THE THIEF

I held my empty egg carton in my hand as I made my morning rounds to the chicken coop. I had been getting about seven eggs per day but for the past two days that number had dwindled down to just one. I had blamed the lack of eggs on any number of things from the chicken not getting enough sunlight to the fact that maybe they were molting and it is a seasonal thing. Still I went out each morning to check for the farm fresh eggs for my breakfast. I had high hopes that this day things would be back to normal.
I approached the coop unafraid because I had done this so often, after all this was my normal routine. The sky was overcast that day and the lack of sunshine did cast shadows in the coop. The dark shadow hovered around the base of the nesting boxes. As I stretched forth my hand in the direction of where I expected the eggs to be I saw something that stopped me dead in my tracks. I dropped my empty carton and ran out of the coop as fast as I could. I hadn’t even stopped to look back. What I thought was a shadow was really a large black snake!

I told my husband about the snake and he marched into the coop, grabbed the snake by the tail and flung it out into the pasture. As that snake went hurling into the air what spewed out of his mouth was bright yellow egg yolk. I was duly impressed with this act of bravery until he informed me, “You do know that black snakes are harmless don’t you?” I did not care if it was harmless. It looked menacing and it stood between me and what I wanted… the eggs.

Back in the house over breakfast my husband related a story to me about an encounter with another snake he had when he was twelve years old. He had been living in Arizona and went out to fish the mountain streams. Being a boy scout he was always prepared so he took along a knife and a BB gun. He had caught several fish and put them on a stringer which he draped around his neck. In one hand he held a fishing pole and the other one he held his BB gun. The forest area that he had to pass through was dark except for a single stream of light that shone on one area of the path. There the light shone down directly on a rattlesnake that was between him and home. He knew if he ever wanted to get home he would have to deal with that snake.

He put down the fishing pole; aimed his BB gun at the snake’s head and shot it 23 times. He then took out his knife and cut off the snake’s head to bury it. He knew that even though it was dead if someone accidently touched the rattlers head the venom still inside him would flow out into the unexpecting victim. Then he got the idea to take the rest of the snake home as a trophy.

To prepare for the trip home he again draped the stringer of fish around his neck along with the body of the snake. He held his BB gun in one hand and the fishing pole in another. In order to cross the creek, which contained a lot of slippery rocks, he had to stay focused. A good acronym for focus is Forgetting Obstacles and Cruddy Unforeseen Situations (those which have been dealt with). Anyway he got to the middle of the stream when the snake began to coil around his neck and choke him. My husband flung his fishing pole in one direction and his gun in the other direction and fought to get the snake from off himself. When he wrestled free the snake was also flung as far away from him as he could throw it. Then he it suddenly dawned on him; the snake was already dead; all the snake could do was have a muscle spasm. He was afraid of something that had already been defeated.

Jesus has already defeated Satan! Even though Satan comes to kill, steal and destroy, the most Satan can do is having a muscle spasm every now and then. Yet sometimes we fear him; and allow him to stand between us and our dreams.

Until Next Time, Gracie

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About The Book Family Secrets

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