THE LIZARD, THE SNAKE, AND THE SEA DRAGON

More memories from my early days at Gift school have resurfaced. I remember getting up in the mornings, getting ready for school, and getting on the bus in the winter while it was still dark. My first-grade teacher’s name was Miss Gay, and her mother, Mrs. Minnie V was my second, and third-grade teacher. Both the second and third-grade classes were in the same room together, so I don’t really remember which grade I was in the year I’m telling you about. I just know it was one of those two.

It was the first day of school and the bus stopped at a house where it had not stopped the year before. A small kid was waiting there at the end of the driveway. His dad was waiting there with him to see him off to school on his first day. He was just starting the first grade, and evidently, he was a little nervous about riding the bus. He started crying, and screaming, “I don’t wanna go, I don’t wanna go.” He became hysterical. His dad tried to calm him down and convince him to get on the bus, but it didn’t do any good. After a few minutes of chaos, he told the bus driver that he would bring the kid to school, and we moved on to the next stop.

Every morning when we arrived at the school, the bus would ease up to the driveway and stop in front of the school. It was a big red, brick building with wide concrete steps that went up to the second floor to a wider concrete porch with big columns. The doors opened into a big auditorium with a tongue-and-groove hardwood floor that creaked and squeaked when we walked on it. There was a stage on the opposite wall that faced the front door, and classrooms on each side. The Principle’s office, and the storage room, for the chairs and other miscellaneous stuff, shared the wall with the stage.

I can recall several events that were held in that auditorium. We had our Christmas plays there, and our song practicing for the plays. Parent’s night and graduations were held there. Then there was that Fall Festival with a King and Queen contest that my sister was crowned queen in. When it was raining or was too cold to be outside, the second through eighth-grade students could play and hang out in that big area.

One day we had two special guests in the auditorium that many of us were excited to see. A group of people brought a giant lizard and a giant snake to show off. I don’t remember exactly what kind either of them was, but they were both the same color, a dark shiny black, which I found pretty interesting. The lizard looked just like the snake, but without legs, and it was shorter.

They put a table in front of the stage and sat the lizard on it and let us come up and pet it. Then they took the snake and stretched it out to show us how long it was. From what I can remember, I would say it was probably ten to twelve feet long and about as big around as a basketball. It took three men to pick it up. It was huge.

I remembered hearing about a snake that was so big it swallowed a baby whole. I wondered if it could have been that snake. After I was older I realized that was not the only large snake in the world, and it was certainly not the biggest. I’ve since heard of snakes swallowing grown men and large animals, such as deer and cows.

When I was young, I always loved seeing the different creatures that God has created, especially the ones I had never seen before. I miss that feeling of seeing a creature for the first time, but once in a while, I get to see one I’ve never seen before. I recently saw the most amazing creature I have seen in many years. We went to the zoo for the blue-millionth time. I’ve seen all those old broken down animals and all the same kinds of creatures that they have had for the last twenty years, but it’s fun to watch our grandson as he sees them live for the first time.

He loves to fish, so we went into the aquarium building. We looked at the fish, of course. There are so many fish that are so beautiful and colorful that seeing them never gets old. Then we saw the water turtles and the water snakes and eels, and all the strange creatures that live in the water. But then, I saw something I don’t remember ever seeing in my whole life. It was a sea dragon. Its head reminded me a little of a seahorse. It was beautiful. I was so amazed. I couldn’t look away. Even more amazing, it was just sitting there in one spot without moving. As I examined it I saw little fins moving to keep it suspended in one spot. It was so awesome. I couldn’t stop thinking about it. When we got home I looked it up on the internet and found that there are several different kinds and many variations, both in shape and color. Very fascinating.

God has created some amazing creatures in this world, and there are so many. I know I haven’t seen them all, and I probably never will in my lifetime, but one day, after God wipes the curse of sin from the earth and recreates it, we will have eternity to enjoy all of his creations (Isaiah 65:17; Revelation 21:1; 2 Peter 3:13).

In 1 Corinthians 2:9, the Apostle Paul, quoting the Prophet Isaiah said, But as it is written, Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the minds of man, the things that God has prepared for those who love him (Isaiah 64:4; 1 Cor. 2:9).

I have a very big imagination, and I can imagine some pretty amazing things, but God is telling us that nothing we could ever imagine could ever come close to the things that God has prepared for us. That’s an amazing thought just by itself, so think about it for a while.

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THE MONSTER OUTSIDE MY WINDOW

It was early in the morning; maybe two o'clock. I was startled from sleep by a noise. It sounded like something big ran into the corner of the house outside my room. Still half asleep, I thought the worst. In my mind, I pictured some kind of monster. I could only imagine what he looked like, but I could actually hear him breathing loudly, and fast. He must have been running for a while before he ran into the house. Maybe he was just resting for a minute or two, then he would move on. My bed was in the corner of the room, and there was a small window above the headboard of my bed.

I was lying on my back with the covers up to my nose with my mouth covered with everything under the covers except my eyes. I was scared to death. I couldn’t move. I was literally paralyzed with fear. I was afraid the monster was looking in the small window above my bed, so I was afraid to move. I wanted to jump up and run for my life, but I was literally paralyzed with fear. My heart was beating so fast and so hard that I was actually in pain. I was scared to death.

I laid there for what seemed like forever before I was finally able to gain just enough courage to throw back the covers and jump out of bed. When I looked back at the window, there was nothing there. What a relief. I started to calm down and I began thinking a bit more clearly.

When I crawled back into bed and pulled the covers back up over my face, I realized where the heavy breathing was coming from. It was me. I felt so stupid. Remember, I had my face covered. My mouth and nose and part of my ears were all under the cover. As for the noise I heard, it could have been anything, or it could have been nothing. After all, I was asleep when I heard it. Since then, on several occasions, my neck has popped and made a loud noise in my head, usually when I was lying in bed. I’ve learned that we often imagine things, and our mind actually blows it way out of proportion. Like mine did that time.

There was a similar incident, another time when I was older. We lived in an old house that had been remodeled. The last man who lived there died there, and rumors were floating around that the house was haunted. I was in my room one day with my headphones on, remixing a song on my fancy dual cassette recorder. All of a sudden, out of the corner of my eye, I saw my bed start shaking. I quickly turned to see what was on my bed but there was nothing there. I threw my headphones off and started to jump up to run out of the room. When I turned around toward the door, there stood my sister’s husband laughing his head off. He had accomplished his goal, though. I was terrified. I had thought the worst.

Sometime later, in the same house, I woke up in the middle of the night and I couldn’t feel my arms. I couldn’t move them either. I didn’t know what was happening so it scared me to death. I couldn’t throw the covers off so I got out of bed the best way I could. My feet got tangled up in the covers and I fell to the floor on my knees. Since I had no control of my arms, I couldn’t put them out to catch myself, so I ended up with my face on the floor as well.

Did I mention that I was screaming the whole time? Well, I was, and that brought everybody in the house running into my room thinking a ghost was attacking me. I had started a new job that week that required me to open and close my hands repeatedly throughout the day. My muscles were having spasms and my arms were numb because of the pressure of the swollen muscles on my nerves. My point is, I was afraid. I don’t like being afraid. It’s not a natural thing. It’s painful, both mentally and physically.

I know some people believe fear is a natural thing because every human will experience it at some point in their lives. Some say that fear is healthy in certain situations, like being afraid of a snake, but just because something happens to everyone doesn’t mean it’s natural. It’s wise to be cautious around snakes, and in many other situations, but we don’t need fear to be cautious. In fact, God’s word tells us that fear is not a natural thing. And as for it being healthy, anything that doesn’t come from God is not healthy, and the Bible says fear does not come from God.

2 Timothy 1:7 
7 For God has not given us the spirit of fear, but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.

Fear is a monster, but it’s not outside our windows, or in our bedrooms. Fear is in our minds, and it’s placed there by Satan and his evil angels. Fear does not produce sound minds. Fear leads to broken minds. Just look at the majority of people with mental illness. Fear consumes their minds, and that’s not what God wants at all. Fear does not come from God, and it is not healthy at all.

On several occasions, Jesus told his followers not to be afraid. In the King James Bible, the phrase “Fear Not” is recorded sixty-two times. God doesn’t want us to be afraid. With God on our side, there’s no need for fear. The Apostle Paul said, “If God is for us, who can be against us? (Romans 8:31). We need to trust God. A close personal relationship with Jesus, the Prince of peace, is vital if we want to purge fear from our minds. If you don’t have that, all you have to do is ask. Peace is only a prayer away.

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

© 2017 Teddy Lynn – All Rights Reserved

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