A snake in the house

Let us hold tightly without wavering to the hope we affirm, for God can be trusted to keep his promise. Let us think of ways to motivate one another to acts of love and good works. Hebrews 10:23-24

 

As I was locking up, I noticed this 7’6” snake skin… where it had not been 20 minutes before. SLEEP TIGHT MOM!

 

A full and rich experience

Most of the time, my job is really about helping people have a full and rich experience… of God’s grace through teaching them His word and in discipleship. These last couple of weeks I have also had the pleasure of giving my mother a full and rich experience of our lives and work here in New Guinea. She has been a real trooper; being flexible to help buy, weigh, and pack supplies, figuring out appropriate clothing and interactions (in a language she cannot understand no less), and even being able to significantly contribute to the team in many ways. She has hiked to several villages, sat through hours of Bible teaching in the Pal meetings, and made friends with many of the women over a bite of food or crocheting. I kept joking with her (when she had to use the lice shampoo or when she was offered some mamunia – food cooked in bamboo) that she must have signed up for the all of the extras on this cruise. I’m actually beginning to think she did and I just forgot to warn her not to check that box.

 

The other night, just at bed time, I went to make sure that the house was closed up and, there on the floor,  in the house, was a very long and very fresh snake skin. We have been told that this particular kind of snake is not aggressive and is not particularly harmful to humans, but, quite frankly, I’d rather not have 7 feet of reptile slithering over me while I am sleeping. I am liable to wake up suddenly and do something dramatic (although hearing loss for those within a mile radius would probably only be temporary.) Luckily mom shares my sense of decorum when it comes to snakes and so she as well became an avid participant in the search for our unwanted guest. I limited myself to two flashlights and a very big stick but mom, following the philosophy of ‘more light is more likely to make the snake freeze’ had at least three going. We went all over the house, looking in nooks and crannys with no luck I can say in all truthfulness that rarely have there been more enthusiastic searchers.

We did eventually find and take care of the snake, and I’d like to say, just for the record, that mom really is getting the full and rich experience  of life here in Pal. Too rich? Naaah.

 

Coming back home after visiting some friends in the village.

 

A snake in the house

So, likely you thought that the story above was the only story of a snake that you were likely to read in this update. It’s not. The thing is, this story is also about a snake that sheds evidence of its presence but makes itself hard to actually nail down. It’s a snake that wends its way around the hearts of people and seeks to draw them away from the joy of the true gospel. Not wanting to over dramatize here – but I am talking about the father of lies. He is at war with the believers here. Spending time with them I have been understanding again the power of temptations and false ideas in their lives. These are things that we’ve uncovered in the past couple of weeks.

·        There are people who think that they have spiritual power and authority in the church here because they shake when they sing or speak out. (This practice has been identified by others in the community as something that they practiced before they heard the gospel – when they were in “Satan’s family.”)

·        There are folks who love to be seen at believers meetings but spend much the time outside the building, talking about money-making ideas.

·        There are some who hold out hope that when we finish teaching them through the bible that material goods will magically appear.

·        There are many who are afraid to walk the trails to the coast (town) because they might fall ill in a spiritual attack.

These are just a few of the wiles that the devil uses to keep people fearful and from enjoying real fellowship with God.

 

Every day we find ourselves stretched in our understanding, out of our depth, depending on God to build His church. And He is.

I was sitting just this evening with a man and his wife. Just everyday mom and pops, they spent time telling me about how God’s truth is changing their outlook. How their old fertility/material goods/spiritual power desires are being changed by the goodness of God and the promise of real life in Christ. They spoke joyfully to me about how they were able to resist temptation and how that is such a powerfully great feeling. Thanks be to God!

 

Please pray daily with us for the Pal church and for our team.

Nate

PS: Please pray for our family as well. We’ll be apart for another (almost) 3 weeks, and that’s always tough on us all.

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