10/13/2026
The Anchor
One bull moose in Montana recently found out that if you don’t know how to skate, you should stay out of skate parks. The wandering animal fell into a skate bowl (a concrete structure that’s essentially an empty swimming pool with curved walls).
However, the moose quickly discovered that it was hopelessly stuck. The poor beast exhausted itself, trying in vain to climb up the slippery concrete walls. Red Lodge locals luckily noticed very quickly that their favorite moose had gotten itself into trouble. They called the authorities for help shortly after the moose fell into the pool.
Rescuers arrived, but that wasn’t the end of the story. Pulling a full-grown bull moose out of a swimming pool is not the easiest task in the world.
Initially, the rescuers – consisting of people from Montana wildlife services and the local fire and police departments – tried helping the moose help itself. They laid down tarps and tried to rig up structures that would allow the moose to climb out on its own. That didn’t work.
So, then they attempted to build a big cushion on which the moose could lie down and get pulled out. That didn’t work, either.
Eventually, it was determined that the moose had to be sedated and dragged out of the bowl. The police cordoned off the area while the wildlife agents brought out a tranquilizer gun and shot a dart at the moose. It turns out that it takes quite a while for sedatives to work on a ginormous moose.
Finally, the moose fell asleep. Wildlife authorities pushed the snoozing giant on a tarp, and then a dozen people spent a good while hauling him out of the bowl.
Some five hours after it fell into the pool, the moose was out. Wildlife officials loaded him onto a trailer and took him outside of town.
Fortunately, the tale has a happy ending, and the moose was returned to the woods, no worse for wear.
How does that equate to you? Thank you for asking!
How often to we find that we have gotten ourselves into a really bad situation that we absolutely cannot get out of on our own? More often than not, we have actually arrived at the ‘bad situation’ because of our very own decisions! We (like our moose friend) might see something that looks pretty interesting. (A skate bowl would definitely not be something that a forest creature would normally see.) BUT - just because it looks interesting, and just because it appears to be harmless, and just because noone stopped you, that does not mean it will be a great experience!
AND - although we are great at walking into situations that we shouldn’t, we are even better at NOT being able to ‘save’ ourselves.
So, yes - we are exactly like our moose friend. We need help! And sometimes the first attempt to rescue us fails because - we are in TOO DEEP.
Hmmm...
BUT GOD, always knows the need, and always has a plan.
So, keep in mind - don’t give up, just keep praying! God knows exactly how ‘deep’ you have fallen, and He knows just how to bring you back up!
Last - remember where God has brought you from, and don’t climb back into the same situation again!
Moose do not belong in skate bowls. You do not belong in self-made messes.
Stay alert. Stay faithful. Stay strong.
Terresa Hale
