Thankfully, there have not been many cockroaches in our house, and almost all of them were small -- and short-lived, at least as far as I know!
Loren has always teased me for my intensity in bug-killing. If the kids are sleeping when we see a spider, I generally ask him to kill it, because it is too noisy when I do it. There is no middle ground with me. It is a full wind-up and swing, and sometimes a war cry escapes, too. "Yaaaah!!" Smack!
Loren somehow manages to complete the same task with a quiet 4-inch lifting and lowering of the sandal.
But one day there was a cockroach in my house that deserved the whole shebang. It was big. It was in my house. And it quickly surrendered to my sandal's surprise attack. I don't think I've ever hit a bug so hard. My knuckles, which hit the ground along with the sandal, were slightly swollen for two days. I noticed that they were hurt as I was coming back from burying the nasty critter in the trash can. "Man," I thought, "he really got me." Wait! What was I thinking?! He's the one that ended up flat in my trash can! Who got who here? Suddenly, a verse popped into my mind. It's in Genesis 3, where God is talking to Adam, Eve, and the snake who deceived them. Verse 15 gives the second half of the snake's consequences. "And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.”
We see this fulfilled when Christ, Eve's offspring, is crucified, yet rises victorious over our enemy, Satan.
Certainly not what I expected to think of after an encounter with a cockroach, but it is fitting. I was bruised, but only for a little while, and he was crushed, permanently.
Thank You, Christ Jesus, for crushing our enemy, even at a great cost to yourself. I am so glad your wounds were not permanent. We can't wait to see you return!
