"...lest you dash your foot against a stone..."

last week i took the kids to a place beach-side where huge rocks and cement sea-breakers lie in jumbled piles along the edge of the water. it looked like a wonderful place to explore and find crabs. what an adventure it turned out to be!

after about an hour of futile crab-hunting, the bigger kids had wandered so far along the beach that the 3 little ones and i could no longer see them, so we got in the van and drove along to where i thought they were. a huge cement wall separated the road from the rocks at that point, so i couldn't see them. i started calling and whistling. along came a police car.

"are you looking for someone, ma'am?"

"yes, sir, my kids are on the rocks looking for crabs."

"but ma'am, that's a restricted area and those rocks are full of cobras."

silence. a cry to God for peace and calmness.

"well, officer, i can't climb up on that barrier, would you mind calling them for me?"

so he jumped up on the wall and began blowing his whistle and shouting for the kids. they came, white-faced and quiet...they all thought i would be mad...but as they piled into the van i said, from the bottom of my heart, "now i see why we pray before every adventure..."

"he shall give his angels charge over you, to guard you in all your ways, lest you dash your foot against a stone..."

"...i give you power over serpents and scorpions...and nothing shall by any means hurt you..."