Snake Attacks and my love for the Twitter

If y’all know me at all, you know I have a deep love for the twitter. I suppose its because my mind runs about a zillion miles an hour at any given point in the day, and sometimes I just don’t have anyone to share it with. My sweet Ellen is the love of my life, but conversations with a two year old are mostly one sided (I pour out my soul to her, and her only advice is, of course, “Elmo”). Twittering seems to cut down on all the junk in my head. Although I should mention, some rando did tweet at me claiming that he would rather follow a fake account for someone’s dog than me. To each his own, I suppose.

But the other reason I love the twitter is that it allows me to get inside other people’s heads. I’m random, and I love people who are. My favorite tweets are not news articles or sports updates, but those that allow me to dip into someone’s thoughts and heart. Not only does twitter allow me to do this with my friends, but with celebrities as well. Its fun to be connected with with such a broad array of people all across the world at any given time.

Now, I must say, my very favorite tweets come from my life long girl crush, Beth Moore. I LOVE the woman, in a totally heterosexual, I want to be her and be her best friend simultaneously kind of way.  She’s from Texas. She has phenomenal hair. She talks just like me. The woman carries a shotgun for pete’s sake! What’s not to love?? Needless to say, I hang on Beth’s every tweet. I watch for them constantly. Sometimes they’re lighthearted, and sometimes the woman can communicate a life changing truth in a mere 140 characters. She blows my mind.

She did it again on Saturday. That afternoon, my twitter best friend said this:

“On a walk thinking about how once you’ve seen a real snake, every old stick begins to look like a snake. Sometimes, its just a stick.”

I’ve been chewing on that one for several days now. Its probably because I can relate so very well. You see, there is a small hole in the step of my porch just large enough for a snake to fit through, and like clockwork every March, a family of garden snakes takes up residence under my front porch. Now, I try to be manly and independent in most things, but when I see a snake, I scream like the girl I am and run like heck. Shoot, I don’t even like looking at pictures of them. So after I catch sight of them in the spring, I become petrified of mowing. I know, I know, they’re more scared of me than I am of them. I don’t really buy that (even if a lawnmower is standing between the two of us). So when I do work up my nerve to get out and cut the grass, every single stick I run into turns into a monstrous rattlesnake. I scream. I run. Sometimes I hit the brink of hyperventilation. When I come to see that its really just a fallen tree limb, I move back into my work until I come across another and repeat the routine.

Its really no way to live.

See, once you’ve encountered something terrifying in your life, something truly devastating that rattles you to the core, its normal to be shaken. Its expected that one would proceed with caution. But when the fear of crossing another snake keeps us from taking care of business, aren’t we missing out on the life Father has called us to?

There’s really an underlying problem in it all. I don’t think its the snake we are afraid of so much. In my life, sometimes I struggle to believe that Father really wants good for me. From my simple, childish perspective, “good” isn’t always the hand I’ve been dealt. But to live in constant fear of crossing another monster, we’re calling scripture a lie. Father promises his children that he has plans for our good and not our harm (Jer. 29:11) and he promises a life of abundance (John 10:10).

The Lord never promised a life of ease. He never promised one of safety in the human sense. But he did promise that he works ALL things together for good (Rom. 8:28). When thinking back to January’s Passion Conference, I am often reminded of some of the most profound words I have ever heard, which were brought from author and Bible teach Christine Caine. In light of dangerous situations, Christine said this:

The end goal of a Christian’s life should never be to arrive at death as safely as possible.

Safety in this life isn’t what I’m after. God’s glory in all circumstances; now THAT’S what I want to chase. I don’t want to live in fear. I don’t want to expect my loving Father to do me harm. He said he wants good for me, and that’s a PROMISE. The dangers we perceive, sometimes they’re not really that scary at all. Sometimes, y’all, that snake in the yard is just a little old stick.