{"id":33947,"date":"2025-07-10T16:03:00","date_gmt":"2025-07-10T16:03:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/family-terrified-when-bear-opens-car-door\/"},"modified":"2025-07-10T16:03:00","modified_gmt":"2025-07-10T16:03:00","slug":"family-terrified-when-bear-opens-car-door","status":"publish","type":"sermon-illustrations","link":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/family-terrified-when-bear-opens-car-door\/","title":{"rendered":"Family Terrified When Bear Opens Car Door"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>A family visiting Yellowstone National Park learned a valuable lesson: bears are smart. While driving in the park, they spotted a black bear on the side of the road and decided to take a few pictures from inside their car. Something they didn&#39;t think about? Locking their car doors.<\/p>\n\n<p>The bear approached the vehicle and &quot;managed to grab ahold of the door handle.&quot; Amidst the screaming of the kids in the backseat, the father managed to shut the door, &quot;but not without effort.&quot;<\/p>\n\n<p>Thankfully, no one was hurt&mdash;but stories like these are helpful reminders that sometimes, even when we feel safe, the dangers surrounding us are more complex than we can understand. Peter tells us that we should &quot;be alert and of sober mind,&quot; because our &quot;enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour&quot; (1 Pet. 5:8).<\/p>","protected":false},"author":30,"featured_media":0,"template":"","tax_ctp_audience":[],"tax_ctp_authors":[],"tax_ctp_categories":[165],"tax_ctp_format":[171],"tax_ctp_illustration_types":[411],"tax_ctp_multimedia":[],"tax_ctp_point_editor":[433],"tax_publications":[140],"tax_ctp_tags":[3406,3415,3422,3597,3731,3775,3903,3977,4254,4482,4849,4883,5043,5064,5158,5222],"tax_ctp_topics":[397],"class_list":["post-33947","sermon-illustrations","type-sermon-illustrations","status-publish","hentry","tax_publications-ct-pastors","tax_ctp_tags-alertness","tax_ctp_tags-animals","tax_ctp_tags-anxiety","tax_ctp_tags-christian-warfare","tax_ctp_tags-danger","tax_ctp_tags-devil","tax_ctp_tags-evil","tax_ctp_tags-fear-of-death","tax_ctp_tags-insecurity","tax_ctp_tags-mistakes","tax_ctp_tags-risk","tax_ctp_tags-satan","tax_ctp_tags-spiritual-discipline","tax_ctp_tags-spiritual-warfare","tax_ctp_tags-threats","tax_ctp_tags-vacation"],"acf":{"scripture_references":[{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null}]},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v22.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Family Terrified When Bear Opens Car Door - CT Pastors<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/family-terrified-when-bear-opens-car-door\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Family Terrified When Bear Opens Car Door - CT Pastors\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A family visiting Yellowstone National Park learned a valuable lesson: bears are smart. 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