Playing Tarzan

When I was a kid I loved Saturday mornings. I would get up early to watch cartoons. After Mighty Mouse and some other cartoons, 3 of my favorite shows came on: Tarzan, Roy Rodgers and Skye King.

Many times after the shows went off I would go out to play and re-enact the plot of my favorite show for the day. My sister, Pat, who is a little older than me would join in on the fun. I will never forget the time when we were playing Tarzan.

My grandmother lived in a small house in front of our house. She had a huge tree in her yard. My sister played the part of Jane, the huge oak tree played the part of Tarzan and of course because I was the little brother -- I always had to play the part of "boy." I only had two choices: Boy or Cheetah. (the chimp) My sister always insisted that those were the only two parts that fit for me.

One day really stands out in my memory. Pat ran up to Tarzan (the tree) and wrapped her arms around as far as she could and said, "Oh Tarzan -- thank you for saving me." At this point I noticed something on the tree. It seems that a green snake had slithered up the tree and was just kind of hanging out. I could have stopped her but I didn't. She meant to kiss Tarzan but instead she kissed the snake! It was not what she expected. She screamed and ran home. I remember laughing all the way back to the house! I am laughing right now! That was sweet revenge for not letting me play the part of Tarzan.

You know it's kind of like that in the Christian life. We go about our lives doing what we always do and.....BOOM.....enter the green snake of surprise. We get something that we are not expecting. Life can really through us some curve balls.

How does God want us to react? Does he want us to run screaming? Not really. He knows where the snakes are. He is not surprised at anything that comes our way. We can trust him.

The snake was harmless. He was probably more scared than my sister. Similarly the things in our lives that we allow to paralize us in fear are really harmless when we put our faith and trust in the Lord Jesus. Do you remember that shield of faith in Ephesians 6?

My encouragement to myself and to you today is -- HOLD FORTH THE SHIELD OF FAITH -- we may have to kiss some snakes today!