What's under door #1?

Did you hear a loud gasp yesterday around 4 PM? Yep, that would have been me. I was walking around our home with a trustee of the church. As we assessed what needed done on our upcoming workday, we approached the back of the house. At our back door, sits two underground garbage cans. Each has a small footlever and when suppressed, the lid springs up and garbage bags go into the hold. We don't actually use these but somebody has in the past.

Well, yesterday, I was showing Mike the neat little garbage holders. The first door sprung up and the bucket (about 24 inches deep) was covered with a spider web blanket. Ewww....!

Upon depressing the second lid (the black lid in this picture), I reached down to grasp the edge of the lid and pulled it up. WHOA! Wrapped around the small hinge was a SNAKE! I think I may have said, "Whoa, there's a snake." As I carefully held the lid, the snake disappeared underneath the frame of the can. *insert shudder here*

My initial analysis was a corn snake. Now, I am not even close to being a herpetologist. (I am the guy who ran right by a copperhead a while back thinking it was a water snake).

Later as we finished dinner, I walked back to the can and opened the lid again. Sure enough, there was our snake only this time the little fellow fell into the middle of the removable bucket. Now in full view I recognized the snake to be an Eastern Milk Snake (I think).

The beauty of God's creation gets lost at times when we apply creepy notions to things like snakes. This unexpected beauty has been eating bugs and perhaps rodents around our home and we are grateful. When I mentioned the small Eastern Milk Snake I saved last summer, Joe said, "Maybe it's the same snake..." Who can know whether this snake is the one I saved from the lawnmower? It could be, since I removed the small snake from last summer to a location about 30 yards from our back door. Joe's statement is not only possible but most probable!

Do we treat other human beings in the same way we view creepy crawly things? We easily dismiss them and shudder as we remove them from our presence. All the while we may be losing a valuable part of our story that God is authoring. The next time an interpersonal interaction occurs that makes you wince (Or say, Whoa) consider how that person may become an integral part of your faith journey.

If you are resisting this notion, think of the disciples when they heard about Saul of Tarsus (Acts).

Have a great day. Lift some lids. Allow God to connect you with somebody who may be in great need.

PS: Go vote! It is a privilege.