.
Those vultures will be burping,
Before this day is through.
The lions chased me up this tree,
But Good Lord, what a view!
Those lions chased me up this tree,
But Good Lord, what a view!

c2010 Skip Johnson
All rights reserved