“Adam, there’s a snake in the garden”; “Kevin, there’s a snake in our pool”

The Woman and the Dragon
12 A great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet and a crown of twelve stars on her head. 2 She was pregnant and cried out in pain as she was about to give birth. 3 Then another sign appeared in heaven: an enormous red dragon with seven heads and ten horns and seven crowns on its heads. 4 Its tail swept a third of the stars out of the sky and flung them to the earth. The dragon stood in front of the woman who was about to give birth, so that it might devour her child the moment he was born. 5 She gave birth to a son, a male child, who “will rule all the nations with an iron scepter.”  And her child was snatched up to God and to his throne. 6 The woman fled into the wilderness to a place prepared for her by God, where she might be taken care of for 1,260 days.
7 Then war broke out in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought back. 8 But he was not strong enough, and they lost their place in heaven. 9 The great dragon was hurled down—that ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, who leads the whole world astray. He was hurled to the earth, and his angels with him.
10 Then I heard a loud voice in heaven say:

“Now have come the salvation and the power
and the kingdom of our God,
and the authority of his Messiah.
For the accuser of our brothers and sisters,
who accuses them before our God day and night,
has been hurled down.
11 They triumphed over him
by the blood of the Lamb
and by the word of their testimony;
they did not love their lives so much
as to shrink from death.
12 Therefore rejoice, you heavens
and you who dwell in them!
But woe to the earth and the sea,
because the devil has gone down to you!
He is filled with fury,
because he knows that his time is short.”

13 When the dragon saw that he had been hurled to the earth, he pursued the woman who had given birth to the male child. 14 The woman was given the two wings of a great eagle, so that she might fly to the place prepared for her in the wilderness, where she would be taken care of for a time, times and half a time, out of the serpent’s reach. 15 Then from his mouth the serpent spewed water like a river, to overtake the woman and sweep her away with the torrent. 16 But the earth helped the woman by opening its mouth and swallowing the river that the dragon had spewed out of his mouth. 17 Then the dragon was enraged at the woman and went off to wage war against the rest of her offspring—those who keep God’s commands and hold fast their testimony about Jesus.
The New International Version. (2011). (Re 12:1–17). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.

I saw him first.  My grandson and I were swimming in our pool.  We headed down to the deeper end, and that’s when I saw the bugger.  A snake frolicking in my pool.  How dare he!  Trying not to sound to panicked, “Lucas get out of the pool!”  I guess my calm demeanor did not pour forth, because I turned to look at Lucas, and it looked as though he was trying to walk on water.  Grandma mode kicked in; I was the only one around to protect this little guy from the dreaded garden snake in our pool.  Did you know snakes slither quickly in water?  It was up to super LaLa (that is what my grandsons call me; actually not the super part; just LaLa)  As Lucas was swimming to the steps, I took my stance.  I spread my feet apart and my arms as wide as I could get them.  To get to Lucas, that snake was going to have to get past me first.  I wasn’t thrilled but I was Lucas’ last line of defense, and over my fainted body would that snake get to my grandson.  We got out safe enough, but now it was time to capture the pesky serpent.  I got out the dip net and chased that slime stick from one end of the pool to the next.  Twenty minutes later, I became Lucas’ champion.  How poetic would it have been had I crushed his head with my heal?  Sad to say, I just threw him in my neighbors backyard.  Me: “Kevin, there was a snake in our pool.” Kevin: “What did you do with him?”  Me: “I threw him in the neighbor’s yard.”  Kevin: “You know he will just slither back.”  Me: “Oh, I didn’t think about that.”

I write all that to say, “That is the stance our God takes with us.  He sent His Son and Jesus spread His arms open wide, allowed the nails to be driven deep, then He beat death, hell and the grave for us!  He is our Champion!!!   He gets rid of the snakes in our lives! Hallelujah and Amen!

“Now have come the salvation and the power
and the kingdom of our God,
and the authority of his Messiah.
For the accuser of our brothers and sisters,
who accuses them before our God day and night,
has been hurled down.   They triumphed over him
by the blood of the Lamb
and by the word of their testimony;