I would have had a heart attack. That was my first thought when I saw my friend Wendy’s pictures on Facebook and read what she posted. The photos were of a large snake. Seriously, it looked like it was as big around as my arm.
“I barely have a voice today after encountering this huge cottonmouth water moccasin late yesterday,” Wendy posted. “It lunged at me with mouth wide open, and I still don’t know how it didn’t bite me.”
The snake was about four feet from their motorhome doorway. Wendy had come around from the side to grab her phone from the outside chair and didn’t see the snake until she turned around. It lunged at her with its mouth open to bite her. “Y’all!,” she contines, “I don’t even remember flinging chairs and losing my flip-flops, but my husband was in the truck with our boys and saw me running and screaming.” He thought bees were chasing her.
And then the line that makes my blood run cold every time, “All I can think about is how much Sam (her little boy) runs around and plays on his bike at our campsite and doesn’t know how to get away.”
I’m so grateful she managed to get out of the reach of that snake and even more thankful that her little guy wasn’t the one who encountered the venomous water moccasin. Her story has made me think about something these past few days: I wonder how many times I’ve faced dangerous situations—didn’t even realize I was in danger?
I call them “almost moments.” The ones where I almost had a wreck, but at the last minute, moved away right before the impact. Or those times I grumbled about a detour or slow traffic, and then realized later with the beauty of hindsight, that what I’d considered an aggravation had kept me safe. Or in Wendy’s case, facing a poisonous snake poised to strike but not being harmed.
Psalm 138:7 says, “Though I walk in the midst of trouble, You preserve my life.” Maybe you’d like to join me today in thanking God for keeping us safe in all of those what-might-have-been moments.
