BE STILL 

I was raised in a little country church that my granddaddy started. And I’ve heard Psalms 46:10 all my life. But I never knew that one day that verse would save my life… 

As a longtime touring singer/songwriter and guitar player, I’d been out on the road performing for a while, and I couldn’t wait to get home to my family and enjoy the countryside where I live, on land that’s been in my family for four generations. There’s just something about coming home after being gone for a while that always makes it feel like a special holiday. 

It was a beautiful, cool, sunshiny February day in Georgia, and I hadn’t walked down that familiar stretch of road near home for some time, so I thought it would be good to get out, get some exercise, and enjoy the day.

I love looking at the trees and the sky and feeling a closeness with God when I’m by myself in such a beautiful setting. I’ve always had a deep connection to this precious land, and the creative parts of me seem to kick into high gear when I’m on it. In fact, I’ve started writing many songs walking down that country road. It has always been a special time for me.  

I had walked that road for over forty years, and it was such a big part of my existence. On this February day, I had walked a mile and turned around where I always do and had started back toward home. When I had gone about half a mile, three big dogs came out of nowhere and started barking and following me closely. I tried to ignore them and not look them in the eye hoping that would help. I’ve always heard that it would. But it didn’t.

The dogs lunged at me from behind and all of them started biting my legs. One of them even bit down so deeply that it hung on for a while, teeth deep into the muscle, even as I tried to lift my leg to get away. All those years walking that road I’d never carried a stick, or a cell phone, so I turned to see if I could find something laying on the ground to defend myself. Then the dogs grabbed my arm and wrist and knocked me to the ground. Then they yanked off one of my shoes, and started chewing on my ankle. 

There I was on the ground in a wet ditch of weeds, crawling and clawing around, trying to find a stick or something to help me defend myself. I found a small stick that was part of a vine, but in that moment it seemed a lot bigger. I just needed some kind of protection, though I wasn’t sure it would really help. But maybe it would bring a little comfort to have something in my hand at this terrifying moment.

The dogs started to play with the shoe they had yanked off, so for a minute I was thankful that they were distracted. Sitting in the ditch with my knees up to my chin, in an effort to protect my face the best I could, I had a decision to make. Should I jump up and run and hopefully be able to get away from them, or should I just sit there?

All of a sudden, something spoke to me clearly. I heard a voice say “Be still”.  

I thought “Really?! Be still and sit here with these dogs looking at me eye to eye?!”  

But that’s what I did. Sitting there, defenseless, I tried to cover my neck with my bleeding arm, holding that little stick in front of my face, in hopes that someone would drive by and see me, and help me.  

The dogs continued to play with my shoe as if it were a doggie toy, chewing it and throwing it up in the air and catching it. Then they’d line up right in front of my face, only inches away, showing me their teeth, growling and barking. They’d already bitten me many times and there was a lot of blood, but they never touched me while I sat with them, and they could have easily finished me off.