"Bite-yous"

On my way back home to Scarsdale from a vacation on the Sunshine and Gold Coasts in Queensland, someone said to me, "Queensland has a lot of bite-yous."

Perplexed, I said, "What? Byteyooz?"

"No," he said, "BITE YOUs."

The tropical east coast has most of the world's most poisonous snakes, spiders (except for the dreaded funnel web spider which inhabits the Sydney area in New South Wales) biting flies, mosquitoes as big as a bird, crocodiles and little worms that hook into the bottom of your feet if you walk barefoot.

After this conversation, I also surmised that although Queensland is a great place to walk, you'd better be able to run.

Victoria, where I live, is the "coldest" state, so we are safe from most of those tropical dangers. Yes, we have a few of those deadly snakes, and spiders that bite and leave one miserable.

Therefore, I am cautious when I find spiders in my home, not being familiar with the ones that will "bite you" as opposed to the biggest, hairiest looking monster spider that is fairly tame--the Hunstman, which always gives me the willies. The babies are bigger than most spiders I've seen.

Then there are biting ants. Some are very tiny, red-hued ants whose bite is more fierce than America's red ants. There are ants that jump, sugar ants, and the bull ant. The bull ant is what I am afraid of coming across.

My British friend Denise tells me that once she was out in the "bush" and needed to relieve herself. She dug a little hole near a gum tree and squatted. First her ankles started stinging, then her calves, and as she realized she was over a nest of these big, biting, bull ants, she "ran for the hills," screaming all the way, pants around knees. Likely hobbled for the hills is more appropriate.


small bull ant

In fact, bull ants are so tenacious in their bite that Aborigines used the ants' "jaws" to suture a wound. Pick up the ant, get it to bite so its pinchers were on each side of the wound, then snap its head off, and so on, until the entire length of the wound was closed with little heads and pinchers stuck into flesh.

I'm not kidding.

And so I pondered some more. Last night I woke up with this thought in mind..."bite yous" can be considered the bad decisions we make in life.

A little lie won't hurt anyone. But often the "bite-you" gets and poisons you and the person you're closest to. It affects, even if it's just a mosquito bite and the itching and swelling lasts only a few days.

A big lie's affects may last a bit longer. The whole body (the liar's and the victim's) are likely affected for a long time until the poison works its way out of the system.

Adultery's poison will take affect in the soul right away, as will unfaithfulness, infidelity, murder, sexual addiction, alcoholism, drug abuse, and other insidious lifestyles, which often lead to death.

Interesting that the Bible calls all these vices, and more, "sin." Jesus warned us all that sin kills the spirit, the living part of someone inside the shell of a body, and leads to death, not just physical, but spiritual.

And I wonder why so many people don't want to hear this.

When my two children were much younger and we lived in hot, dry, central California, I was fastidious about sweeping out their outdoor playhouse in the backyard. More than once I found Black Widow spiders weaving webs inside where Jason and Kimberly played house, and where I would bring them lemonade on hot summer days, and hot chocolate on cold winter afternoons.

I would not have been a good parent had I just let them go out and play and get bitten, sick, and possible death, depending on their age and the amount of venom inflicted.

But as they got older, they made their own choices about life, safety, and venomous situations. Sure, I warned when I could, "swept out the playhouse," when I was able, but there was only so much I could do.

I think that God, our ultimate parent, is the same way with us.

As such, when my children were poisoned by "bite-yous," (lifestyle choices) I did what I could to alleviate the poison. But, unfortunately, I was affected by the venom from my own encounters with "bite-yous." I didn't always make good decisions, and I wasn't always a good role model.

But isn't that the way we all are? Who really wants to be poisoned?

No one that I know likes to be bitten by a mosquito, an ant, a spider, a snake, or anything else. And yet we subject ourselves, or purposely walk into those things that hurt us, hurt those that love us, cause our spirits to be wounded...and sometimes we die...spiritually and physically.

So what is my rambling all about, really?

I guess it's about the antidote to sin...which is the real, deadly, "bite-you."

I like what Paul (a Jew who wrote a lot of the New Testament) wrote.

I also like that Paul was a wealthy Hebrew, raised on the Torah and the Law, and yet came to realize that the only reason for living was a brand new hope in God's love for all of us, ultimately shown in Jesus' life, the way He lived, the people He spoke to, the people He healed, and the people He spent time with over three years.

For reference, read Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, and the first part of Acts to see who He really is. These are historical references from people who spent time with Him.

That same love and life, opened up mankind to an unending future with Jesus, apart from the Law of sin [bite-yous] and death [not being able to come up with a permanent antidote.]

Paul was beaten, jailed, misunderstood, nearly died several times, and yet he did not waver in his faith. He had lots of "bite-yous" in his past as well, and he wrote honestly about them. He even sanctioned murder. But he wrote about all this to Roman citizens, and Roman Christians.

"Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with Him. For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, He cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over Him. The death He died, He died to [bite-yous] once for all, but the life He lives, He lives to God. In the same way, count yourselves dead to [bite-yous] but alive to God in Christ Jesus. Therefore, do not let [bite-yous] reign in your mortal body so that you obey [their] evil desires. Do not offer the parts of your body to [bite-yous], as instruments of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God, as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer the parts of your body to Him as righteousness [purehearted, God-fearing]. For [bite-yous] shall not be your master, because you are not under law, but under Grace. What then? Shall we continue to [subject ourselves to bite-yous] because we are not under law, but under Grace? By no means! Don't you know that when you offer yourselves to someone [or something] to obey him [or it] as slaves, you are slaves to the one [or thing] which you obey--whether you are slaves to [bite-yous] which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness? But thanks be to God that, though you used to be slaves to [bite-yous], you wholeheartedly obeyed the form of teaching to which you were entrusted. You have been set free from [bite-yous] and have become slaves to righteousness. I put this in human terms because you are weak in your natural selves. Just as you offer the parts of your body in slavery to impurity and to ever-increasing [bite-yous] so now offer them in slavery to righteousness leading to holiness [untouchableness]. When you were slaves to [bite-yous], you were free from the control of righteousness. What benefit did you reap at that time that you are now ashamed of? Those things result in death! But now that you have been set free from [bite-yous] and have become slaves to God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness [being untouchable from bite-yous] and the result is eternal life. For the wages of [bite-yous] is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord."

I have been stung frequently from bite-yous, from my own doing, and from others' bad decisions that affected me, and poisoned a lot along the nearly 47 years of my life. But I have also chosen an antidote.

Yes, I still get bitten, and sometimes suffer the consequences, from me, and others. But I have learned, and know where to run for help. And I am always restored.