TWO SNAKES AND A FISHING POLE

There I was, minding my own business. Fishing in the creek, anticipating that unmistakable jerk on my line that would send my heart racing as I would frantically try to grab hold of the fish before it could get off my hook. It was the middle of the day, and the sun was high in the sky. It was early summer so it wasn’t hot. The trees were green and the sky was blue with only a few small clouds. The air was fresh and clean, and there was a small breeze blowing. That’s when it happened. All of a sudden, I heard a strange noise. It sounded something like air leaking from a tire.

As I turned to see what it was, I couldn’t believe my eyes. There in the field of sage grass, bitter-weed, and cow patties was a pretty good-sized green snake with its head raised above the grass, about a foot in the air. Directly behind it was a larger black snake with its head raised up in the air. It was chasing the green snake and they were both moving pretty fast. I had never seen a snake moving that fast before, and I’ve never witnessed it again.

I don’t know what was going on in either one of their minds. I don’t know if they were playing, or if the green snake was being bullied, or if it had done something to the black snake to deserve whatever it got. All I could see was one of God’s creatures about to be killed and eaten by a larger predator. I had to help.

Everything happened so fast, I’m amazed that I even had time to think, much less time to react, but with my mouth wide open, my eyes bugged out and my heart racing, it occurred to me that there was only one thing I could do. I ran behind them and threw my fishing pole at the black snake. I missed, but I accomplished my goal of distracting the pursuer. The green snake escaped as the black one turned and slithered off into the creek. That was a day I’ll never forget.

Remembering that incident reminds me of something else. The Bible equates Satan to a snake. In a sense, he’s always chasing us, trying to compel us to sin, and ultimately lead us away from God. The Apostle Peter says Satan wants to devour us or swallow us up (1 Pet. 5:8). All he really has to do is distract us from the true path and get our attention off Jesus and on worldly things. Things like music, movies, TV, games, and other things that have nothing to do with God, but promote worldly values. He also distracts us by getting us to focus on things that cause us stress, like our finances, our health, ourselves in general, and a number of other things that can keep us from focusing on God. In verses 9-10, Peter tells us to resist the devil with strong faith, and God will give us strength and peace.

The key to life, both here and in the world to come, is Jesus. That relationship means everything, and there’s more to it than some people teach. Believing Jesus exists is not enough (James 2:19). We have to believe IN him (John 3:16). He has to be living in us (John 14:26; Titus 3:5).

For any of this can take place, we have to be born again (John 3:7). I think that’s why there are so many “Christians” still living just like they did before they were baptized. Many of them haven’t had that new birth experience. It happens more often than you would think. It happened to me. I was a “Christian” for years before I was born again and I’ve heard similar stories from others. Many are misinformed as to what it takes to be saved. It involves more than just repeating a prayer and being baptized. We have to be sorry for our sins and commit to turning away from them. That’s repentance. Without repentance, we can not be born again. If we’re not born again, we will not enter the kingdom of God (John 3:3, 5).

Have you been born again? Give it some serious thought today. That’s something you should be sure of (1 John 5:13). It’s something to seriously consider if we want to make it to heaven. For more details, read “What Must I Do To Be Saved?”

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FAMILY

Winter can be so beautiful sometimes. I love to see the ground and trees covered with snow. Everything is so defined. It seems you can see for miles through the woods where you usually are only able to see a short distance. This is about the only time I can appreciate winter. Most of the time I’m just wishing spring would show up and chase the cold away. I can live with the few times each year that it snows where I live, but what I really hate is the ice that winter often brings. Even then, it can be beautiful, but traveling is dangerous, and at times, impossible. Trees fall down, and roads and bridges ice over, causing wrecks. The electricity often goes off, leaving some cold and in the dark, sometimes for days or even weeks. The winter months can be harsh and bitter, depending on where you live, but if you look, you can always find a silver lining behind those winter clouds.

A few years ago we lost our electricity because of the ice. It was only for a few hours, but we didn’t have any idea how long it would be out. I felt so helpless. All I could do was call the electric company, pray, and wait. We sat down to eat just as it was getting dark. We lit some candles and a lamp and shared a candlelight supper. Then when the lights came back on, we played a game of Scattergories. It was a good evening of family fun. We laughed, we cried, and we laughed some more. We had a great time just being together with nothing to distract us. The electricity going out was a good thing because it gave us some extra time to enjoy being together as a family.

In today’s busy world with all the things we have to distract us, families are drifting further and further apart. We see it every day, and each year it just gets worse, but what many people don’t see is that it’s Satan’s plan to destroy the family. Family keeps us grounded. Family gives us stability and knowing that someone loves us and cares for us keeps us on the right track. Just look at what kind of trouble people get into when they don’t have family to rely on and to keep them headed in the right direction. Especially young people.

God created the family for a reason. Nothing happens by chance, yet so many want to believe that we evolved from a rock over millions of years. God is intentional. He knows what he’s doing. The Bible tells us, in the book of Genesis, that God created our galaxy, the earth, the ocean, the trees, the plants and animals and everything else. Then he told Adam and Eve to start a family (Genesis 1:1-28).

Family is important to God. Before he sent the flood to cleanse the earth from sin, he told Noah to build an ark to save his family (Genesis 6 and 7). Before he destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, he sent angels to bring Lot and his family out of the city (Genesis 19). When he destroyed Jericho, he saved Rehab and her family (Joshua 2) and there are many more examples in God’s word where God preserves the family.

We need to learn to follow God’s leading. If family is important to God, it should be important to us. Families need to spend more time together and learn to support each other, not just when times get rough, or when we lose a family member. Too often, this is the only time some families can act civil. It shouldn’t take a death in the family to get people to be nice to each other.

Family is one of those things that God has programmed into our instincts but we need to be intentional about preserving relationships. The way things are in the world today, it breeds selfishness in all of us. We don’t take time for the family like we should, and some don’t even think it's important anymore, but God does. If he does, shouldn’t we?

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My Blogs
https://teddylynn.blogspot.com
https://teddylynn.wordpress.com

© 2015 Teddy Lynn – All Rights Reserved

My books are available in paperback and digital format on Amazon @ 
https://www.amazon.com/Teddy-Lynn/e/B01MZDB6L6