One of the many things I learned on my recent trip south to help build homes was that if you haven't done something to rile up the Devil today, you're not trying hard enough in your Christianity. Or to put it in the words of the Asst. Reverend of the First Baptist Church of Pearlington, MS, "If the Devil ain't hoppin' mad at you, you ain't praying hard enough!" Thanks to these wonderful words, I now have this mental image of Satan in a battle control center watching my every move and either high-fiveing his minions when I totally screw up (too often, I'm afraid) or throwing things at the monitor when I do something right. But just so you know that Satan isn't above a little cheating and unsportsman-like behavior from time to time, he can throw things at me as well to show his displeasure and try to get me off my game.
Needless to say, I must have really pissed him off lately. After a successful mission trip, I immediately set to work with a new mission group looking to help with street kids in Kenya. And I've also been starting up the hard work of our nominating committee looking for new church leaders. Beyond that, I'm starting to finally get my act together now that I'm done with film classes and my film. I've gotten back to my workout routine and my diet that I reluctantly abandoned when I went back to school last fall. I've been getting more sleep, reading more books, spending more time in prayer and in community with others - basically all the things that Satan really hates.
Which is why he sent the kamikaze bee after me yesterday.
I was walking along, minding my own business, when all of a sudden there was a streak of something and WHAM! my lower lip hurt like hell. I looked around, dazed, for the culprit but saw nothing. My eyes teared up with the sudden wave of pain and I gingerly touched my lip to feel it raw and throbbing already. But, after a minute or so, my head cleared enough for me to figure out that I'd probably been attacked by a bee and that I was either going to go into anaphylactic shock or I was just going to be in pain for a while. When I didn't go into shock, I started to walk back to my work.
A second later I realized something was crawling on my neck and WHAM! the darn bee stung me again - this time in the neck. Stupid terrorist bee! One suicide attack wasn't enough?! This time I shook the bee loose and tried to deal with it Jack Bauer style, but the bee flew away laughing as it did.
So, yesterday, as I sat around my office with an ice pack on my Free Botoxed lower lip, and sucked up the pain like a man (I kept the crying for my mommy on the inside) I suddenly thought of those words and realized that Satan had merely been trying to get me off my game by sending his Killer Bees at my Dome. I guess I must have made Satan hoppin' mad! And that made me smile... but only for a little bit before the pain made me reapply the ice pack.
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