My mom and dad kept the boys on Friday night (bless their hearts!) so I was able to sleep in a bit on Saturday morning. It was amazing. I got eight, uninterrupted hours of sleep. That doesn't happen very often. Can I just say how much I love my mom and dad? Cause seriously, I love them. Don't get me wrong, I love my kids. Like love, love them. Not just like them. But it is amazingly awesome when I get a night when the only human I have to focus on his Dave. It's bliss.
So anyway. I was pumped for my run this morning since I was so rested. I was out the door by 9:00 am and I knew I would be back home and showered in time to go get the boys at 11:00 am-ish. Seriously awesome. I got my shoes laced up, head band in place, earbuds in and tunes blaring, and I was out the door. I was feeling good. Great actually. I had ran about a quarter of a mile when I saw a large branch in the road about 100 feet in front of me. No big deal, I thought. I'll just do a little hop over it. When I got to it, I looked down to make sure I wasn't going to step on it and its head curled toward my foot. That's right. ITS HEAD. It wasn't a branch. It was a snake. A long snake. A LONG, FREAKING SNAKE!
I'm not naive. I know that there are probably snakes near me at most times when I'm running. I mean, I run along a very back road that gets mowed/weed whacked once a month. Maybe. So there is lots of foliage for snakes and other creepy crawlies to hide in while I am oblivious. But I've never seen one while I was out running or walking. So anyway, I bolted when I saw it. Like bolted, bolted. Not even joking. I'm not talking about picking up the pace a bit. I BOLTED. It's probably the fastest I have ever run in my entire life. You see, the curse that God placed between the serpent and woman is extremely present in my life. I am terrified of them. TERRIFIED. I can't look at them on TV. I can't stand pictures of them. I don't even like cartoon snakes. I have even banned play snakes from our house. I don't care if they are black or garter snakes that are relatively harmless and actually helpful at keeping mice and other rodents away from me. I just don't like them. Their heads and lack of feet just freak me out.
When I was about 150-200 feet away, I slowed down and continued my run at my normal pace. I turned at my normal turning spot and started back the other way. When I got close to the spot where I first saw it, my heart started racing because IT WAS STILL THERE! Hadn't moved at all. So I turned back around and ran back and forth in that little space of about an 8th of a mile for a good 30 minutes. I knew I had to make it back home, but there was no way on God's green earth that I was going to go near that snake again. I wasn't going to poke it with a stick since that requires close proximity. I WAS NOT going to jump over it again. That only left me with one option. I gathered up a bunch of stuff (sticks, rocks, a couple empty cans) and stood about 15 feet away from it. Which, in my opinion, was way to close for my liking. Then I proceeded to throw things at this snake that wasn't moving. Finally, FINALLY, it slithered off. (Seriously, just typing this story out is giving me the heeby jeebies!) I waited for another ten minutes before I ran home just to make sure that it was off the road and wasn't coming back.
Once I got home and calmed down, I started thinking about it in a different light. Throughout this entire journey that I'm on, there have been hurdles that I have had to get over. Obstacles that I have stood in my way that I have had to figure out. Shin splints, hurt knees, shoes that rubbed blisters on my heals, emotional baggage, rude people, etc etc. But I have met each one and figured a way to get around it and make everything work. I either got some different gear, changed my technique, or whatever else and rectified the situation.
It's the same way in my spiritual life. Satan throws things my way trying to trip me up. Things that make me afraid, ashamed, guilt ridden, and tempted. The great thing about God, though, is that the Bible tells us that He will always give us a way out. He will always provide us with the tools to get through the situation. Sometimes it's a person or a beloved Bible verse. And sometimes it's a bunch of sticks and rocks and trash that we hurl at the enemy.
So take heart, friends. When we come up on snakes in the middle of the road, we are not alone!
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