A Stowaway Teaches Me A Lesson

Spiders: I love them. Marissa loves watching me smash them when they get in our house, but I think spiders are one of God's most amazing creations.

One of these eight-legged wonders greeted me this morning as I got in my car to go to church (absolutely wonderful conference, by the way!). It had spun a web on my driver's side mirror. It looked calm and patient (awaiting a tasty fly or mosquito I imagine). It had no idea the wild ride it was about to get.

Our church is about ten miles from our house. There are two stretches of local highway where the speed limit gets up to 60 miles per hour. And since I have to drive through hilly San Marcos, there are also lots of hills: curves, turns, and swerves galore. I really thought the spider would not make it far at all.

But it surprised me: it made it all the way to church. A little tangled in its own web but still kicking when I arrived. I didn't think much else of it and left it to its own devices while I went inside for an absolutely wonderful conference.

Several hours and the heat of the day later, I find the spider still clinging to my mirror. It had salvaged a little of its web and begun the reconstruction process. Now the critter had my attention. I watched it a little more closely on the way home. I wanted to note the point at which it gave up the fight. Pulling up to a stoplight (traffic lights don't exist in San Marcos), I thought it had finally expired but a little nudge from my sunglasses brought forth a new fierceness as it scrambled up its web and braced itself for further attacks. Now I was impressed.

There's a reason God holds spiders in such high esteem. In Proverbs 30, it is listed with three other animals that are "small on the earth" but "exceedingly wise" (verse 24). Sammy (my mirror-spider—I named him at another stoplight) had hung on despite great difficulty. If he has an adrenal gland, I'm sure he was absolutely buzzing. At one point I thought the experience would be good inspiration for a new Six Flags ride. What a lesson in faith!

God tells us to trust Him (like Sammy trusted his web). He never says anything about an easy ride except that Jesus has taken most the load on Himself. There will be trials. There will be troubles. There will be thorns in your flesh and thickers stickers in your hands. There will be seasons of drought and seasons of plenty. But through everything, all God wants us to do is trust Him. Isn't that an amazing thing to learn while driving across town in Texas heat while looking to see if it's safe to change lanes?

To wrap up the Saga of Sammy the Spider, he made it all the way back home. No legs missing (I counted). Really, no worse than when he woke up this morning—maybe a little hungry since no fly or mosquito made it into his web. But can you imagine the tale he'll weave tonight when the boys are all gathered around? "You guys got nothing on me! Freddy may have got a bird last week, but dude, my web caught a Mazda! Top that!"