Genesis 3:15
Good News Translation
[God said to the snake] 15 I will make you
and the woman hate each other; her offspring and yours will always be enemies.
Her offspring will crush your head, and you will bite her offspring's heel.”
From across the street, Shirley came breathlessly into our
house yesterday. I was in my office in the back of the house. All I could hear
was impassioned conversation between Shirley and Sylvia. Finally, curious, I
walked into the front room. Shirley described how her grown son, Ivan, who was
on his way out the door, said: “Be careful when you walk out into the backyard.
There’s a rattlesnake out there.”
“Well, aren’t you going to do something?” she asked in half
panic.
“Nah,” He drawled, “Just be careful where you walk,” and he
was out the door.
Shirley told me she placed a tub over the snake and came
over to our house. Her breath was short, and her whole demeanor radiated
distress!
Rattlesnakes live in the hills around our neighborhood.
Katie and I find them occasionally. I have taught her to beware of them and
give them wide berth. She can sense a bit of alarm and warning in my demeanor
when I see the snake. I do fear that she will try and protect me by rushing in
and attacking the snake—which would be a fatal move on her part. So far, she
has yielded to my commands. I don’t kill the snakes in the hills—I feel that
they serve a purpose in keeping the vermin down. And I sense that I am in their
territory. But when they come into our area, they are out of line. I have been
instrumental in getting those snakes killed. All my neighbors concur with this
decision.
“Is it in the open?” I knew what I had to do.
“It’s under the tub! Oh. I’m scared!” she shivered, “What
can we do?”
“Give me a minute!” and I walked towards the back door.
“What are you going to do?” she was desperate and figured I
was doing like Ivan and leaving her to it.
“I’m going to fetch a spade,” I said matter-of-factly.
“He’s going to kill the snake!” Sylvia had no doubts. She has
lived with me long enough to understand me.
Shirley led me around to the back of her house. There I saw
a little red plastic tub lying upside down in the mowed grass. I looked at
Shirley, “You’re brave to have done that! Good for you!”
I stuck the blade of the spade under the edge of the tub and
flipped it. A large western red diamondback rattlesnake immediately began to
take up attack mode. The first thing I noticed was that it had no rattles. The
snake moved rapidly, and my first strike hit it about a foot down from its
head, breaking its back. It’s wide-open mouth, fangs protruding, struck the
spade. My second strike severed the head from the body, leaving it hanging by
only a bit of skin.
“Wow! You’re so brave,” Shirley cooed, “Now what are we
going to do?”
“Do you have a bag?”
She brought a plastic garbage bag stuck in a large paper bag
and stuck it in a cardboard box. She placed this on the ground nearby and made
sure the garbage bag was wide open. I picked up the snake by its rattle less
tail and dropped it into the bag, tied it shut, and placed it in her garbage
bin. I’ve heard that in some parts of the U.S., rattlesnakes are evolving into rattle
less rattlesnakes. This has me concerned because rattlesnakes have always
warned those who approach of their presence by their rattles. If that happens
around here, it will make hiking in the desert more dangerous.
Satan, the old serpent, has been attempting to camouflage
his presence, even getting the more gullible to deny his very existence. In
this way they are not prepared for his attacks.
Preserve us, Lord, from the devil and save us from sin,
so we will be ready for Your soon return.
