You wanna know why? Lookee what I just found on my studio floor:
Yes, that’s a REAL scorpion. And yes, it was alive when I saw it. Not just alive, mind you, but alive and MOVING and opening and closing it’s little lobster-like claws!!! *Shudder* I had gone into the studio to put some files next to the laptop, and as I was leaving, something on the floor caught my eye. At first, I thought it was a string or piece of grass. But something inside my brain said, “Go back and look at that thing.” So I did. It was all long and stretched-out like and I thought, “Gee, that kinda looks like a scorpion…I wonder if it is.” *Shudder* And that’s when it started MOVING. Towards me. Waving those pincers like it was all big and tough. *Shudder again* And I’m standing there in my slippers wondering if they’re thick enough to kill this beast on carpet without me being stung, and I think that they are…
…but I’m not totally sure of that.
Being unwilling to take a chance, I begin looking frantically for something I’m SURE will be big and strong enough to win the battle against pincers and stingers. And then I find it. Noah’s tennis shoe. Now, see, Noah is a neighborhood friend who’s over to play with Trey. And he left his shoes – conveniently – by the front door. I’m sure God is telling me Noah has placed them there “for such a time as this.” So I grab it, and before you can say “GOTCHA!” I bring that shoe down with enough force to shake the foundation.
You bet I killed him.
And that’s when I discovered…
The shoe I’d used – the shoe God had specifically revealed to me for this purpose, the shoe Noah had so politely placed inside the front door – was muddy.
But honestly, after weighing my options carefully, I’ve decided that I’m much happier having a muddy shoeprint on my studio carpet than a LIVE SCORPION. Especially one with an attitude.
Now, we’ve seen scorpions in our house before. And some of them have even been alive when we first noticed them. But none of them have been this active or this big before. So I proudly – and with an appropriate amount of “EWWW” and trepidation running through my veins – share with you the beast I have vanquished.
Praise God for muddy tennis shoes!