This morning I opened my email and had a notice from our Home Owner’s Association that in two days they will be spraying for fire ants.  YEAH!

Fire ants are tiny.  One bite … just one bite can be deadly for my husband

One bite.  Highly toxic.  One bite.  Deadly poison.  One bite.  Six feet under!

We live in the California desert where there is an extremely high count of these little deadly pests.  The next bite could put my husband in the grave so we are extremely careful when/where we walk or go outside.  No more football on the grass when our grandsons visit

Ronn avoids fire ant hills and mounds with a passion.

One bite.  That’s all!

One bite.  That’s what Eve did.  Eve offered Adams one bite.  Their bites led to death for the entire human race.

One look.  One compromise.  One bite.  One dabbling in sin.

Fortunately for Ronn there is an antidote should he be bitten again.  Sadly he had to give up golfing here in the desert … but should he go golfing he has specific instructions to follow:

Don’t golf alone

Carry your Benadryl

Take along your Epi-pen

Wear long pants

Wear long socks

Carry your phone

Don’t pick up your ball out of the sand traps (his golfing partners don’t like that one! Ha!)

If bitten, immediately take a Benadryl and shoot yourself with your Epi-pen and call 911 to get to the hospital within 15 minutes

(And I tell him to make sure his insurance is paid up! … sorry, that’s a joke so don’t judge me!!)

Seems like a detailed list but to stay alive you do what you must.  We do our best to stay on top of the date to replenish the Epi-pen.  There is an expiration date after which the Benadryl and Epi-pen are no longer effective.

Is there an antidote for Eve’s bite which put the curse of death on us?

YES!  Jesus provided our antidote on the cross.  Jesus knew that left to ourselves we would “take the bite”.  We all have.  We are born sinners.  We will die and spend eternity either in heaven or hell.

For Ronn to be protected from a fire ant death … he HAS to be prepared with the antidote.  For us to be protected from an eternity in hell … we HAVE to make use of the antidote … which is JESUS!

How do we do that?  Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth and the life.  No one comes to the Father except through me.”  (John 14:6 NIV).

1. Recognize that Jesus ALONE is the way to salvation
2. Recognize you ARE a sinner … “For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23).  “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”  (Romans 6:23).
3. Confess, repent and accept His free gift of salvation … the only antidote that will ensure eternal life.

If you don’t follow God’s antidote provided by Jesus Christ … you will die spiritually and be eternally lost and in hell.