Snakes Alive!

As most of our readers know...I am the pastor of The Ole Country Church near Medford, Wisconsin. I also have an outside job working at BRI (Black River Industries) and I am the supervisor for the BRI RAM crew (Rest Area Maintainance) that goes out and cleans and maintains 3 waysides and 1 historical information sign in our local county (Taylor). Our crew cleans the restrooms, mows the lawns and in general, paints and maintains the sites.

A few weeks ago when we arrived at one of the waysides near Westboro there was a car parked in the parking lot and a man standing near the car looking rather anxious. I approached him and asked him if there was a problem. From experience dealing with the public there are times that the restrooms are left in a mess by the previous occupants, so I was prepared to realize my fears. The man explained that he needed to use the restroom but when he had opened the door he had spotted a snake slithering on the floor and he was afraid to enter. With that, he got into his car and left the wayside.

A fear of snakes is quite common among us human folks, with its roots embedded way back to Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. For that reason, snakes are haunted with a bad reputation, and for the most part unjustifiably so. Dont get me wrong - we do need to have a certain fear and respect for the poisonous varieties as well as the larger constrictor types - but for the most part, the snakes up here in Northern Wisconsin are quite ha ...