The Christmas Eve Visitor reminder of a New Year's Promise

Life in general is full of surprises, but life in the African bush seems to abound in surprises.

Sometimes those surprises are just simply beautiful - like the blooming of an indigenous magnolia with delicately scented custard coloured flowers, for the first time in the years we have lived here.

Although sometimes the surprises are a little less positive.

photo credit

"'Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse!"….so the little poem goes.

But our story was more like,

'Twas the day before Christmas, when all of a sudden, slithered a long grey snake of the species 'black mamba'

Now for those of you who don't know, the black mamba is about the deadliest snake in the world.  Only a few people are known to have been bitten and survived.  While we know someone in that category, they are not the kind of snake to mess with.

As we watched (from a distance) as it slithered across our driveway just meters from our back door and across some garden beds and off into the bush beside our house, we were reminded of the importance of keeping screen doors closed!

At the time, I thought if I was superstitious I'm sure I would consider it some bad omen for Christmas Day, the next day.

But as I watched it, the thought that came to my mind was that Christmas Day is all about the One who came and crushed the great serpant's head - Satan himself.  There was a serpent greater than the black mamba and he was defeated forever because Jesus was born…to die…and rise…victorious. 

As we push on into a new year, we don't do it with a bad omen but with a great promise of sin forgiven and Satan defeated.