I don’t like snakes. I’m not so sure that snakes like me either, but I don’t care if they do or if they don’t–I don’t like them and I don’t want one near me!
Well, doggone it! If there didn’t happen to be a baby snake in the sanctuary this afternoon. I don’t know what he looked like because I didn’t see it. Had I seen it I would screamed like a second-grade school girl (not that I have anything against the precious darlings who scream with a very high-pitched screechy sound). But our good ‘ol maintenance guy is sure he will be able to catch it.
Now the picture that is featured on this post is that of a Pope Pit Viper. It is also known as Pope’s tree viper, Pope’s bamboo pit viper. Let’s just call him Petey. Now Petey, according to the best source on the internet–Wikipedia–(of course you realize that I do not sincerely mean that) this venomous creature resides in native to northern India, Southeast Asia, and parts of Indonesia. I am so glad to read that it does not reside here in America. It’s bad enough that this baby snake is residing in our sanctuary! Or is it?
I can just imagine that on Sunday morning, I’ll be preaching and then all of a sudden Petey will make himself known. He’ll crawl out from underneath the stage and I’ll be bloviating away when someone on the front row will see Petey. At first, the person will lean over and tell his/her friend that it looks like a little worm has just come out from under the stage. Then, just as they realize that it is not crawling but slithering, they will begin to gather their things off the floor. Of course, I will be paying no attention to it because I have a message to get across and I won’t even notice the movement because I’ll be in the zone.
Back to Petey. Petey will start his trek across the front of the sanctuary and a few people might say something in a loud whisper and I’ll hear them. I’ll start to think that they are really catching my message. After all, I’ve worked on it all week-long. And just as Petey makes his way down the aisle, there will be more of a stir. The music minister is going to hear the stirring and he’s going to think that the Spirit is moving among the people. He’s going rush to look through his music folder that he has with him and think of a great hymn that we can sing to praise God for the movement.
Petey on the other hand, is just trying to get out of the sanctuary. He’s looking for his mother–wait…I did mention that Petey was a baby snake? That means that he’s not going to be looking to just leave the mobs of protestors before him. He’s going to be looking for his momma! And what if–just what if–his mother hear’s the cries of her sweet little Petey? What then? I’ll tell you what then! If she shows herself I’m going to think that God is really doing something through my preaching and I’m going to start shouting that we are hearing the sounds of revival, a true awakening!
Of course, Petey will just be crying out for his mother, the people will be jumping the pews and scrambling to get out of whatever door is available to them, and who knows what may happen to Petey. After all, he is a sneaky snake.
The moral of the story is this: If you see a snake in the sanctuary, rebuke him in the name of the Lord and then cut his head off! A dead snake is a good snake!
D.J. Gorena 
