October 2

Written by Bill Grandi on October 2nd, 2019

My title for this devotion is Pesky Varmint vs Death Trap.

It was 1984. I was in KY for a week as part of my Masters course; Jo was back home in Ohio. I was almost asleep-in never never land-when she called. We lived in a church parsonage, an old house, and she called to tell me there was a bat in the house. She was in the bedroom trying to hide from it. We were talking and I was trying to soothe her jagged nerves and was telling her to contact Jim, one of the elders to see if he would come down and try to get it out. (Remember what state of sleep I was in). Suddenly, a blood-curdling scream sent me off the bed into levitation and my heart into palpitations. You guessed it. The bat had come into the bedroom and had flown past her and had stopped to cling to the closet wall. I told her to hang up and call Jim, who came down and captured it and disposed of it. Actually, he used a cloth to cover it and hit it with a hammer.  🙂

To be honest, I’m not fond of bats. They may kill tons of mosquitoes a night and other pesky insects, but as far as I can see, their usefulness stops there. Guess I heard too many stories as a kid of bats that got caught in hair (not that I have to worry about that particular problem). What ever made me enjoy crawling through bat guano in the bat cave at Mohican State Park in Moorehead, KY is beyond me. But I digress. They say bats can get through an opening the size of the side of a coin. Ugh! Makes you want to be sure of having all holes caulked!

That reminds me of sin. The enemy will take advantage of even the smallest opening to lead us down the wrong path. Whether it be a persistent sin or one that suddenly makes itself known, he will take the path of least resistance to lead us into sin. Like bats who have some usefulness, what he offers us may “look” good, but in the end it is only destruction.

“Father, help me to resist the pull of sin. Help me to be prepared and close up any openings that can allow my enemy to enter. Help me to say, ‘No. Not today’ to his pull.”

 

9 Comments so far ↓

  1. Ryan S. says:

    Great story… Not sure I heard that one before. I like the application, though bats I don’t mind as much.
    Closing openings, a constant battle, the minute you caulk one hole, the enemy likes to find another.

  2. What a fantastic analogy, Bill! I know for a fact I would have reacted the same way Jo did to having a bat so up close and personal. Shuddering just imagining it.
    And we should shudder, too, at the thought of just how easily sin can wind its crafty way into our hearts and minds when we least expect it. May God keep us safe and close!
    Blessings!

    • Bill Grandi says:

      Thanks Martha. I suspect jo would not be alone in her response. Agreed on your thoughts as well.

  3. floyd says:

    They drive me batty! 😂

    Awesome analogy. A pinhole can turn into a floodgate… when it comes to sin.

  4. Ed says:

    So you killed the inspiration for Batman? 🙁

    Just Joking.

    Hahahahahah

    (See what I did there?)

    I need to say NO more often than I have been.