Today’s passage is Acts 28:1-15.

They are welcomed ashore by the Maltese. In building a fire, Paul is bitten by a snake. People think he will die because he is guilty of a crime but when he shakes the snake off with no ill effect they think he is a god. He prays and heals the father of the island’s governor and heals all those brought to him. Three months later they sail to Sicily, then to Rhegium, then to Puteoli where they meet some Christian brothers. Some other brothers from Rome came out to meet them at the Three Taverns and journeyed with them to Rome.

Why is there a viper in the firewood?

Why do they meet at the Three Taverns?

The firewood is like my school.

We are building a program to help students learn.

In kindling better learning we upset parents who don’t understand why we hire certain teachers and why the program needs to change.

Mostly they trust us to do our work.

When we charge them more because of our own increased costs, then some parents come out of the wood, step out of the community and become hostile, pointing out what they think are flaws and problems so that they don’t have to pay more.

These vipers stir up other parents, some teachers, students, office staff.

Because I am the principal the vipers attack me.

When I’m attacked, others wonder I have done something wrong, just as the Maltese thought Paul was a criminal in verse 4.

Sometimes I wonder if I have done something wrong. Sometimes I have.

When I received these most recent attacks, I praised God because I have been reading about Paul’s storm and shipwreck.

Like the preacher on Wednesday, I too ask, How can I resolve this?

The short answer is that I can’t. But God can.

That’s who I depend on and that’s why I praise him when storms come.

By praising him, I‘m able to open myself to his mind and guidance.

These biting parents are my current hardship, and in them is a blessing.

They are helping me depend more on God and Pastor Kim’s sermons to guide me to the right way of dealing with the situation and making my school better.

Lord, give me your mind to meet with the parents next week. Give me your objectivity. Take away my thoughts of right and wrong and my desire for righteous anger. Let me not be a viper to the parents.