I saw it running across the light, snowy ground, headed for my house. I had just pulled out of the garage, and I was sitting in my car in the driveway, waiting for the garage door to go down. I wanted to do something to stop it, but I couldn’t. It was too late!

It’s been over 40 years since I had a mouse problem. In 1985, mice invaded my house when I left some bags of wheat and rice open in the basement. Now, it’s happening again. For the last few months, I have battled a scourge of mice as they have invaded my home. After several tough battles, with casualties on their side of close to twenty-five, I finally won. It has been close to two months, and the invaders have been repelled—until now.

So it was that I couldn’t believe my eyes when I pushed my electric garage opener and spied a shadowy figure racing across my lawn and towards my open garage. It was a mouse! What was he doing out in the snow? Had he/she/it been waiting for ‘that’ moment when they saw an opening? How could they be right there at such an opportune time? I could only gasp with anger as that mouse scurried across the grass onto my snowy driveway and disappeared into my garage. I was so mad I got out of my car and ran into my garage to find that mouse. But alas, it was too late. I looked, but that mouse was under, behind, or in between all the ‘crap’ I store there.

When I returned to my car, I tapped the garage opener to shut, and I cursed in my heart at that rodent. I marveled that the mouse seemed to be waiting for the opportune moment he could enter my house. As I drove to work, I started to think about how I had let that rat into my house. That dirty, filthy rodent! For some reason, It hit me that there are a lot of ‘dirty, filthy” things out there that I might inadvertently be letting into my home. And they aren’t physical! No, they are much more insidious and injurious to my soul and family. Maybe I need to be more guarded about what comes into my home via the internet, the phone, the TV, and other media. Perhaps I need to be as vigilant in fighting those battles as I am with the mice. Vices and Mices- spiritual and physical. Which is more dangerous- mice or men? I think I know the answer.