No More Slugs!

If you are at all disturbed by bugs or slimy type things, I advize you to read another post.  Actually... you should probably still read this one.  Just don't look at the pictures.

Woodland doesn't seem like that long ago, but I guess it was.  One of the awesome things about serving in Woodland (out of the thousands) was the house we lived in.  Yes, we had a house.  All to ourselves.  It was quaint and had all sorts of fun little what-nots around every turn.  Let's just say, when I first got there, all I could think was "NO WAY?!?!"  It seemed just perfect, up until the day our little "friend" came to visit.

The slug

My companions and I walked in to find a slug.  A big, brown, ugly slug; right in the middle of our kitchen floor.  I don't think there is another word other than "GROSS!" to describe such an event.  After the shock of this super little find, I sent our friend right back where he came from.  We sorta shrugged it off as being a weird experience and didn't think twice about it.  Until it happened again.

The second invasion of our home by a slug sent us looking around for a hole or a crack in our doorways, walls, or wherever.  Our brief search came to an end with no entry way found.  Again, we shrugged it off.  That lasted about a week.  Then came the third slug.

This one was the biggest of them all.  "This. Means. WAR!"

We left nothing unturned.  We searched high and low.  Inside, under, and behind everything!  Found some new discoveries.  A few were epic!  No idea how I hadn't found them before!  The others.....well.......not so good.  The good news was that we found the slug entrance!  The bad news, it was disgusting!

This is the hole behind our stove.  Sick right?

Behind our oven we found a hole.  This hole went straight to the outside.  It was big enough for a rat to fit into, or so we were informed (really comforting...)  Our foundation wasn't solid.  There were faults discovered and the slugs found their way in.

Reflecting back on this experience, I thought of the story of the wise man and the foolish man in Matthew.  It reads:

24 Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock:

 25 And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock.

 26 And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand:

 27 And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it.

 So, there is the wise man who's house is steady.  Rock solid.  He built his foundation, or testimony, on Christ.  The surest of all foundations.  "1A foundation whereon if men build they cannot fall."  On the other side of things there is the foolish man who builds his foundation, or testimony, on the sand.  It is unsteady and unsure, leaving his home open to the torment of the waters and the winds, or the temptations of the world.  As we know, his home is now just drift wood.

But, I like to think of it as there being a third category in this story.  There is the man who builds his house on the dirt.  It's seems good.  Safe and sound.  It's far enough from the waters to avoid the flooding.  But, there are flaws.  The walls aren't completely tight, letting the wind in at times.  The ceiling isn't completely water proof, in heavy enough storms the rain gets in.

 Too often we think we are "good enough."  That our testimonies could get stronger, but it's more work.  It's easier to just put it off and not worry.  Reading our scriptures, going to church, and saying our prayers are just so simple and easy that they can be done later.  This kind of attitude is the kind that gets you three slugs in your home.


Satan is clever.  It starts off all sneaky like, a little blow in the wind.  Easily ignored.  Then it moves up to a few drops of water.  Annoying, yet that can be put off.  It's not that bad right?  But, very quickly he creeps up into your life.  A gross slug that you would have never normally allowed into your home, but now has free access because you weren't noticing, or were ignoring, the "little" things.

The simple things are what give us the "sure foundation."  Read your scriptures.  Talk with God (pray).  Go to church.  Don't let there be even the tiniest sliver of a crack in your testimony so that Satan can never make his way in.  He is a gross, slimy, no good "slug" of a being.  Keep him OUT!  If you feel like you have a hole or crack in your "foundation", then these things will also help you fill in the cracks.  Try it!  I know from experience that it works.