The Parrot and the Snake

It was late spring in Australia, the time when snakes wake up from hibernation.

I was walking along the path that runs alongside the Mittagong golf course with a thick band of gum trees and scrub on the other side of the path.

I don’t like snakes. We don’t have them in New Zealand, and I was terrified of meeting one in Australia.

As I neared the spot where a tiny creek runs under the path, I saw the snake. He was huge. He was sunning himself in front of a row of overgrown blackberry bushes.

I felt my stomach lurch.

The snake saw me.

To my horror, the snake seemed very interested in me.

Suddenly, he reared up. He stood there (if you could call it standing) and our eyes locked.

I instinctively felt that dropping eye contact would be a very bad idea. I began to back slowly away from the snake.

The snake wasn’t losing interest. He continued to eyeball me in a menacing way.

I don’t know what would have happened next. Maybe he would have calmed down and gone back to sunning himself. Maybe he would have lunged at me and given me an injection of his toxic juices.

We’ll never know.

From the black berry bush a small brightly coloured parrot swooped down, right in front of the snake’s head.

The snake got very excited!

He lunged at the bird, but the bird evaded him. Then the parrot flew over the snake’s head, just above his reach and turned the snake around.

The parrot fluttered along in the air, tantalizingly close, always out of reach and led the snake away from me.

I took another way home.

This happened years ago. It didn’t really register until yesterday that I had experienced a miracle.

Its one of those miracles that can glide under the radar and be scoffed off as luck.

 But I am certain it was a miracle and more than that, I believe it was a message from God.

Being a slow learner, it’s taken me forever to nut this out.

There is more than one kind of snake in this world.

And the two-legged kind are far more frightening than the kind that slither on the ground.

When a country enforces the right laws and honours justice, it forces the two-legged variety of snake into hibernation.

When a country tolerates wickedness and is slow to act against wrongdoing, the two-legged snakes come out into the streets.

 A slithering snake in summer makes a country path frightening.

A two-legged snake makes a city street terrifying.

It is hard to retain our courage when we know the snakes are out.

But if God can send a parrot to deal with a slithering snake, then surely, he can send an angel to deal with the two-legged snake.

I’m not advocating risky behaviour. I know that God can ask his children to walk through some very tough terrain.

Sometimes the parrot doesn’t come. Sometimes the snake does bite.

We should be wise. We should do whatever we can do to keep ourselves safe.

We should acknowledge the reality of the snake. But we should also remember the parrot.

We may or may not encounter a snake. We don’t get a choice in that.

But we can choose to trust that God is in control.

When your anxiety rises with the state of the world, remember these words from Psalm 91:

Whoever dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the Lord, “He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.” Surely he will save you from the fowler’s snare and from the deadly pestilence. He will cover you with his feathers, and under his wings you will find refuge.

 Oh God, regardless of the snakes, give us the courage to walk where we need to walk.

Rescue us when you will.

And when you won’t, stay with us for the bite.