Sunday, February 14, 2021

Three Blind Mice

It's been about eleven months now that the world has changed forever. There are still lockdowns in many parts of the world, including Europe. I'm thankful though that the situation in Germany and Belgium has slowly improved over the past weeks. In fact, there is a realistic chance that in the month of May, I will get to travel to Germany again, and I really hope I will not be disappointed. 

In the meantime, there is never a dull moment while I'm still stuck in Belgium. My roommate Janice and I have had to deal with mice in the apartment. Yes, you understood correctly: MICE! Some weeks before Christmas, I saw the first one in my living room (after they seemed to have disappeared for a while). And they became bolder and bolder over time, even coming out during the days while I was working from home, jumping around on the sofa, or tiptoeing on the kitchen counter on a mission to find something edible. We were at the end of our wits, because none of my "mice-friendly" measures (like live traps, an electric device, etc.) seemed to be working to get rid of them. So my last resort was poison, which was extremely effective. Within a few hours, we found three dead (respectively half dead) bodies in the apartment! 

Somehow, mice are cute little creatures indeed, however they definitely do not belong into the house! According to Leviticus 11:29, they are unclean animals. Doing some research, I found out that already the Egyptians had to deal with this plague, because mice found ways into the grain stores and fouled their contents (which held true for my multi-grain crackers as well...). Partial walls from houses made of unfired mud bricks were chewed through and patches have been discovered where they had tried to block the rat holes with rocks (indeed, we tried to tape every possible entry, to no avail!). The Egyptians hunted the rodents using cats and ferrets (no, I would not get a cat). There is also some suggestion that they were captured in traps made out of clay. They even spread around fat from cats in bags or bundles or burned deer feces as a repellant (we tried cayenne pepper, but this didn't impress them). They were largely superstitious and kept amulets in the shape of a protective God, or in the form of the pest they wanted to ward away. Such as the locust amulets that have been found in tombs. Well, we are not superstitious, but we certainly prayed a lot about this problem, and others did too!

After we found the dead creatures, Janice was reminded of an old nursery rhyme: 

Three blind mice. Three blind mice.
See how they run. See how they run.
They all ran after the farmer's wife,
Who cut off their tails with a carving knife,
Did you ever see such a sight in your life,
As three blind mice?

Ok, joking apart, it was a trial! I was so thankful to have Janice here with me, as it would have been so much harder to go though this all by myself. But compared to the 10 plagues of Egypt, it was probably a light thing. And also compared to what is still about to happen in this world, it was certainly a breeze. Maybe the Lord is using such minor nuisances to help us get ready for the real stuff! 

In any case, I'm thankful that He has promised that He will never leave us nor forsake us, even when the tough times come. And the past eleven months were probably nothing compared to what is still ahead of us. The other day, I watched a sermon by Pastor Mark Finley, entitled "Hope for Troubled Times." In this talk, he made it clear that the mastermind behind such events is Satan, and that it's certainly not God who brought this about. But it's definitely an opportunity to consecrate ourselves more to our Lord and Saviour. 

"Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost." Romans 15:13

So let us allow God to fill us with this joy and peace that only He can give; and may the power of the Holy Spirit make us abound in hope for a better world to come soon!

One of the three mice we found

Our Sabbath lunch - homemade pizza

Janice likes to prepare Asian food

Jubilee Park in Brussels (with snow)

And my latest sewing project: little key ring bags!


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