Hello,
A couple of years
ago, my wife decided that we would be farmers…well, small farmers…raising 8
chickens. We are in our second round of
chickens, the first set having met their maker either by the jaws of my dog or
the knife of a butcher (my youngest son).
As is supposed to happen, each chicken lays an egg a day giving us quite
a supply of fresh eggs.
Early this week my
wife went down to retrieve her daily harvest of eggs, and as she was opening
the coop she noticed something moving at her feet. Looking down she spotted a hopeful visitor, a
six foot black snake likewise looking for eggs!
After a screech of surprise, she gathered up her courage and a long
stick and tried to encourage the snake to leave. It had no intention to do so. So, with the bravery of the likes of Captain
America she approached the snake, stick in hand, with the intent of
transporting the snake at the end of her LONG stick. It worked.
She hooked the snake on the stick and carried it over to the tall grass
where it slithered away. Hoorah for the
good guys!
The coast now
clear she returned to the coop to fulfill her initial intent of gathering
eggs. There are laying boxes on both
sides of the coop with roofs that can be lifted to provide access to the
eggs. She opened the roof on the one
side and found no eggs in either box.
So, she shut the lid and went to the other side in hopes of a different
result, which proved to be true. For as
she lifted the roof to the laying box, there to greet her face to face was another
snake. A scream and the slam of the lid
echoed in the valley.
Mustering up
doubled courage, she grabbed another stick, necessarily shorter, in hopes of
hooking this trespasser. With surgical
precision, she snagged the snaked and was lifting it out of the laying box when
it squirmed off the stick and fell into the neighboring laying box that housed
various tools that she uses for coop maintenance. Hidden under the tools, she resolved to keep
the lid pried open, hoping that the snake would determine its unwelcome and
leave.
It so happened
that I was away during this hair-raising event, but when I got home the story
was recounted to me with the final sentence being, “Would you go down there and
see if you can get that snake out?”
Snake bravery is not in my bones.
Nonetheless, I went to the garage and secured a hoe, thinking that would
be a more secure means of hooking the snake.
Slowly I approached the coop and carefully peeked into the laying box…..and….no
snake! It had taken leave of the coop by
itself. Relief blanketed me.
A study on prayer
was done some years ago, comparing the content of prayers between developed and
undeveloped countries, and an interesting difference was found. In developed countries prayers were more
likely to ask that trouble not come one’s way, and if it did that God would get
rid of it in the prayer’s life. In
undeveloped countries, those who prayed also asked that trouble would not come
their way, but if it did that God would give the prayer courage and strength to
deal with that trouble.
Our recent snake
adventure seems to indicate the wisdom of those prayers from undeveloped
countries. “Snakes” do lurk all around us,
often catching us off-guard and by surprise. Sometimes they leave….thank
God!....but sometimes, maybe most times, they hang around, and like trespassing vipers
come back over and over again….God, give us courage and strength to deal with
those snakes!
Have a great week.
God’s grace and peace,
Pastor Jerry Nuernberger
No comments:
Post a Comment