By Brad Campbell –

Just a thought to help start your week.

Those of you who are unfamiliar with the South may simply see this photo as a bunch of trees in a nasty pond.  The rest of us recognize it as a Mississippi cypress swamp.

Especially in the dead heat of a muggy southern summer, places like this are home to many untold thousands of mosquitos and other such pesky creatures.  The waters are still.  There is a green film of slime, moss, and algae covering their surface.  You can hear the croaks of the toads, the incessant buzzing of the bugs, and the ever so slight breeze rustling things around you.

However, it’s what you don’t see that can cause the most harm.  These quiet and still swamps are also home to many kinds of snakes (and who cares if they’re poisonous or not?!), and there are probably gators idling lazily much nearer than you care to imagine.  I know of no one in their right mind who would venture down into these type waters simply because of what my lie underneath the green top cover.  And yet, we venture down into the dangerous places of this life.

Why is it that we ignore the signs, the sounds, the smells, and the poisons of the devil’s evil around us, and we wade right into the boggy swamp of sin not thinking twice that we could be bitten, eaten, or literally taken out of this world due to the dangers behind the nasty parts we see?  Why do we wander around so closely, admiring, if you will, the “pretty” green, when it simply masks the ugliness of what’s below?

Remember when Momma told you to look but not touch?  She had to repeat herself so many times.  God does the same.  “Look, my child, if you must.  Even take a leisurely stroll across the planks, if you must.  But be very cautious about stepping off the pathway.”  — You see, what that green outer crust doesn’t tell us is just how deep those murky waters are.  One step out into the sinfulness and ugliness, and you could very easily and quickly be in over your head.

Listen for the warnings, watch for the signs, remain on the path, and steer clear of life’s swamps this week.

Just a thought.