Wanderings – Page 22 – The Life and Times of Joe Suttle

Beware The Snakes!

joe May 11, 2009 Family

Really!

Otis, our cute little 25 pound lean, mean fun machine dog was in the garage with Karen and I, and as they were leaving to go back in the house, he stepped on a baby rattlesnake on the walk.

He will spend several months recovering from two bites by that snake. Apparently it's that time of the year, when there are a.) lots of baby snakes and b.) lots of snakes. [more]Seems that during late March to early April, the snakes breed like cats (according to one veternarian) and as a result, BAM – in May, there are all those little babies.

Since babies are not yet skilled in venom control, with every bite they inject a full load of venom. This makes them more deadly than their parents. We were fortunate to get Otis to a veternary clinic that had rattlesnake anti-venom within 15 minutes of the bites. On the way, I was yelling at some slow drivers, who insisted on driving at or below the speed limit. There may also have been some red lights that were red at the wrong time.

He still has a lot of pain, but that is managed with drugs (just like a tobacco patch), and his appetite has returned. He's not as spunky as he used to be, but that is because of the drugs.

The moral – always check your doorstep for rattlers. They like the warmth that is sometimes there. How the baby got on the walk beside our garage (near our front door) is a mystery. One neighbor says she has seen snakes on her door step at least a couple of times this year.

More Loose Ends

joe May 8, 2009 Faith

One chapter and seventeen verses – still leftovers to figure out. How did Peter, Paul and John come up with this stuff?

Here in chapter three (Second Peter), he seems to have mixed a pot of stew or soup that needs to be eaten very carefully. Take time to dig out each chunk – false teachers (actually teachers of falsehoods), fire coming down, right living, remembering Jesus, creation and the end.

If what he wanted from his readers was attention, [more]he's got it! The word he uses about false teachers is that they are scoffers who follow their own evil desires. That means that they would be people who would mock or ridicule everything the believers had learned. Not only that, they would probably do it in such a way that they would make "believers" feel ridiculous for what they believed – even doubt that it was what they were supposed to believe.

Those teachers would come to plant seeds of doubt, convincing Christ's followers to question what they were doing and how they were supposed to live. Trying to get us to question if "that's really what it means", or "did He really say that?"

Peter's challenge to the early church is "live holy and godly lives…" His reminder is that those who scoff (ridicule or mock) God's Word and Jesus do it not to build us up, but to pull us away from the one we claim to be following. "Grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior…" (2 Peter 3:18)

A Dog, A Pig and Patience

joe May 7, 2009 Faith

Winding down my study of Second Peter, but there are still some loose ends. The first one that struck me as strange was the quotation from Proverbs that is in chapter 2 verse 22, "A dog returns to it's own vomit," which is taken from Proverbs 26:11.

There, Solomon, the wisest man who ever lived, is making a bunch of comparisions that someone wrote down. Kind of like someone compiling a book of Abraham Lincoln or Booker T. Washington quips. Pithy little statements that can stand alone, but strike at the heart of our lives. Words that don't take any interpretation to be applied to lives.[more]

The truth of the matter is bound up in what we see today. Most criminals, released from jail go back to their old friends and places, and start doing the same thing over again. Or they go looking for the same kinds of places they were in when they stepped out of bounds originally. Maybe it is a good thing that we support half-way houses or the Rescue Mission so that they have someplace else to go. Not only that, but the "pulling" effect of where we grew up or our friends. Maybe that is part of the reason for looking for new friends when you really want to make a change in your life. Whether it's alcohol, drugs, food or sex – a change of scenery helps in overcoming the addiction.

Then there was that pig…even "after washing, returns to wallowing in the mire." In effect, cleaned up so it can get dirty again. Kind of like "you have to wash the car so you can see the new mud."

One of the final nails in this box or letter is Peter's reminder in chapter 3, verse 9 that God will deliver on his promise. Not necessarily at the speed that we want or how we count the days to a party. BUT, He will deliver. He delivers because he cares about us. He will fulfill his promises simply because he wants the very best for us.

After all, what God has promised, He will do. We may want it sooner, but He is counting on us to do our part. After all, getting the present means we have to reach out to Him for it. It is always there, it just depends on where we are. There is no UPS or FedEx to deliver God's gift. He does not force us, He simply waits patiently for us to ask.