I moved to the Winston-Salem area a little over a decade ago. Within the first few weeks of being here, I was fortunate to find what feels like an oasis on the outskirts of the city. The Poindexter Preserve at Bethabara Park, or as I like to call it the Bethabara Marsh, quickly became my go to spot in town…

…As the operation tempo increased, I became desensitized to the landscape around me and the children seemed to be the only things that could occasionally snap me back out of it. “We decided at a certain point that we were already dead and it was useless to fight it,” said Jacob Young, a fellow gun truck operator, when asked about a picture I took of him with a label for a body bag stuck to his chest. We were just kids having to deal with the very real fact that we may not be as invincible as we previously thought. Every day could be our last and at a point, we all just stopped caring and started making jokes. Amazingly, we were all able to come home in one piece, which is a rarity given the mission we had.

A little over a decade ago I found myself up to my shins in water that was barely above freezing. To most people this spot was just a swamp, or a glorified mud puddle at best. To me it was heaven. Cold, but divine. I’ve been fascinated with the mystery of nature for as long as I can remember. It seems the solace and wisdom provided by the wild has always been a comfort to me. I often hear from God when I’m in these quiet places. On this particular afternoon so many years ago, I had a revelation.

As I held a little marbled salamander larva in my hand, I had a thought that connected my newly acquired faith to my long-acquainted love for the outdoors. Marbled salamanders, like all amphibians, go through a complex life cycle. These amazing animals will emerge from their underground haunts in early autumn and collect en mass in breeding pools called ephemeral wetlands. These temporary pools provide all the requirements necessary for marbled salamanders and other amphibians to breed. The females will guard their eggs until the cold rains begin to fill the pools. As soon as the eggs are submerged under water they begin to hatch and the adults retreat back to their underground homes.

The revelation I had while holding that new larval salamander was that just like amphibians, we as believers also go through a period of metamorphosis once we are introduced to that living water. 2 Corinthians 5:17 says “therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation, the old has gone and the new has come.” If you look at where the salamander begins their journey and where they end up you would see that what appears to be a whole new creature.

The larval form of this salamander has gills and swims in the water eating algae whereas the adults live on land, breathing air from their lungs while eating invertebrates. This doesn’t happen overnight. Our walk with God, and transformation as believers in Christ, takes time and is a “long obedience in the same direction” to quote Eugene Peterson.

Just like the salamander, you don’t have to have it all figured out right away. Our faith is a process and the Lord has established conditions and environments for us to grow. Sometimes growth looks like a swamp in a low spot in the woods. Before you get discouraged, remember that swamps are teeming with life, if only you know where to look.

Cindy Farmer from Fox 8 WGHP interviewed Daniel and I about our film “Hammer Down".”