Okay… I’m back. The last three days have been spent at the Tan-Tar-A resort on Lake of the Ozarks here in Missouri, where I’ve been attending an annual meeting for an organization associated with my employer. I won’t bore you with details, but I was able to take my family, and it was a nice getaway.
So how does this relate to the post title? Well, check out the little critter we found in our room Sunday evening… something I didn’t even know could be found in Missouri, let alone in a hotel room (the one we happened to be staying in, no less)!
That, my friends, is a striped scorpion, and I found one identical to it crawling up the wall in our room near my precious daughter Sunday evening. I managed to compose myself long enough to catch it in a coffee cup and send it to a swirling watery grave (down the toilet, in case you’re not following), but needless to say, I had a pretty good case of the heebie-jeebies afterwards.
Definitely something you don’t see everyday… and definitely something I don’t want to!
Yikes!!!
I hope you told the hotel management.
What if the critter was travelling with family? :O
G’day John. Your episode of the scorpion prompted me to post this. If you have faith in God’s love and protection, why did you kill one of his creatures? I thought St Paul promised that believers would be protected from the venom of snakes, etc.
Not that I blame you- I would have done the same thing.Just curious.
Sean,
Sorry for the slow reply. I had a response entered in here several days ago, but the blog software malfunctioned and lost my reply. I was frustrated, and just let it go until now.
Anyway… I guess to answer your question most simply, I don’t think God expects us to check our brains at the door when we make a commitment to Him. I fully believe in God’s love and protection, and in this instance, I believe He manifested that by ensuring I actually saw the danger to my family and had an opportunity to remove it. It may be debatable whether killing the scorpion was appropriate or not (perhaps I should have simply tossed it outside), but I’m at peace with the decision.
All that being said, I’m a bit confused by your reference to Paul. I see two instances in Scripture that could fit the bill: Mark 16:18 and Acts 28:3-6. Mark 16:18 is supposedly attributable to Christ (most scholars are skeptical that it was part of the original manuscript of Mark, so it is left out of most modern Bible translations). Given it’s questionable nature, it’s awfully hard to give the snake-handling / poison drinking stuff much weight (neither is supported by other Scripture passages). Acts 28:3-6 describes a miraculous occurrence where Paul was bitten by a deadly viper, yet survived with no ill effects. This seems more miraculous occurrence (intended to demonstrate the power of God to the nonbelieving witnesses) rather than normative Christian experience.
So… that’s the long-winded reply. Did I miss anything?