SAVED BY A NEWSPAPER

Joel Padilla
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“He, however, shook off the creature into the fire and suffered no harm” Acts 28:5, ESV.
 
It was the night of December 24. I was in my room, deeply engrossed with gift-wrapping. Earlier that day, Abel and I had been in town. We thought it would be nice to buy a few Christmas gifts for the Agta church members, so we purchased a few simple things. I also picked up some old newspapers to use as wrapping paper, since fancy wrapping would cost more than we could afford. It turned out we bought more gifts than I had expected, and it was going to take some time to wrap them all.
 
After a while, I noticed my kerosene lamp growing dim. Living in the mountains meant we had no electricity. As I stood up to go refill the lamp, I felt something touch my foot. I ignored it at first, thinking it was just a piece of newspaper lying on the floor. Then I felt something squishy kissing my toes.  
 
Quickly I snatched away the paper covering my toes. There lay a viper! I was shocked. It was about a foot in length, but I had heard that even a small viper’s poison could be deadly. I saw holes in the newspaper it had been hiding under. It had been trying to bite me but had struck the newspaper instead.
 
I screamed and we immediately killed the snake. We told the Agtas about it the next day. They said I was fortunate to escape. If bitten, the victim usually dies within an hour.  
 
Just think of it. God can use anything, even old newspapers, to keep us from harm! I thanked the Lord for His deliverance and for the gift of life that He has continually given us all.

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