BUGS Part 4 The Angel in Berry Picking Clothes
“And my God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ
Jesus.” (Phil 4:19)
The black flies must have been told in advance that I was on the way, for they
had obviously all undergone a three day fast in order to have plenty of room in
their stomachs for MY blood! And when we arrived at the campground in Fortune,
Newfoundland, they were there, ready and waiting, napkins tucked under their
chins, knifes and forks in the air.
If I thought that the bugs were bad in the Niagara region of Southern Ontario,
then there is no description for the bugs we found in Southeastern Newfoundland;
but though we encountered plenty of the pesky creatures in every campground, to
my personal joy, most of the places we stayed were actually free of the black
fly. Mosquitoes seem to mostly ignore me (Probably because they are so busy
attacking my husband and children!); but when black flies are present, they MORE
than make up for what the mosquitoes miss out on! And black flies seem to
especially enjoy the neck and head, and they LOVE to bite through your hair!
Just the WORST places for bug bites!
But I was ready for them today! I had plenty of bug spray! And I used it:
liberally! I was only the victim of one or two bites before I could “coat”
myself, and then as soon as the tent trailer was set up, I went inside!
Our next stop was to be St. Pierre and Miquelon, an overseas territory of France
found a few kilometers off the coast of Newfoundland, and I was sure to pack the
bug spray into the knapsacks we were taking over to the islands. I was going
prepared! No French black fly was going to make mincemeat of MY neck!
I was quite pleased, however, to find that there were NO black flies in St.
Pierre. So the bug spray stayed in the knap sack in our hotel room, and when we
prepared for our day-trip to the island of Miquelon the following day, I saw no
reason to bring it. After all, we had only encountered the pesky brutes in one
town of Newfoundland, and there hadn’t been any on St. Pierre!
Wrong!
We were scheduled to take a Zodiac ride into a large bay off the island where
there were several colonies of seals. The moment I stepped out of the van to
load onto the Zodiac, the black flies were there and waiting, knives and forks
waving!
Oh, they went after others in the group too. My sons each went away with one or
two bites, and even my husband was bitten once. A couple of the other ladies in
the party also complained of having received a bite or two, but no one could
compare themselves to me and my TWENTY bites! I was miserable! I was forced to
swat at black flies so much that I could hardly enjoy the seals! How I wished I
had put that bottle of bug spray into my backpack when I had prepared for the
trip that morning. But there was nothing to be done. I didn’t have it, and I
couldn’t go and get it!
That’s when I met her. She seemed just an ordinary peasant woman. She and her
husband had driven out from the town of Miquelon that morning to pick Bakeapples
(a special berry native to Newfoundland), and she was just getting their pails
out of the back of their car when I stumbled upon them.
It must have been obvious to them what my problem was—After all, why else would
an otherwise totally sane person be stomping around, waving her arms, slapping
her neck and shaking her hair?—for she walked up to me with a bottle in her
hand.
“Here!” she said, holding out a small pool of what I thought was lotion.
“What is it?” I asked.
“It’s to keep the black flies away!” She rubbed it into my hand.
I wasted absolutely no time in argument! I rubbed that lotion onto my neck and
face with a vengeance, and it was amazing how quickly the black flies left me
alone!
It was when I turned to thank this lady for her gift that I realized this simple
woman in front of me was no peasant at all. She was sent from God, an angel in
berry picking clothes!
God cares about even our smallest needs and discomforts, my friends. And before
we even ask, He often has the solution well on the way. So keep your eyes open.
You never know when a simple berry-picker may be an angel in disguise!
“And my God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ
Jesus.” (Phil 4:19)
Lyn Chaffart