Be sober-minded, be alert. Your adversary the devil is prowling around like a roaring lion, looking for anyone he can devour.” 1 Peter 5:8
I guess just being careful wasn’t enough. During our recent journey south, my brother-in-law, JW, unexpectedly had a day off. Now you probably should understand that he is past the age when that should be normal, but he simply loves what he does and loves to work. For that reason, I wasn’t too surprised when he announced that on his day off—we were going to work.
He had a couple of projects he wanted done at the lake house where we were staying and one of them included putting down some landscaping fabric in preparation for some rock that he was going to lay around the fire pit area. No problem—well, almost. First, for various reasons (like flying in an airplane), we didn’t make it to the work site until 3:00 pm and trust me—September or not—it can still be hot in North Georgia—and it was.
The other problem involved heat of a different kind. At each end of the place where we were going to lay out the fabric, there were two very large Fire Ant beds. Now if you are not familiar with these demons from another very hot place, their bite is terrible. It will fester and can be painful and itchy for weeks after the attack. I determined then and there to stay far away from the two beds.
Well, for whatever reason, JW decided to attack the beds with his string trimmer (something that I would not recommend) which accomplished two things. First, it made the Fire Ants very mad and second, it scattered them from here to kingdom come. Well, even with all of that I still managed to stay away from these nasty insects and avoid their bite—or so I thought.
That night, I noticed my big toe on my foot was itchy and a little painful. Well, since I had good shoes on with tight fitting socks, I didn’t think a thing about it—until bedtime. I slipped off my shoes and socks and right there, against all odds was a Fire Ant bite in all its not-glory. Well, I had to scratch it and, well, it is still there almost a week later. My question was, “How in the world did that devil get in my shoe and through my sock?” I don’t know but I sure wish he hadn’t.
You see, sometimes you can do everything right and still end up with a devil in your shoe. Thinking back, maybe I should have spoken up and encouraged JW not to stir the pot with his string trimmer. Maybe I should have stayed even further away—like a mile or two. Like I said, I don’t know but this I do know. When the Fire Ants (or the devil) are around we have got to do everything, we can to stay clear. We may still get a bite but at least we would have done everything we could and should do to avoid their (or his) nasty bite.
I do think the next time I work with JW and there are Fire Ants involved, I believe I will consult an expert just to be sure I know everything I should know. And the next time I see the devil in my neighborhood, I believe I’ll get some advice from my Dearest Daddy. I’m sure He will give me some wise counsel—after all, as always, “He’s got this.” Bro. Dewayne
Grits with Grace 