Snakes
Josh Knipple strikes again with his humor and his great teaching. Love it, don’t let it slip past you!
“God, I pray that my grandkids would see a turtle and a snake.” Wait, what? Did I really just hear him correctly. You may have to double take reading that, but that was my dad’s prayer last week while we were at camp. It was definitely not quite your typical prayer request, but it gives you a glimpse into his personality and where I get some of my quirks from. When he was praying it, he also didn't realize that the day before we had actually already seen a turtle while playing in the creek. Next thing you know the kids are all pulling out my phone to show him the pictures of the yellow and black turtle they had found. So as we are walking back to go “Creek-stomping” again, he started laughing going, “I guess it is time for the snake today.” Luckily none of the 6 grandkids were around at that point or they probably would have taken off screaming.
About a half hour later as we are all about knee deep in water, building our own little dam and spillway area, Eli starts taking charge. Acting like the foreman on a worksite bossing out orders. “We got a leak here. Silas, we need some more rocks there. Sissies, (As he calls his twin sisters) we need some mud added to this soft spot. Mara, Aiden we need to pressure test.” They are all completely focused now on the task ahead of them, as there little project has now reached about a foot high or so. Hundreds of rocks later, with a few tree branches mixed in, you could see the water pooling up, and slowing over the new spillway. Success, almost…. Then their brave foreman let out an ear popping scream. You would have thought that he had seen a bear or mountain lion. Next thing you know all the kids are fleeing the water, running as fast as they can to the trail. “Snakes, snakes, it’s infested” Eli began to shout. At this point my dad was standing on the shore just laughing away as he had seen the whole occurence. “Guys, it was a 3 inch water-snake, and it took off from you as fast as you ran from it.” That statement was not going to calm them down quite so easy. Even though it was just a tiny water-snake, in their minds, it may have well been a 3 foot rattler. “Abandon the site, abandon the site.” The fear in their minds had now set in. We tried to get them back working on their project again, but no matter how much convincing we tried, that snake had taken over their thoughts.
As I sit here now thinking about that moment, I can’t help but laugh. How such a small thing can throw us off when we allow our fears to take over. I have to wonder though, how often does Satan use the same tactic. We are going through life, trusting God with what He has in store for us. Out of nowhere, something comes along the path, that places fear into our minds and we let worse case scenarios take over. A medical diagnosis, a problem at work, a noise we heard in our room, a post on social media that was designed to scare you. Next thing you know, you go from being the brave foreman, leading the way, to being scared out of your mind. No way God, can’t do it. You see the path but the fears won’t allow you to even step foot into what He has for you. How many times do we give Satan way more credit than what he truly deserves, being a water-snake and we are allowing him to be the rattler in your mind consuming you.
Please hear me on this, Scripture tells us that Satan is a deceiver. A fake, a liar. I Peter 5:8 tells us that he is like a roaring lion. Did you catch that, he is like… but he isn’t one. He is an imposter. How many of us give him credit though like he truly is a roaring lion. Our fears of him take over. What you have to understand is that in Christ you have the true lion living within. The Lion of Judah. Jesus Christ himself, and we are told to be bold. For God did not give you a spirit of timidity, but of boldness. So next time you start allowing fear to take over remember that fear is just a lil kitty cat that you can pick up and punt across the room. He is just a lil 3 inch water-snake, not something to be scared of when you have the Spirit or God within.
Acts 1:8 tells us that you will receive power. Let’s learn to live in that power, stepping forth into what God has called us to, whether it be building a dam, loving a neighbor, serving the broken or who knows what else. What fear is it today that is stopping you from stepping out. Take a moment right now and in the privacy of your own home, draw in a deep breath and let out your greatest lion roar, and watch that little kitty cat flee.
Make it a Tenacious Tuesday! God is good…