Good Morning Friends! Forever HIS, Friday!!! A couple of nights ago, Kathyrn and the kids came over looking for Box Tops for Cooper. I went to the pantry and began a mad search, the kids were going bonkers, so I suggested they get the egg bucket and go out and get eggs! Didn’t have to say it twice, they grabbed the bucket and flew out the door. Almost before I could get back to the pantry, I heard them screaming and flying back into the house. “Nana, Nana” they both screamed. “There’s a great big snake in the chicken coop! It’s really big” Cooper excitedly reported. “Do you have a gun Nana? Hurry Nana we have to get it!” Papa was gone to a meeting, so Kathyrn and I had to jump into action. “Get a shovel or a hoe!” she said as she headed out to the coop with the kids! I grabbed a couple different shovels and by the time I got to the coop, Kathyrn had the snake spotted. It was big, just like Cooper said and had obviously eaten several eggs which was, in the end, its demise! When the kids first spotted the snake, it was on the floor of the coop by the nests, by the time Kathyrn got there, it had attempted to get out through the wire on the back. However, so fat from the eggs it had stolen, it got stuck and was just hanging there on the back wire wall. Kathyrn and I were a bit intimidated by the size of it, so we called Charley to come on his way from work! He killed the snake and got it out of the coop, egg yolk oozing out, what a gross site. You could see the shape of several eggs in the very big snake; Charley figured it to be about 5.5 feet! Gosh I was so mad at the creature, getting into my coop, scaring my chickens and eating their eggs! UGH! Even though it was just a chicken snake, it had to go! We were all still hipped up when the kids left and when Kim got home I relayed the whole story in exact detail stressing, I hate that snake for eating my eggs! And that was that! Until I came into work the next morning and read the bible verse on my daily calendar from Genesis 1:25……”God made the wild animals according to their kinds, the livestock according to their kinds, and all the creatures that move along the ground according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good.” Oh my gosh, I killed one of the creatures that God created and deemed good! What have I done! My mind went crazy…..should we have let the snake live? After all, it wasn’t a poisonous snake….but it ate the eggs that belonged to us and scared the chickens….is that ok….My mind was going crazy, I just couldn’t get over the thought that I had offended our Heavenly Father. I got out my bible and did some researching, still confused I called my Pastor…I am sure he thought I was crazy, but this was really bugging me. After a good conversation with him, what should have been obvious to me, but somehow wasn’t….duh, think HE was giving me a gentle reminder….Yes, when HE created the snakes they were good…..Yep, HE created us in HIS IMAGE, Genesis 1:26 ‘God said, “Let us make man in our image, in our likeness….” Wow….What the heck happened??!! I sure do not imitate God all the time….shame on me….Sin happened….the devil showed up in a serpent…tempted Eve….and that’s how it all got out of whack! So, does that make it ok for us to “steal eggs” ? Are we doomed because we do? No, to both….God’s plan was not over, thank goodness, “For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.” John 3:16. Wow! That’s the good news…yes we sin, no we don’t want to, we need to try harder, but we are forgiven. And as verse 26 of Genesis 1 continues…”and let them (man) rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.” God wants us to take care of HIS earth, that’s quite a responsibility, but with HIS guidance we can do it….and if a snake is stealing your eggs…well. Thank you Father, so very much for the reminders from You that we are all sinners, but that through the death of YOUR SON, we have forgiveness and the hope of eternal life.
But because of His great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved….For it is grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of god—not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. Ephesians 2:4-10.
