Watch Out For The Snake!

“There’s a snake up there on the bricks!” They said. “Walk on the other side of the path.” They said. I was pushing my son, Jack, in his stroller, through the Nature Preserve today, just enjoying the beautiful weather. There was a snake! A big snake! I’m glad they told me about it. I mean, I’m no Crocodile Dundee. I had never seen these ladies before. I didn’t know them. And yet, as fellow humans do, it was perfectly natural for them to warn me, a perfect stranger, about the potential danger ahead. I didn’t care who they were. I’m just glad they told me about the snake!

As I continued to walk down the path, doing my best to avoid the snake, I told the next person I saw on the path that there was a snake up ahead. I wanted her to be aware. I had to interrupt her. I don’t think she heard me the first time because she had earbuds in. I didn’t know the lady, but I felt compelled to tell her about the potential danger she could be facing. Who wouldn’t want to know about a snake lurking by a walking path?

A lot of people these days seem to think Christians are really judgmental. Who do we think we are telling other people how to live their lives? “Christians are just a bunch of hypocrites!” So the cultural chorus of our day goes. Maybe we are, but there’s a snake on the path. I suppose some people like snakes, but I’m glad the ladies who warned me today didn’t assume I was one of those people. They just wanted to help.

Other Christians are scared to say anything about The Snake. After all, we wouldn’t dare want to offend anyone. THAT Snake is just an old fairytale anyway, right? We don’t want anyone to think we’re some ignorant, anti-science, religious bigot so we go to church on Sundays with our club, and hide in the shadows the rest of the week. Meanwhile, that old crafty Serpent is picking off our neighbors one by one, attacking them on the path. We could warn them. We should warn them…but, hey, maybe they like snakes. And so it goes.