Doug Creamer column: Critters

Published 12:00 am Saturday, April 30, 2022

By Doug Creamer

I came home from the grocery store last week to a surprise. My wife said that she had caught something in our house while I was out. I helped put the groceries up and then went out on the back steps to discover what she had caught. It was a large hornet.

I know a beekeeper and ran it over to him. He confirmed that it was a hornet but wasn’t sure which kind of hornet. He wanted me to take it to the extension office to be checked. He has read stories about how the Asian hornets can wipe out a beehive. It ended up being a common European hornet.

The hornet isn’t the only critter that found its way into our home. We are currently being visited by ants. When we had cats I understood why ants would come to visit. We had cat food in bowls just waiting for them. Now I don’t understand why ants want to come in our home. We’ve decided that they must be looking for water since it has been so dry lately.

Whatever the ants are looking for, we don’t want them. I sprayed around the outside of the house. That helped, but there are still some wandering around…like that one! Critters!

I went out in the garage the other day and heard a noise coming from among my wife’s plants that are in the garage for the winter. I went to investigate and the sound moved to another location. I got a broom and started to rustle the plants, and suddenly a bird took flight. She flew into a window trying to escape, and flew back into the plants. I wanted her out of the garage. I rustled the plants some more and she flew right past my head. We had a little game of chase going on before she discovered her escape route and was gone. The wren has a nest in a flowerpot right next to the garage, so she has become a frequent visitor in the garage. I now check the garage before I close the doors to make sure she isn’t in there. Critters!

Why do critters want to live in my house and garage? There are plenty of great places to live in the wild, yet they continue to seek refuge in my house. I know I am not alone in dealing with critters; everyone gets some kind of critters. My mother had a couple of snakes find their way into her house last year. Critters!

When you really think about it, homes are not the only place where critters find their way in. We had all kinds of critters find their way into the schools through the years. Businesses fight the critters too. Critters don’t discriminate; they will even find their way into our churches. While schools, businesses and churches work hard to keep the critters out, churches work equally hard to get visitors — people — in. Every church in Salisbury wants to get visitors. I think our church does a good job at making people feel welcome.

COVID has chased a lot of people away from church. It seems that some people want to re-engage with church and to get involved once again. All churches need to be ready to welcome visitors back. We need to help people get plugged back into church.

It is easy to watch church from the comfort of your couch in your PJs. Many churches have added live streaming to make that possible. But that does not allow you to engage and connect with other believers. It is equally hard to encourage one another when you’re not there at church. We need fellowship. We need to lift each other up. We need to carry each other’s burdens. No one was intended to walk the Christian faith alone.

If you are an active member of your church, I want to encourage you to welcome people and help them feel at home when they visit. If you are watching your service from home, I want to encourage you to consider safely re-engaging with your church again. Take the necessary precautions, but find ways to engage with other believers so you can encourage and be encouraged by each other. Jesus has always wanted everyone in heaven with him. That means we need to invite the lost to church and help them discover faith in Christ. We can also encourage those who have been away to come back safely. And finally, we need to make sure we keep our own fire of faith burning strong.

Contact Doug Creamer at PO Box 777, Faith, NC 28041 or doug@dougcreamer.com.