T h e   S n a k e   J a k e   C o u l d n ' t   S h a k e

There are a few things that people should accept about nature. When you explore the woods always remember to expect the unexpected and you will rarely be disappointed. That's called adventure and after all that's why you are out there. If you should happen upon a snake in the trail, remember that's just part of the adventure. Go around him, don't kill him; remember you're a guest in his home. Before you leave home, prepare for possible confrontations with the natural inhabitants of the woodland. Not being prepared can cause instant panic. If we panic we can cause major damage to ourselves as well as anything around us. Let me to relate a story that happened to an old friend of mine. This guy was at home in the woods and on the lakes but, as you can see, he did not plan for the unexpected.

This friend of mine (I'll call him Jake) was the principal of one of our Adventist academies had a desire to play hooky one day and go fishing. That was his first mistake. The second mistake was taking another teacher (fishing buddy) with him (let's call him Bud). This was not exactly a spur of the moment decision but was poorly planed. They did provide substitute teachers in their place for the time they were gone. However, when these two went off together there was really nothing good could come of it. This is just one of the stories I could tell you about these two. They left early, before daylight, to fish Lake Okeechobee in southern Florida, where it was still pretty wild. They had no boat so they wade fished. The first thing Jake did was to catch a few small brim that he would use for bait to catch the big bass later. With these little brims on the end of the fish stringer, which was tied to his belt, Jake began to wade. Slowly he waded near the shore and casting out as he went. He was almost at the spot where he wanted to be when Bud called out to him to look around.

"What did you say?" Jake called back.

" I said, look behind you. You have a snake following you."

When Jake turned around it didn't take him 2 seconds to realize that he had a cottonmouth moccasin following him. Why he stayed in the water I don't know. He just waded faster and the snake went faster. Now he threw his rod on shore and was trying to outrun the snake in the water.

It didn't matter how fast Jake moved or which direction he moved that snake stayed right with him. He dived under the water and when he came up the snake was staring at him. Jake looked around and a short distance away were two men in a boat watching all his commotion and laughing their heads off. Jake panicked! He swam out to the boat where he could get away from the snake. Very quickly Jake crawled into the boat, uninvited. There was no more laughter. When he piled into the boat the moccasin piled in right after him. At that point the two men abandoned their own boat and jumped in the water and swam for shore. Poor ole Jake was left alone in the boat with a poisonous snake. He tried to beat it to death with the men's bait bucket. He destroyed the bait bucket, tangled fishing lines and almost tore out one of their seats.

Finally all the commotion came to came to an end and he surveyed the damage. Jake was so embarrassed, and tired, he could hardly paddle the boat to shore. As he drew closer, the two men slowly began backing up, ready to run if necessary. Why would a grown man cause such a ruckus? Maybe he was someone to be fearful of.

The snake was dead but still in the boat. The men cautiously approached the boat, and took inventory of the destruction. Now everyone could see what had happened. While Jake was wading, the cottonmouth had swallowed one of those little brims on the end of his stringer and couldn't let go. Jake said he even saw this, as he crawled into the boat, but he still panicked and almost destroyed the poor men's boat. That unfortunate snake could not have fanged Jake even if he wanted to. His mouth was full of fish.

Thinking back there were a lot of things he said he would do differently. I sincerely believed him. That little session of panic cost him a bundle. The damage to the boat and a new bait bucket alone cost plenty, I‘m sure. There's no telling what damage was done to the fishing rods. Definitely he was not expecting the unexpected like he should have been. Bud did share some of the expense. After all it was his hollering that put Jake on the run in the first place. They were very thankful that no one was hurt but it was an expensive and somewhat embarrassing fishing trip.

How will you act the next time you are startled by an animal or bird out in the woods? Walking slowly and looking before you step and listening for any unusual sounds can turn an ordinary trip to the woods into a real learning adventure.

Jesus taught adults and children alike with parables. Most of these parables were about or from nature. Wouldn't it have been wonderful to learn about nature from the person who created it? We can someday, you know, just plan ahead for a trip to Heaven. I'll meet you there for a long walk down a never-ending trail filled with many natural wonders.

Burney Tompkins

    - Uncle Burney