There’s a snake lurking in the grass.”
–Virgil

“It’s not the decisions you make that determine your destiny.  It’s how you handle the outcome of your decisions.”
–unknown

My buddy from junior high and high school and I used to ride our bikes out to lakes in the region to fish.  I remember one day, it was warm, and the fish were not biting.  Doug went off to the left to try some lures in another spot.  I decided to lazy fish, I put a worm on one hook and salmon eggs on the other, then laid back.
I was laying there, maybe fifteen minutes, when I looked to my side and “Whoop-ti!” (a term from my Grandpa) a snake crawled out from under me.  Needless to say I was no longer laying in that spot; actually for a while I might have been airborne.  I didn’t feel it move so I probably was laying on its den.  Well, after I got my young heart slowed down some, I looked and saw it was a garter snake.  By that time Doug had come over, and for some reason he was laughing. Well, I gave that snake a fling out into the lake.  Hopefully he became dinner for a large trout or largemouth bass. 
Now that is the way with life at times.  We are just relaxing, enjoying the day and once in a while a snake crawls out from under us.  We get caught unawares, the old devil has slipped in and we just didn’t realize it.  Sometimes the seemingly innocent things can turn out to be a snake in the grass.  Something happened and we were not expecting it, and then we possibly didn’t react properly and wound up in a mess.
Just a garter snake is not bad, but crawling from underneath you, well, I guarantee it will get your attention.  But what if?  What if it had been one of those nasty rattlers?  They are the ones with those large, deadly fangs full of poison.  We make enough trouble for ourselves in life with the snakes that we see out there.  Those writhing, conniving, sneaky snakes ready to strike out.  There are plenty of those in life, but to lay there on top of one, “whoop-ti”.
I remember a story of a cowboy up north.  He and his buddy were out looking for strays.  They took time to make some coffee and get a little snooze in after lunch.  The cowboy woke up, and yep, on top on him was one of those pesky rattlers.  He softly spoke his pard’s name to waken him quietly for he didn’t want any sudden movements to stir up the snake.  “Get him off me,” he was almost crying.
His partner ran to his saddlebags.  He had a camera there and wanted to make sure to get a picture, for it most likely would not happen again.  Some pard!  But everything worked out all right.  Those snakes!  Just be sure to watch for them when you go walking out after dark.  In fact, as Christians we should never be walking in the dark, but the Word of God should be that light upon our paths.

“Snakes! Brood of vipers! How can you escape being condemned to hell?”
–Matthew 23:33 (HCSB)

It is important to remember who the “author of confusion” is–the devil!  I dare you to look at the news and not see signs of confusion.  Ask almost anyone of the recent “protestors” and the vast majority of those causing the destruction could not give you a valid reason for the destruction.  The minds are warped, bent and twisted out of shape.
There are other signs of this confusion.  Did you happen to see the new category at the national dog show?  Cats!  Cats are now a category in a dog show.  I wonder if there is any protest from the Bulldogs or German Shepherds over this?  Now, the question is, will dogs be allowed in the “cat show”?
Here is one I really don’t understand.  I guess that part of biology slipped through when I took the course.  But it was decided that transgenders, and I wonder if that means boys or girls, can now be in the Boy Scouts.  Does that mean a boy, who says he is a girl can still be in the scouts or must he/she now go to the Girl Scouts?  A girl who identifies as a boy, even though biologically a girl, can now be a Boy Scout?  Sounds real confusing to me.  Perhaps they will change the name to the “It Scouts.”
 The media is partly to blame, and of course the media, and the internet are always right.  I see that they are partly responsible for the confusion by putting their special touch to news.  You don’t think that when the Antichrist begins to arise he won’t be using the media?  It will be one of his prime weapons.  Yes, weapon, and it will be a weapon of mass destruction.
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     “The world is too much with us.”
               –William Wordsworth

I read this many years ago and just came across it again.  I am in the process of having a second book published and working on a second novel.  In my writing, my thought was never in this realm, but upon reflection I see that it is.  When I wrote “The True and Unbiased Life of Elias Butler,” my purpose was to write an enjoyable book with some life lessons in it.  It was meant to be enjoyed, not scrutinized.
“In this materialistic age, this hard, practical, swift, greedy age of realism, it seems there is no place for writers of romance, no place for romance itself….  People live for the dream in their hearts.  And I have yet to know anyone who has not some secret dream, some hope, however dim, some storied wall to look at in the dusk, some painted window leading to the soul.”  (Zane Grey)
Romance?  Ha, most folk today have no notion of romance.  I have always contended that I am a realistic romantic.  Perhaps it is part of the confusion of the age.  Sex, lust, material gifts are not romance.  Romance is part of the dream that can transpose into life itself.  Scrutinize if that makes you happy, but I would dare say that in doing so you may be hiding or disregarding your own dream.

“Where there is no vision [no revelation of God and His word], the people are unrestrained; But happy and blessed is he who keeps the law [of God].”
–Proverbs 29:18 (AMP)
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Coming soon:  “Trails in the Wilderness.”  This is a thirty-day devotional book. 
In the works:  “Mal de Ojo.”  This is the second in the series about Elias Butler.  He is now part of the newly formed Texas Rangers under Captain Leander McNelly