Hi, my name’s Piper. I am a viper. Before I tell you my story I would like you to guess who I am.. No I am not the snake from the garden of Eden.. No, I am not the bronze serpent from Moses’s time, that was my great-great grandfather.. To be fair he was older than just two greats but for the sake of my reader I will not explain in detail.. Honestly, I do not know what my grandfather did to get a bronze sculpture of him in the middle of the wilderness with the power to heal the Israelites…
Anyway, Let’s get on with my story. I live on a tiny island called Malta with my family.. Everything was going normal until the day of the shipwreck.. It was a cold rainy day.I was in my home minding my own business sipping rainwater (It is a delicacy among vipers). Suddenly I heard a bang.. Well, I actually did not hear it cause vipers do not have ears but I felt a bang..
I slithered outside just to have a peek at what was happening. Turns out, a ship has crashlanded onto my island. A few people came crawling out from the wreckage and the natives that usually live over here being the kind humans they are, welcomed them with open arms.. They gave the foreigners some food and started a fire.
There was a certain man within the group of foreigners named Paul. I have heard many stories about him like he could heal the sick , cure the blind , and was a follower of Jesus. The tales of how God has saved Israelites from the Egyptians and gave them many promises are still being told today within my family..
So naturally when I saw him, I was over the moon. Then Paul came close to me and my heart started beating rapidly,but then I realized he was coming close to my house. I figured that he would like to come in and have a cup of rainwater . Just as I was about to approach him to invite him for rainwater, he bent down and took my roof!! The Nerve!! I was so stunned that I didn’t realize that he was heading towards the fire and threw my roof into it! I headed towards him partly because I was so cold and wanted warmth and partially because my roof was burning.
I settled in his arm but I couldn’t quite remember whether I bit him or not. Before you can say ” oh, that was so mean, you shouldn’t have done that,” blah blah, i’ll remind you that I was just reacting to a potential threat same like how you humans get upset when assigned extra homework on the weekends. Looking back I do regret my decision very much.
But the weird thing was that when I was on Paul’s hand, the natives of the land started murmuring to each other that Paul was a murderer. Just a few minutes ago they were welcoming him as if he was a big Panda and now treating him like they saw an Anaconda.
Paul didn’t take any notice of the situation and just flung me into flames like I was just a piece of rope .. Of course I forgave him considering that he didn’t mean it on purpose but it was just his natural instinct.
I slithered out of the fire sustaining only minor injuries. I watched him from a distance waiting for something bad to happen,perhaps lose conscious or some swelling.. But turns out nothing happened!
He was as good as he was before. Whereas the natives started muttering among themselves like he was a god! The next few days I followed him, marveling whenever he healed the sick and preached about Jesus.
Now you may be wondering “Why are you telling me all this”? Well my dear reader, on that day I realized 2 things..
1st is that God protects his people and always has a plan for them , not a plan to destroy them but a plan to give them peace and hope . God works in mysterious ways that not always will be clear for us.. When Paul was sailing to Rome, God changed his course and brought him to malta to preach to the natives and save them.. Doing so, Paul managed to bring a lot of people into His light.. The least we can do when we go through our own storms of life is to not become despaired and hold on to the faith that God has a plan and will guide you wherever you go….
2nd was that humans are the more advanced version of a chameleon.. Seriously, at first the natives welcomed Paul and his friends as they were a lost family then claimed that Paul was a murderer and then considered him as a god!! I do not think I can or will understand humans…..
Anaways, it is getting late and I have to go back to my home..Good bye for now..
P.S I built a new roof. Turns out the old roof harbored a nest of termites and I am deathly allergic to those.. Like I said, God always has a plan,not just any plan but a good plan….
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