Don't Go Fish

"the fish that are in the river"

Exodus 7:18

So, get a load of this little charmer:

photo credit: nydailynews.com

That's a snakehead fish. They are native to China, Russia, North Korea and South Korea, but the world's largest (17 lbs) was just caught ~ in Virginia.  Yup, in the Potomac River.  They've been found in several places along the east coast.

How did a fish native to Asia end up in North America?  No one knows.  Most likely a few were somehow brought here by folks who decided they no longer wanted them, so they dumped them in the nearest body of water, and they found each other and started breeding.

The fish, not the fish-dumpers.

The problem ~ other than having a face only their mothers could love ~ is that they have no known predators, other than humans, and each other.

Ew.

This concept got me to thinking about things being introduced into a "foreign" environment.  When that happens in nature, sometimes it's bad for the "alien" and sometimes it's bad for the environment.

For instance, we see it in the Bible, when the Israelites got the promised land and God warned them about interacting with the Canaanites.  And when they married them and made treaties with them anyway, it always went badly.  That's an example of suffering from being the alien in a foreign environment.  They should have kept to themselves and their ways.  Like He told them to. 

Or Adam and Eve.  That's an example of what happens when we allow something foreign into our environment.   God was very clear about what was good for them, and what wasn't.  And yet they allowed into their lives something that was bad for them.  Temptation.  Disobedience.  Sin.  Something for which there is no known cure, other than Him. 

For over ten years, authorities from California to the New York Island (anybody else have "This Land is Your Land" in their head now?) have been battling to stay in control of the snakehead situation.  You and I need to settle ourselves in for a long-term battle, too.  Sometimes it's a specific sin that is our weakness, that brings its destructive influence into our lives.  But other times it's something that's not a sin, per se.  It might be something that works for others, but is not right for you.  In you, it's a factor that's going to lead to destruction.

He created you uniquely and perfectly.  And He knows what's best for you.  Read the Bible.  Pray that He will lead you away from temptation.  Love what and who He has put in your life, and accept those things and people He doesn't.

And look out for weird fish.

~ "Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat;

but " ~

Genesis 2:16

~