Haunted

I have a pretty active imagination that as a general rule keeps me from enjoying anything that could be potentially scary or spooky. I don't read scary books or watch scary movies; I don't like being home alone after dark, and I especially don't like scary music (i.e. the Twilight Zone or Perry Mason). There are very few exceptions to my "nothing scary" rule and this past weekend I was cajoled into joining my entire family and my sister's friends in a trip to the Dallas Scaregrounds for a 45-minute long "haunted" maze. Looking back I am not even sure why I wasted the money for the event because I spent the entire 45 minutes with my head buried in my brother's back, eyes closed, dragging the dead weight of my sister and mom who screamed from the moment we entered the maze until about 5 seconds after we exited.

Looking back I have to admit there were some pretty funny moments, none of which I "saw" since my eyes were closed but all of which involved my scaredy-cat mom who had never been to a "haunted" house before. About ten seconds before the end of the maze one of the actors cornered my terrified mom who responded by crouching down, nose in the corner and screaming my brother's name in true blood-curling fashion at the top of her lungs. Afterwards she was a little wary about her 'personal space" and when a very creepily dressed actor in a scary mask on stilts approached her she cowered away behind the group avoiding all eye contact with the "creature". We all laughed hysterically as he pursued her mercilessly and finally when we thought she had enough we began to engage the very friendly actor in conversation as he talked with us about the scaregrounds and the people involved. By the time the conversation ended, even my mom was friendly with the man. Right before we walked away my sister turned and asked him, "Who are you supposed to be anyway?" He smiled as he turned and walked away, "Satan."

Yikes! I still get chills when I think about it but as creepy as it was it really got me thinking about the way that Satan really does work. At first glance it is so easy to dismiss Satan or his temptations as disgusting and vile but the more we are tempted or in the presence of his evil ways the more comfortable his presence becomes and the more calloused we become to the evil; before you know it you aren't even uncomfortable anymore.

I am afraid that just as Eve was deceived by the serpent's cunning, your minds may somehow be led astray from your sincere and pure devotion to Christ.
2 Corinthians 11:3

Your thoughts?