Now that I'm in Okinawa, I can talk about what I saw. The Iwatsuki Park is 1000 miles away.
I didn't tell everybody when I saw the Kawasemi mostly because I didn't want cameramen to come running to take its picture and scare the bird away.
But snakes, I dared not tell anybody, because I knew as soon as I did, people would just hunt them down to kill them.
Even when the large Ao DAIsho let me sketch her on the front park; I tried not to utter sound of it for a while, at least until she'd had time to slink away or be hidden in her shrub, where she'd be safe.
I mean, she was nonvenomous and completely harmless, but huge so could be kinda unnerving.
I just remembered something else I needed to talk about.
In my book about Mommy and Daddy, Parts I-III had Japanese subtitles which were excerpts from a sign on Daddy's headboard (roughly translated: "Living in the Lord's Memory").
When Jesus walked the earth, His memory was of a time He was perfectly one with the Father in heaven, and He died for us so that we could live like this someday. How thrilling it is to think we are privileged to have fond Father-child thoughts with the King of Heaven!
Yes, He could've created us to be clouds, rocks, or even snakes (this is Legolas)--but He chose to have us born as human beings that we could have relationship with Him. Are we fortunate, or what?
We really need to be nice to these less fortunate slithering critters, don't you think?
