10 Aug, 2007
Snakes!
Python sinks teeth into toddler
Christine Abdelmonem wanted her 15-month-old son to get a better look at the ducks waddling nearby in Freedom Park, so she lowered him to the ground.
Before Adam's feet touched the grass, she felt a sharp tug.
Wrapped around her son's leg was a ball python.
She could see the snake, at least 4 feet long, biting Adam on the leg. Without thinking, she yanked the snake away and screamed for help.
Two maintenance workers rushed over. One tried to kill the snake with a shovel and ended up trapping it in a bucket, said Karla Thornhill of Mecklenburg Park and Recreation.
Adam was taken to Carolinas Medical Center. He was fine Tuesday, a day after the attack, walking around the southeast Charlotte apartment where he lives with his mom and dad.
He has bite marks on his leg. The bite of a ball python isn't poisonous.
Abdelmonem remembers crying when paramedics asked her about the snake.
"I didn't know they bit and I didn't know if they were poisonous," she said. "I felt like a bad mother."
"I've been there all my life," she said, "and I've never seen a snake there."
Thornhill, of the park department, said she could not recall another incident where a snake bit a person at Freedom Park, although she said nonpoisonous black snakes have been seen there.
Looking at Adam toddling happily around the apartment, it's hard to believe anything happened, his mother said. He cried while the snake was on him, but recovered surprisingly fast.
"When I pulled it off, he was fine," she said. "I wasn't."
story courtesy charlotte.com, 8/3/07
2 Corinthians 11:3-4 (NLT)
3 But I fear that somehow your pure and undivided devotion to Christ will be corrupted, just as Eve was deceived by the cunning ways of the serpent. 4 You happily put up with whatever anyone tells you, even if they preach a different Jesus than the one we preach, or a different kind of Spirit than the one you received, or a different kind of gospel than the one you believed.
Who were the "snakes" that Paul was writing about in today's God's Story scripture?
Paul was writing this letter to the early church in Corinth. He was warning them to look out for false teachers. Just like Eve was deceived by the serpent (Satan), believers were being led away from the true Christ by "religious" people who were preaching ideas that were not based on the Truth of God's Word as revealed through the power of God's Holy Spirit.
Satan is the master of deception. Not much has changed in the last 2000 years. Today, smooth-talking, smart-sounding, spiritual-like teachers and preachers are putting out messages that people like to hear, but they are based on feel-good, politically-correct philosophy rather than the inspired, Holy Word of God.
Just like the snake that came after the child in today's story, Satan will come after God's children, especially those who are very young in their faith.
So the key is to learn more and more of God's Story. Part of God's Story is that He gave us His Word and His Son Jesus, who is the only way to Heaven. And that's the Truth!
How can we connect today's God's Story scripture to our lives?
- Be careful where you look for spiritual input. There are lots of celebs, events and even churches that are "big" in the news. They can sound pretty good at first, but they are just another form of "spirituality". Religious? Yes. Truth? No, because they are not based on Jesus Christ and the authority of God's Holy Word.
- Study God's Word every day.
- Talk to God about it through prayer. Thank God for His inspired, authoritative, Holy Word. Ask His Holy Spirit to help you learn the Truth and apply it every day in your life. Ask His Spirit to help you recognize what is true and what is false. Ask His Spirit to help you keep your daily focus on the Christ of Scripture rather than on cultural ideas of who Jesus is and who He isn't.
How can we connect today's story and God's Story scripture and our story to others?
- Ask Jesus to give you a heart of compassion and listening ears as you interact with others. Ask them about their spiritual interests. If they seem open to talking about this topic, you could ask them if they think it's possible to really know what is true spiritually? Listen carefully. Be careful not to jump on them with your perspective, but trust Jesus to nudge you if you should share more about your story and God's Story.
- If you have a relationship with someone who is really interested in the Bible, you could show them today's story about the snake and Paul's writing. The bottom line is - stay close to Jesus and He will show you how to connect to their stories.
- Whenever there's a python that comes creeping into your room, pray for your friends who need to know Jesus. OK, so this won't happen very often, but you could still pray regularly for God to protect your friends and family from that creepy master of deception.
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