The Snake Handler

Recently I saw a picture of a guy who worked alongside of me at one of the churches I pastored.  Actually, he stood behind me a lot as he directed the choir and led all the music ministry.  The picture featured him out in his flip flops in the middle of the highway.  He held a long stick which he was using to gently push and direct a copperhead snake out of the traffic lane and into the grass alongside the roadway.  While I have seen folks stop to tend to snakes in the road, I am certain I have never seen anyone guide one to safety off the road!

 

Perhaps, my friend, Marc, was more in touch with something written in the gospel of John than the rest of us.  "All things came into being through Him (the Word...Jesus), and without Him not one thing came into being."  (John 1:3)  I reckon that all inclusive word includes copperhead snakes.  And, to carry things a step further, I reckon if something has been held in the hands of our Creator before finding its way to the earth, it is a special and holy thing.  All the earth, everything on it and in it, is something holy.  Marc obviously has this figured out and responded in accordance to that understanding as he saw the snake in the road.

 

Sometimes it is hard to remember that the creation around us is holy.  It is hard to realize that each part of it is purposeful.  We may not see or understand what God had in mind as it put some of it in place, or allows some of it to work as it does, but it does not change the reality that it remains a part of what is holy.  The dirt, trees, snakes, and people are just some what has come into being through him.  If we try to see things as the snake handler did, it just might be that we would be more attentive to all that is holy around us.