A regular feature of my old blog was the inclusion of snake stories. There seem to be no shortages in the world of news accounts of snakes being in the most unlikely and distasteful of places.

I am surely not alone in my aversion to these most dreadful of creatures. I’ll use a separate posting at another time to explain my problem with snakes, but suffice it to simply state here two indisputable truths about slithering serpents – one logical and one theological:

Logical – there is nothing positive about a snake. Don’t tell me there are good snakes! Every last one of them will bite you given the opportunity.

Theological – oh, who could it be that chose a snake to incarnate?… Oh, hmmm, who could it be? Could it be….. SATAN?!?!?

I never understood why getting a lump of coal in one’s stocking was such a bad thing at Christmas … especially now that I heat with a coal stove. No, coal is good! If you really want to zap your kid at Christmas, put a snake in his stocking! Even Jesus thought that this would be THE mega-zappo! “Which of you, if your son asks for bread, will give him a stone. Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake?” (Matthew 7:9-10). There you have it; case closed!

OK, so here’s the Christmas snake story – A family in North Carolina set up their freshly cut tree in the house, and even decorated it … but then noticed one of the colorful sort of candy cane ornaments was moving! Ugh! I always thought artificial trees were a bit wimpy… but now, I see that they are a sign of wisdom and prudence and safety!