Avoiding Things That Sting!

 

A couple of days before our road trip around the Canadian side of Lake Huron, Al made an unpleasant discovery at the side door of the house. Some yellow jackets had established a nest down in the ground near the sidewalk, and one had stung him. The sting was quite painful, even after trying to treat it with several applications of Aloe Vera gel.

It was a problem, especially since the nest was so close to the door that we used for entering into and exiting from the house. Al thought we should hire an exterminator before leaving for Canada.  Before doing that however, I volunteered to spray with pepper spray, a mixture of water, cayenne pepper and dish soap that I had been using in the garden as a deterrent to chipmunks!

 As the sun was going down, a time when the bees were supposed to be less active, I covered every exposed inch of skin and used a sprayer with a long wand to douse the nest. Unfortunately, that didn’t seem to solve the problem. Al contacted an exterminator who gave us an estimate of the cost of eradicating the nest, which included spraying the perimeter of the house on a regular basis. It was very expensive and seemed like more than what we wanted.

We decided to wait until after the trip before contacting another company. In the meantime, we tried using a powerful, foamy spray. But, even with that, there were still yellow jackets flying around the side door.

Packing the car became a challenge; however, in spite of all of my precautions, I was stung on the thumb just before our departure. Thankfully neither of us were allergic to the painful stings. What an awful send-off!

Al and I were hoping and praying that the yellow jackets would be gone by the time we returned. Unfortunately, there were a few determined insects hanging around the door, with more most likely down in their hole. Since it was on the weekend, Al had to wait until Monday to call an exterminator from a different company.

 In the meantime, our two youngest grandsons came over to help with some yardwork. Elliot (14) began pruning the ivy growing under the fence in the back corner of the property, when suddenly he was stung by a yellow jacket. I felt terrible that we had waited so long to call for help, mostly at my insistence.

The yellow jackets obviously had established more than one nest in the yard. While Elliot was inside getting ice to numb the sting, it dawned on me that his brother might be working in the same area.

“Quick, run out and tell Nate!” I said urgently. But Elliot was too late. Nate (16) was already on his way into the house with not one, but two stings, after moving over to the same corner to prune. Oh my! And so painful.

When the exterminator arrived that next week, he found the two nests quickly and gave an estimate of the cost to eradicate both of them, as well as a colony of ants that periodically invaded the kitchen. This time we quickly agreed!

            He knew the right insecticide to use, because since his visit, the sites he sprayed are now “ghost towns,” just as he predicted. No ants in the kitchen either. Al and I are greatly relieved, although we wonder if they have relocated somewhere nearby or are waiting to reoccupy their original nests.

 And I can’t go in or out that side door without checking to make sure that there aren’t any yellow jackets ready for the attack! It will take a long time to forget the power and pain of that sting.

            The apostle Paul referred to “the sting of death” in his writings to the believers at Corinth. There are consequences of our sins, consequences that result in being separated from God—spiritual death— in this life and ultimately, in the life to come. But Christ came so that we might have forgiveness and through faith, receive the gift of salvation. What a victory is ours through His great sacrifice of love!

 “Thanks be to God!”

“Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting? The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” 1Corinthians 15:55-57 NIV