Settings and Snakes

Christianity for the Next 1000 Years

In the beginning God created skies and earth.

Welcome back.  I have been writing about God and the element of good storytelling known as setting.  Let me share a personal story.

There was a hill in Southern California where I walked everyday with three lemons in my hand.  I had taught myself how to juggle with lemons so I ambled the two miles or so to the top of that hill to practice.

A subdivision had begun there.  The road was already paved.  Strings were attached to stakes marking the lots that had already been landscaped.  A yellow bulldozer with clumps of soil stuck to its blade was left near the entrance along with a black dump truck.

My heart was heavy.  I loved living in California, but not in Orange County.  I missed San Francisco.  I could not go back there, but my best friend had offered me a place to stay in Atlanta until I got back on my feet.   

I was experiencing a career crisis that ran much deeper than where I wanted to live.  I could no longer be a professional minister.  I refused to stand before people and tell lies. 

My life had been a preparation for a pastor’s life.  Even in 1987 I was too scientific to really teach the Bible.  I had not matured enough to know I might want to minister and teach.  But I could not be a pastor in a denomination that was succumbing to the demonination of idolatry. 

My crisis was practical as well.  I couldn’t hammer a nail worth a flip.  I could change an alternator in a car, just barely, and not much else.  My talents resided in writing and speaking, but my prospects were Seven Eleven, Kroger, or JC Penny. 

I had used up my school energy and resources on philosophy, religion, and literature.  The idea of being a teacher occurred to me, but that would mean more school. 

I wended to the end of the road in that nascent subdivision seeking direction.  I stood atop that hill juggling and wondering, my mind naturally bending toward God.

Now, juggling is a yoga especially if lemons are involved.  If they strike the ground and burst apart the yoga is over. 

I heard a sound behind me as I juggled.  I held my lemons, turned, and saw to my astonishment two brown snakes were grappling on the pavement.  They had fallen from an embankment onto the cul-de-sac. 

These snakes were fairly long, about three feet in length, and were furiously engaged.  I thought they were fighting.  Later on, after viewing a nature documentary, I realized they could have been mating. 

I stepped away, even though I was at a safe distance.  I turned to leave, but I started thinking that I was a lot quicker than a snake as long as I did not get too close.  Since I wanted a closer look, I went back.

The snakes had vanished.  I decided to look for them.  I saw a small aqueduct ending into the cul-de-sac.  I began to walk into it.  At one point, near the zenith of the embankment, I realized those snakes could have gone in any direction.  They could also tumble upon me. 

I stood there, listening and waiting and feeling the warm California day.

Nothing happened.  There was no voice, no direction.  I imagined the messenger wrestling with Jacob, but no one appeared.

It was an event that, because of its timing, seemed numinous to me.  I had two directions in my life.  Also, I had seen two snakes battling or mating during the time of decision.

Was this what Jung called a synchronicity?  That is when an event from life coincides with what a person’s consciousness is feeling or thinking.  It happens in a way that is not related by cause and effect, but can be related symbolically.

I thought about Jung then.  I knew God did not send those snakes.  However, life is such that it is filled with signs and intimations if we could see them.  I decided to move to Atlanta.  That decision along with infinite other choices put me where I am today.  I am truly blessed.

Blessings…