Thursday, 02 July 2009

• Snakes in the Playground

  Here's the strange and tragic tale out of the headlines.  Of course, there is a metaphor.
  
  A pet python broke out of its holding tank and strangled a two-year-old girl in the bedroom of her home in Florida, local authorities said.

  The 8ft (2.5m) albino Burmese python had also bitten Shaiunna Hare on her forehead several times.

  Charles Darnell, the snake's owner and boyfriend of Shaiunna's mother, stabbed the python and prised the child away, but she died before paramedics arrived.

  Authorities removed the snake from the home after obtaining a search warrant.

  Officials said Mr Darnell did not have a permit for the snake. He could face child endangerment or other charges.

  Everglades breeding

  According to police, Mr Darnell said he had put the snake in a bag in an aquarium container on Tuesday night, but awoke the next morning to find it missing.

  Bobby Caruthers, from the sheriff's office in Sumter County, central Florida, said Mr Darnell "ran immediately to the infant's room" and discovered "the snake on the child".

  "He also said he observed bite marks on the forehead of the child," Mr Caruthers said.

  Wildlife officials say they are growing increasingly concerned by the proliferation of pythons in the Florida wilderness.

  It is believed that some have been released by pet owners who can no longer care for them.

  The snakes are breeding in the Everglades, where they have no natural predators.

  Burmese pythons can reach a length of 16ft (5m) and live for 30 years.

  The US Humane Society told Associated Press news agency that at least 12 people have been killed in the US by pet pythons since 1980, including five children.
  

  We should rightly be horrified by this story.  How could anyone put such a dangerous predator near a child?  We have no idea what kind of safeguards this man put up - probably pretty good ones.  But the fact remains: some things just don't belong in the house.

  There are other things we allow in the house that are deadly or deadlier that we allow in the house:
  

  • Unfiltered, unsupervised and unaccountable media access.  I've heard kids cuss and portray attitudes and sexual innuendo that would embarrass the most hardened person - where did they learn that?  Mom's and dad's allow the strangest videos and movies to be watched both from the screen, internet and DVD.
    As a parent of a teen, it's hard to sit down and talk about what they hear, see and what our kids are tempted to do with their friends.  Get over it!  Just do it!  Be a parent, not a friend; place boundaries and limits. 
    
  • Attitudes and conversations that adults should discuss alone. Kids will pick up on our language, attitude, criticism and praise.  Do they hear us admit good things as well as critical things of people?  When we're criticizing a teacher, leader or government official, do we also mention it's blessings?  A teacher commented to me about the rudeness and attitude of a child.  I lamented but she explained: when the parents of this child came in and cussed her out, she understood - the child only knows what is taught by example.  Do you cuss in front of your kids?  They will, too.  Do you allow bad or off-colored jokes?  They will, too.
    Here's what's cool: it goes the other way around, too!  They will demonstrate great attitude and great character when we demonstrate it, too.  But it's "caught", not taught.

  Probably the worst snake we allow is that of simple acedia. What is that?  Acedia is "a state of listlessness or torpor, of not caring or not being concerned with one's position or condition in the world. "
  Most parents are so busy with other things, they don't talk to each other about real plans for their kids. 
  Most of us plan our vacations better than we plan our spiritual and moral game plan for our kids. 
  Listen!  It "just doesn't happen." 
  
  Pr. 12:5 -- "The plans of the righteous are just, but the advice of the wicked is deceitful."  Do you really want to trust Dr. Phil and Oprah for your family?  Take examples from Hollywood?  Please ... can you hear the hissing?
  
  Pr. 15:22 -- "Plans fail for lack of counsel, but with many advisers they succeed."  Who are your Godly advisors?  They should be pastors and dear, deep spiritual friends who have the scars to prove they've gone that way.
  
  Pr. 16:9 -- "In his heart a man plans his course, but the LORD determines his steps."  Plan, seek the Lord, re-adjust when he tells us to!
  
  But most of all, we want our sons and daughters to want one thing: to give their lives to Jesus Christ.  If I could, I would make a deal with God: My life that they and their posterity would choose this as their life theme verse:
  Pr. 16:3 -- "Commit to the LORD whatever you do, and your plans will succeed."
  
  May the Lord bless us though we don't deserve it.  May we make the hard steps, and be a generation full of praise, virtue and knowledge of God ...
   ⁶ so the next generation would know them,
  

         even the children yet to be born,
         and they in turn would tell their children.

   ⁷ Then they would put their trust in God
         and would not forget his deeds
         but would keep his commands.

  Ps. 78:6-7
  
  

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