SoaringSpider
by Richard W. Webb
On Being A Spider
OK, so here’s the deal. My last name is Webb, so what do you think was the most common nickname I’ve had? That’s right. Spider.
For a while, back in the days when I was playing in rock bands and doing rock band kind of stuff, I capitalized on the name. I assure you that there are bunches of people who, if they remember me at all, know me only by the name Spider. In one band in particular one of my band mates shortened it to Spid, pronounced with a short ‘i’ to rhyme with quid (or, if you’re not British, try skid). And one of the other guys called me Spud (let’s bury that one, shall we?). But for most of my career, such as it was, I was known as Spider.
Incidentally, my father really took advantage of the name. He owned his own pest control business, and had his name given as R.L. Spider Webb on all his cards and stationery, and even in the phone book! And when I decided at one time to start a business repairing band equipment, I called it Synthespider Electronics. Get it? Synthespider? Synthesizers and Spider? Right.
So when I started writing Christian songs and committing them to paper, I wanted a name to show as publisher in my copyright notice. Something biblical would have been nice, I suppose, but I wanted to keep up the tradition, and get the word spider in there somewhere.
Spiders In The Bible
Read that quote below from Proverbs. Of the three references to the word spider that I found in the King James version, that one is the kindliest of them all. I’ve just read the same verses in several bible versions, and there are two things of note: first, most of the versions imply that the creature is only found in the King’s house by sneaking in; and second, all of the other versions declare that the creature isn’t even a spider, but a lizard. Well!
So spiders are given little respect in the bible. And I guess that’s fair. The spider generally crawls around in places where people don’t care to go and sets traps for other creatures. And sneaks in where he’s not wanted. We have a garage separate from our house, and when we bought the place there was a shed tacked onto the back of the garage. Since the shed wasn’t up to the quality the rest of the manse is constructed to, we decided to tear it down. Once the roof, walls, and floorboards were gone, we were left with a lattice of 2×4’s, perched upon a handful of cement blocks, that formed the foundation. There were some pieces of insulation laying on the ground between the 2×4’s, and, as Wendie was picking one of those up, she was surprised by a spider about the size of your fist. We’ll finish tearing that foundation up some other time.
Of course, on the plus side, spiders do eat a lot of bugs that you’re better off not having around.
Anyway, I needed a good name for my little publishing house.
When The Spider Meets The Cross
Yes, I was Spider. But I was born again, too.
What was it Paul said in 2 Corinthians 5:17? Just this: "Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new." Maybe that doesn’t work that way for a real, eight-legged creepy-crawly, but it certainly works for a man named after one.
And in Isaiah 40:31 the Word tells us that the one who waits upon the Lord will mount up with wings an an eagle. The word soar comes to mind.
So when the Spider meets the Cross, he becomes a new creature. He no longer crawls. He soars.
Soaring Spider It Is
So my little self-publishing company becomes Soaring Spider Songs.
Naturally, as I started working on my web site (you may notice I’m trying very hard to never succumb to the pun that naturally comes to mind whenever a person named Webb develops an Internet presence) I started thinking about the possibility of getting a domain name. Even before I found out that it was already taken I decided against dickwebb.com for a number of reasons (none of which reflect in any way on the gentleman who uses that name; I just didn’t like it as a name for my web site). SoaringSpider.com seemed appropriate, so that’s what I use.
End of story.
Copyright © 2002 by Richard W. Webb
Published by SoaringSpiderSongs
All Rights Reserved
scripture
Proverbs 30:24-28 — [24] There be four things which are little upon the earth, but they are exceeding wise: [25] The ants are a people not strong, yet they prepare their meat in the summer; [26] The conies are but a feeble folk, yet make they their houses in the rocks; [27] The locusts have no king, yet go they forth all of them by bands; [28] The spider taketh hold with her hands, and is in kings’ palaces.
2 Corinthians 5:17 — Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.
Isaiah 40:31 — But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.
