In "The Slimy, Slivering, Beady-Eyed, Forked-Tongue Serpent, Part 1, I introduced a unique friend of mine: one who loved snakes! Upon his return from serving as a student missionary in a remote South American area, he told me the following story.

He had often said that he liked to experience life as the locals did, and as he was preparing that particular morning to fetch water, he didn't bother putting on his shoes.

He was running down the path to the river-the local source of running water-when he heard a voice out of nowhere: "Go around the clearing! Don't go through it!" Naturally, it stopped him in his tracks, but when he looked around, there was no one there! Had he been dreaming? Was someone playing a dirty joke?

He quickly convinced himself that he had imagined it, and he again began walking towards the clearing.

Once more, that same voice called out: "Don't go into the clearing! Go around it today!"

When his frantic visual search of the area still revealed no one, my friend became a bit spooked! Even though he was a born dare-devil (aren't all snake lovers?), he was having second thoughts about crossing that clearing!

As he turned his feet off of the path, however, something made him look back. He had to know what could possibly be so bad in this "forbidden" place! That's when he noticed movement under the leaves on the path that he had intended to take. Fascinated, he watched for a moment, searching for more movement. Sure enough, the head of a snake soon emerged from the underbrush. It was one of the deadliest varieties in the region. Had my friend ignored the voice, which he was now convinced was God's Holy Spirit, he would have stepped right on that deadly serpent.

For some reason, my friend bypassed that particular clearing upon his return! And he also began wearing shoes!

It pays to listen to God's voice!

There is another voice you can choose to listen to: the voice of the devil. Choosing to listen to his voice, however, will put you in immediate danger of this sly serpent's real intent: your destruction! "A thief is only there to steal and kill and destroy. I came so they can have real and eternal life, more and better life than they ever dreamed of." (John 10:10 The Message).

Who are you listening to?

Rob Chaffart