The Serpent’s Head
The three young children cautiously moved through the tall grass in the open field. A light breeze gently swayed the golden stalks back and forth as these adventurers boldly made their way over to what they hoped would be their prize. A large piece of plywood that had been a roof for some long-forgotten fort, lay untouched for many years. The walls of this former children’s sanctuary had long ago collapsed inward, leaving a roof flat, in tacked, and ready to be plundered! Repurposed for a new hideaway.
I was seven years old, living in Alabama when this ‘adventure’ began with my sister and a neighborhood friend. We wanted to build something that was just for us and so we had gathered what supplies we could ‘borrow’ from our homes and what had been left behind on a nearby neighborhood construction sight. Walls were easy to erect, cobbling together 2x4s, 2x10s and other scrap pieces of lumber. But our fort sat unfinished because we had no roof. We thought of alternate materials that might be effective; bed sheets, canvas tarps, and other such possible coverings but nothing would compare to the stable and solid feel of a wooden roof. We knew where just such a piece of ‘roofing’ material lay. We had a problem though. For it was in a place that, for a seven year old whose mind ran wild often to the fantastic and imaginative, held danger, fear, and the unknown.
Eventually, the need to finish our roofless structure helped overcome our fear and so, one sunny afternoon, we moved toward the long abandoned, mysterious fort. It wasn’t mysterious because of its location- we had passed it by many times before. Nor did the mystery lay in what it had been used for in the past- it was exactly what we hoped we could repurpose it into for our own needs. The mystery, and fear, came in wondering what we would find when we lifted the plywood roof off the ground. Alabama was and is, known for a wide variety of reptiles of the slithering version. Our minds ran to the extreme, fearing that a den of poisonous snakes had made the underside their home. So it was with great caution, silence, and care that we lifted the would be covering. “One…. two…. Three”, we counted and heaved with all of our seven-year-old might and cautiously peering into the unknown. Our fears were justified, when there on the far side lay coiled a black serpent. It slowly lifted its diamond head, blazing red eyes fixing on what I was sure was my own person! I remember it had to have been at least twenty feet long when stretched out. Its mouth opened, revealing what looked to be two curved fangs, dripping with poisonous venom!
At that moment, frozen with quaking fear, we did what any brave adventurers would have done. We screamed in unison, dropping the makeshift plywood, and ran for all of our worth. Slowing after a few hundred feet we heard from our neighborhood compatriot, those dreaded words, “Runnnn! It’s chasing us! It’s almost on us!”
Now, you have to remember, all of these events (events that I to this day would swear to in a court of law actually happened) were viewed from the perspective and the mind of a seven-year-old. Did my mind, perhaps, wander to the fantastic? Maybe. Was that devilish serpent actually twenty feet long? Probably not. Did its fangs drip with venom? Most likely it was a black snack common to that area, known as a Black Runner (hence our fear that we could actually see the golden grass parting as it pursued out skinny legs)- a non-venomous snack and one likely more frightened of us than we of it- though it couldn’t have been by much!
The mind can play nasty tricks when we are young, especially when it involves snakes. As adults, while we may have a healthy caution when it comes to reptiles of the ‘snaky’ version, other than in movies, we know that they can largely be avoided.
This semester we are having three different areas that are teaching the Word of God. Our ladies through their monthly Bible study will gather to study The Book of Revelation. In it Satan is represented as a Serpent/Dragon. In Youth Group on Sunday evenings, we are looking at a series called Two Kingdoms- Kingdom Living. In this we look at how to live in this world as Christians, fighting against the attacks of the evil one (that Serpent from the Garden in Genesis), holding onto the Lamb of God- united to Jesus Christ. On Sunday mornings we have begun a series on The Gospel of Mark. This book highlights many of the Miracles of Jesus. These miracles show The Kingdom of Heaven/God colliding with the Kingdom of the World/Satan particularly through the casting out of demons and the healing of the sick. In all of these, one outcome is assured- the Serpent would be defeated. In Genesis 3, the LORD curses Satan after he led Adam and Eve into temptation, promising that the Messiah would crush his head. God wins!
I wish that I could say I intentionally planned to teach these three areas with the common thread of the battle against the Serpent named Satan and the victory that is found in Jesus Christ in this world/kingdom. While each of these three studies is indeed planned and laid out, the commonality seems Spirit led, and I am excited to see how each emphasizes a unique but common theme. I hope that you will come and experience the love and victory of being united in Christ.