cleaning in the light

I went to clean the church Thursday afternoon.
I entered the building with a Wal Mart bag in each hand.
I knew I could get to the end of the hall where the supply closet is without turning on the light so I didn't wrestle the bags to do so.

I got where I needed to be and glanced to my left.
My first thought was,
"A kid left a toy in the hall in the hall again,
I wonder what it is this time."
My second thought was
"Is that a scarf?"
(I had spent some time putting away costumes a few days before.)
I reached up and flipped the light on.

It was not a toy.
It was not a scarf.

It was a snake.
A big snake.
A big black snake.
A big black snake that had slithered through a big glue mouse trap the exterminator had put out.
A big black snake that was coiled around and around.
Thankfully it did not move or there would have been a big pile to clean up in the hallway.

I immediately left that end of the hall for the safety of the church office.
I called my husband.
He answered the phone with "Hello Bradley, can I call you back?" click.
I wanted to scream "This is not Bradley, and no you cannot call back! There is a snake here in this building with me and I need someone to come get it!"
Next I called a retired elder.
No answer.
I looked through the church phone directory.
No help.

I decided to see if the snake had moved.
As I walked confidently down the hall I was giving myself the following pep talk:
"You need to man up.
It didn't move when it saw you.
It must not be able to go anywhere since it is stuck to that trap.
You can go ahead and clean."

As I got closer and closer to the snake I moved closer and closer to the opposite side of the hall and my steps slowed considerably as my stomach began to knot.
When I could finally see that it had not moved my courage did not increase-
as a matter of fact I questioned whether or not I could muster up enough to turn off the lights I had turned on before I realized what that unknown pile was.

I did not clean the church on Thursday.

As I drove away I thought about how sin is like that snake.
As long as sin isn't in the Light it is easy to mistake it for something decorative or harmless.
And sin can even be found in the church.
There is definitely a reason we are called to live in the Light.