I’ve heard it said that hurting people, hurt people. I have also known this statement to be true personally, as I’ve experienced both sides of this coin. Sometimes I’ve been the one who has caused the pain. But other times, the pain has come from outside sources. Namely, people both saved and unsaved, who have not yet experienced all the inner healing that Jesus Christ offers.

Since Jesus commissioned us to go into the world and preach the gospel, it is not right that we back away from those who might hurt us. And yet, that’s exactly what I did. Not purposely mind you, but more out of an instinctual desire to protect myself. That is, until the Lord gave me a visual picture. Let me explain:

My husband and I recently took our mothers on a Western Caribbean cruise, which stopped in Grand Cayman Islands. For our excursion, we decided to go to the world famous Stingray City; a sandbar in the Northern Sound where we were encouraged to swim, snorkel with, pet and feed these marvelous creatures.

Now prior to arriving at the sandbar, I was excited, yet calm, having anticipated that these stingrays were tamed. I had expected that their poisonous barbs had been removed for our safety, and that even though we would be in the middle of the Caribbean Sea, somehow these particular ones would have been secured in an area specifically for this purpose.

To my surprise, all my imaginations were wrong. Their lethal spines had not been removed, and no, there was no holding pen for the ones familiar with this expedition. Even more, we were not given any means of protection to safeguard our bodies against a fatal blow, similar to the one that took the life of Australian television personality, Steve Irwin.

Talk about being nervous! Now that we were anchored and ready to disembark, I was scared, plain and simple. Even from the security of the boat, the dark shadows moving about looked huge and menacing. But in my mind, if you pay good money for something, you might as well get your money’s worth.

So after much prayer, I cautiously stepped off the ladder and into the clear waters below. Surprisingly, it wasn’t bad at first. I mean my companions and I were only in three to four feet of water and there weren’t that many rays around. In fact they pretty much did their own thing, brushing alongside our legs only occasionally. But as soon as the bait bucket full of octopus chunks was placed in our midst and the guides starting feeding them, that‘s when the frenzy began. All of a sudden, like on cue, stingrays up to five feet across approached at rapid-fire pace seeking to devour the bait held just below the surface. How they all knew to come at once I had no idea, but suddenly I was in the middle of a mass of fins and tails, trying not to lose my balance. The last thing I wanted was to step on one of those barbs.

I don’t recall whether I was screaming or giggling more, but after a while my curiosity got the best of me, and I too reached in for a big slimy piece of octopus. I had been instructed on how to hold it, and so I knew that they would swim over the top of my hand and suction it away with their mouths.

Oh what a feeling it was when I finally got the courage to reach out to them! To have a wild animal come close and pull irresistibly at what I offered in my hand; it was amazing. In fact, it affected me so deeply, that after that I just couldn’t get enough of them. I not only fed them one after the other, but I learned how to hold them, touch them and even kiss them. They were so smooth that I even got a back massage from one of them! It was one of the best experiences of my life. Something I’ll surely never forget.

Yet, there was more in store for me, for upon returning home, God pointed out a few things to me: He showed me that the stingrays were symbolic of people in this world who have been hurt, therefore hurting others in return. The hands that they were drawn to were like those of Christians who offer life-sustaining food to the hungry. And the name of the food they offered was Jesus.

He then revealed that in my own life, He also placed hurting people: ’stingrays’ that He wanted me to feed with the love of Christ. The only problem was that I was more concerned about myself than I was about them. I had gotten into the habit of looking after my own safety, instead of being focused on their needs. Rather than put my life on the line for their sake, I tried to stay in the boat and love them from a distance. I didn’t want to get too close for fear that I might be bowled over in their attempt to get satisfied. Besides, I certainly didn‘t want to get hurt in the process.

But then I felt impressed that God said, “Don’t you know that you can’t feed stingrays from a boat if you want to get up close and personal? You have to get in the water with them.”

I don’t know about you, but I’m sure glad I took the chance..

Take a chance, and you’ll also see that wild things can be tamed when fed. Just feed them the love of God.

For as written in John 15:12, “My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you“.