Christian Photographers Community
Spiritually Speaking => Manna For The Soul => Topic started by: SmokeytheDog on August 29, 2006, 11:42:55 PM
Black flies at Higgins Lake
By Smokey the Dog
2 weekends ago I went camping with some men from our church. On a cloudy Saturday afternoon we drove over to Higgins lake state park near Roscommon Michigan. I chose to sit and watch as several from our group went swimming. In hindsight that may have been the better choice. In any case, I had several black flies attack my ankles while I sat there talking with some others from our group. I couldn't believe it, but they bit me right through my socks! Finally I liberally sprayed my socks with bug spray, and that was the end of it, or so I thought. Almost a week later my ankles began to itch. I tried several things to get it to stop, and the topical ointments, including one with Benadryl, were only partly effective. Then out of desperation I took an antihistamine tablet, and that actually seemed to help. Now I have these red scabby patches on my ankles that itch, but not nearly so bad as before.
I was thinking on this, and it entered my mind that the black flies are like sin. They bite through our socks and later trouble develops. Our socks are like out fleshly defenses, ineffective. The bug spray is like our after the fact efforts to correct the problem with prayer, or Bible reading. The only real cure was an internal one. In the case of sin, being filled with the Holy Spirit is the cure, and the preventative, and Bible study and prayer should be done before going out to the spiritual beach. Maybe next time I go to the beach in August in Michigan I will remember to put the bug spray before, and not after.