Volume 30, No. 45                                              
November 13, 2005

Power Corridors

   Garter snakes in western Canada have slithered away from a slick, slippery slaughter, thanks to some high-powered help.

   In fact, the reptiles are fatter and healthier than they’ve been for years, especially around Narcisse,100 kilometres north of Winnipeg, Manitoba where they’ve bounced back after near-extinction.

   The problem started a decade ago when too many snakes were getting squished as they crawled across a major highway on their way to nearby marshes. “In the spring of 1997, we lost 25,000 snakes on a three-kilometre stretch of road,” said Ed Wasserman, a local snake expert. “The highway was black.”  

   The carnage happened again when the snakes returned to their dens after birthing in August to bask in the sun until about Thanksgiving before slipping down limestone cracks to hibernate. Disturbed by the senselessness of the reptilian extermination, some Manitoba Hydro workers used their connections.

   They approached their bosses with a plan to dig a dozen tunnels under Highway 17 and keep them open using old tubing, which the snakes could crawl through so they wouldn’t become road kill.  Instead of pulling the plug on the idea, Hydro officials gave the okay and the utility workers volunteered their time to do the work with company equipment.  

   Though some experts predicted the snakes would ignore the tunnels and continue using the road, that didn’t happen. Ed Wasserman estimates snake deaths have been reduced by 90 per cent and says the utility deserves a lot of credit. “Manitoba Hydro stuck out its neck,” he told the Winnipeg Free Press. They had nothing to gain.”

   Today, the snake population is approaching 70,000, which is about the same level as a decade ago.  The creatures have even put on a littleweight this year because heavy rains led to an explosion in the frog population. “We’ve got a lot of fat, happy snakes,” Wasserman said.

   In that short, simple story, we have a picture of what Jesus has done for us.  Though we’re created in the image of God — with a spirit that makes us more than purely physical — we must still contend with the human nature that plagues us with the same pride and pretense shown by the Serpent in the Garden of Eden.

   Described as “the shrewdest of all the creatures” (Genesis 3:1), he deceives Eve and Adam into thinking they can be — and have — so much more, if they ignore God’s instructions.  He persuades them that going their own way will lead to consequence-free freedom, wisdom and power.  “You’ll become just like God, knowing everything, both good and bad,” he promises (3:5). I wonder if they caught their own reflection as they ate that luscious, alluring fruit

   We, too, bite off more than we can chew.  Like little serpents who personify our sinful nature, we move through life, unthinking and oblivious to the dangers that destroy us spiritually when our natural instincts lead us to places where the world demands the right-of-way.

   But Jesus sees the needless suffering.   Moved by profound compassion, He works with the Ultimate distributor of power to prepare for us a safe way to get through life.  Through his sacrifice on the Cross, He digs well below the superficiality of what this world has to offer, bores past the perils of sin, and puts in place a strong and secure passageway through which we reach our intended destination. “I am the way, the truth and the life,” He says.  “No one can come to the Father, except through me.” (John 14:6)  

   Equipped and authorized by God, Jesus did all the work necessary for our redemption in a selfless, unconditional act of service. “He saved us, not because of the good things we did, but because of his mercy.” (Titus 3:5)  In return, “everyone who trusts in God will be careful to do good deeds all the time (v.8.)  

   If we’ll take advantage of Jesus, without taking advantage of him, our numbers will grow and prosper.  We’ll bask in the Son and — when the time is right — awake from our holy hibernation to a life without death or danger.

   Stay off the road.

By Rick Gamble, published in Cross Current, the weekly newsletter of the followers of Christ nondenominational congregation in Brantford, Ontario, Canada.  Reprint at will in not-for-profit publications.  To get on a weekly mailing list for free Cross Current articles, send an email to sgamble@bfree.on.ca