Acts 28:1-6
When they had been brought safely through, then we found out that the island was called Malta.
The natives showed us extraordinary kindness; for because of the rain that had set in and because of the cold, they kindled a fire and received us all.
But when Paul had gathered a bundle of sticks and laid them on the fire, a viper came out because of the heat and fastened itself on his hand.
When the natives saw the creature hanging from his hand, they began saying to one another, "Undoubtedly this man is a murderer, and though he has been saved from the sea, justice has not allowed him to live."
However he shook the creature off into the fire and suffered no harm.
But they were expecting that he was about to swell up or suddenly fall down dead. But after they had waited a long time and had seen nothing unusual happen to him, they changed their minds and began to say that he was a god.


I am a high-stress person! If you're anything like me when something goes wrong I totally freak out!!! I'm all drama, a big drama queen! Even when I was little if I got an eensy weensy cut or saw a bit of blood I'd act like my life was over. I screamed bloody-murder when I got my first bee sting. The same seems to work in my spiritual life, something in life seems to go wrong and immediately I'm on full-alert, stressing out because things aren't going right from my control-freak perspective. I've worn myself out physically and spiritually from this.


That's why I've always loved this passage in Acts about Paul. He was shipwrecked on this strange island and as if things weren't worse enough, this big viper latches onto his arm! Now I don't know about you, but if that were me I'd be screaming loud enough to vibrate Stonehenge! I'd faint, or run, make a last will, mutter about seeing a pretty white light ... I think you get the idea! But in Acts it says that Paul "shook the creature off into the fire and suffered no harm".


Have you ever wanted to just shrug something off? Well here's a biblical example of someone who did! Paul was just like "oh dude, there's like this reptile biting me, whatever" *casually knocks it off into the fire* *goes back to gathering sticks* It even tells us he suffered no harm! Why? Because Paul trusted God, he knew that the Lord was taking care of him, He saved him from the storm, and Paul had no doubts that the Lord would save Him there too. He knew he was called to Rome, and to Rome he would go! Nothing was standing in his way.


I WANT TO BE LIKE THAT!!! Let me ask you, today are you shipwrecked? Does it seem like you were called to go someplace but then a storm comes along and dumps you on some weird island with smelly natives? Is there a viper hanging from your arm? Satan, the snake of old, is gonna come out and he's gonna latch onto you, and try to hinder your call. Are you trusting the Lord? Are you able to just shake Satan off and continue on, trusting the Lord, that He will do all that He has said He will do?