Things are Not Always as they Seem

Incongruous.Who would think one had to fear a soft fuzzy white caterpillar that looks just like a kitty would look if it were a caterpillar? It is like the beauty of a sunset suddenly belching forth nuclear missiles. Sunsets should be peaceful, and caterpillars shouldn't have poisonous spines that burrow in one's skin and leave one floored in unspeakable pain.

This didn't happen to me, but to a friend who prefers to remain anonymous. He glanced at me as he was telling the story and said, "Oh no, this is going to be in the blog, tomorrow, isn't it?"
At the time, I didn't think it would, but I just couldn't get this caterpillar off my mind. I later researched the Puss Caterpillar, and knew God wanted me to warn my readers.

My anonymous friend was at a picnic, the scout leader of boyscouts who all came from single parent homes. So our friend was the sole man among a horde of women and boy scouts when the caterpillar showed up. The caterpillar was cutely, demurely crawling near his knee, looking as innocuous as a sunset. And then it struck. My friend said he was suddenly electrocuted with searing pain that zipped like lightning to his groin. He said it was so blindingly intense that he could not walk...for several hours. Politeness could not allow him to divulge to the ladies around him exactly what was the source of his blood curdling screams. I am not sure how he managed to get home or discover the cause of his extreme distress. I believe his wife found him crumpled and moaning as he explained he'd been attacked by a caterpillar. A fuzzy white caterpillar. I think when she finished laughing, they might have gone to the emergency room, but I am not sure of the details there...I was laughing too hard and unable to hear the end of the story very well.

However, if you are attacked by a Puss caterpillar, so named because it looks like a sweet little Pussy Cat, you will probably not be laughing. The Puss Caterpillar has poison filled spines that shoot out of its body, sort of like a porcupine. The poison in the barbs doesn't kill, though as my anonymous friend said, you wish it would. The poison goes with remarkable speed to the nearest lymph glands- like the groin, or if it bites above the waist, to the armpits and heart. It leaves a telltale red raised circular rash. The pain can result in temporary paralysis, and even nerve damage. There are two methods that seem most beneficial in counteracting the eyeball popping pain. The victim should take ordinary tape, and gently press it over the area of the bite. He should gently pull the tape up, thus dislodging the poison barbs. He should do this with fresh tape several times. Sometimes this alone will relieve the horror. If not, he should make a poultice of mashed raw potato and ginger root, apply that to the wound and cover it with a loose bandage. If that doesn't work, the kindest thing to do would be to shoot the victim in the head, at least according to the victim.

Ok, now faithful and loving as I am to my Lord and Savior, I just cannot help but ask, "Why?"  Why would God unleash an enemy on us that masquerades as a snow white, fluffy, miniature kitty? Why would He fill a tiny cute creature that we would so naturally want to pet, with poisonous barbs that detonate in the least desirable place any man would want them?

However, even as I ask the question, I think of the warning  of the Bible of the Enemy; an Enemy who comes masqueraded as the Shepherd who will guide his sheep, as the beautiful  enticing angel that will bring us all the world has to offer, as the beautiful serpent who offers us knowledge above the Gods.
Be on your guard!
Things are not always what they seem, and our enemy prowls with one desire- destruction.
As Halloween approaches, it reminds me of why as a young Christian and new mother, we made the decision never to honor what that holiday celebrated. It is the high holy day of the self proclaimed witches. It is based on pagan worship and obeisance to the occult. It looks so innocent now, like the little Puss Caterpillar. But I think God shows us over and over again that we need to be discerning and careful what we touch.

1 Peter 5:7-9

⁷ Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.
 ⁸ Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. ⁹ Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that the family of believers throughout the world is undergoing the same kind of sufferings.

Pausing to Discern

It was flipped upside down, from darting tongue to frantically wiggling tail. I don't know who had flipped it or why, but likely I had interupted a bird about to feast. I could see all its little underbelly scales which are used to propel snakes at an alarmingly fast 13 km/hr. It was orange-ish,  so I thought it might have been a corn snake or (horrors!) a copperhead.

The corn snake is a docile creature, reluctant to bite and very helpful in keeping the rodent population under control. It has an unfortunate similar color/markings to the poisonous copperhead, so my first response on seeing the baby wiggling helplessly upside down was to shriek and find someone to stomp on it. But that moment passed and I paused to watch it. I saw then that the distinctive poison snake triangle head was not there, thus deduced it was a harmless and even useful corn snake.

As I watched, it reminded me of a turtle on its back, flailing helplessly unable to flip over. I thought briefly about helping it, but that idea quickly passed as I remembered how much I abhor snakes. But somehow, my better nature wouldn't allow me to pass it by. It was a baby, afterall. So I stood there, shielding it from whatever predator had flipped it, and cheered it on.

"You can do it, snake!" I encouraged, "Exert yourself!"
The snake wriggled frantically. I knew I would have nightmares, but I continued to watch the mortal struggle. The darker diamond markings would have fooled anyone. Why would a harmless and even in the snake world, docile snake want to look like the murderous Copperhead? How many innocent corn snakes had been stomped on by herpetophobics?

Finally, beginning with the tail, the little underscales began to grab at the ground, and as it slowly found traction, it began to flop over. Before it could totally unroll and escape with the possibility of darting into my shoes and paralyzing me with fear, I hurried on with my interrupted walk. 

But I continued to consider the thought of the benign masquerading as poisonous.  It was the opposite of the snake in the Bible who was death itself masquerading as life. In both cases, I think God was telling me that what was needed was discernment.  Things are not always what they seem. First blush responses are sometimes not based on truth. At times, it is best to overcome aversion, prejudice, fear, preconceptions.... and pause long enough to discern what is dangerous, and what is not.  I am an impulsive creature with an almost pathological desire to do things quickly and early. The older I get, and the more slowly my neurons fire and my muscles respond, I am being forced to slow down and consider more before action. And I am finding more and more that sometimes those Copperheads in life are really Corn snakes.
What looks like death, is really benign, even useful.

Even the disciples were thrown into dismay when their "so-called" Lord was carried from the cross, dead.
All their hopes and dreams of the victorious Messiah gone.  And then, He appeared, resurrected, back from the hellish journey where He had to bear separation from His Father long enough to carry the horrific burden of our sins and pay the penalty we would now not have to. What looked like defeat was the Ultimate Victory. Perfect Justice and Perfect Mercy all rolled up in one act.

I am glad I stopped and watched the baby snake. As it slithered off in one direction, I scurried off in the other, smiling instead of shuddering.

Genesis 50:20
You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.