Sunday, May 31, 2009

I Can't Make This Stuff Up

To blog or not to blog - that is the question.

I started thinking about my life and all of the ways God has reached out to me and showed me His love and glory through ordinary circumstances and situations. So many times, we just sludge through our seemingly uneventful and commonplace lives waiting for that big mountain-top experience with God. Yes, it's great when those high revelations come, but some of the most significant lessons I have learned and some of the most marvelous ways God has revealed Himself have been through the ordinary world that surrounds me.

So, this is what I will write about because this is my life and well, this is a blog and that's what you do - write about what you know. At times you may ask whether the things I write about really happened. Yes, every funny, weird and sometimes embarressing moment is true because as the title of this space says: I can't make this stuff up.

Check out: John 10: 3; 10:14; 10:27

Living in rural Vermont allowed me to see the wonder of God’s creation on a daily basis. One day on my way to town, I drove past a scene I had driven past many times- a meadow with sheep, grazing near a wire fence, a peaceful, slowly moving steam - all very Norman Rockwell. This time I was so struck by the serenity of their peaceful grazing, I just had to stop and try to get up close. I am naturally touchy-feely when it comes to animals, so I pulled over and quietly got out of the car.

I gently tip-toed over to where they were grazing. As I approached the fence, I slowly knelt down so that I could almost reach out and touch them through the fence. As I got closer, I said ever so softly, “Hi, guys.”

Well, you would have thought that I set off a rocket by the way they fearfully sprinted away from the fence. It was like a wolf had entered the pasture, and they sensed immediate danger. I sat down, stunned. To say I was surprised would be an understatement. Even tough my knowledge of sheep and their behavior is somewhat limited, I did not expect such a strong reaction.

As I watched the sheep gather and huddle as far away from me as they could get, the Lord spoke to my heart and said, “My sheep know my voice.” I knew right then why the sheep had bolted the way they did. They did not know my voice. I was an unknown intruder. But more importantly, I was not their shepherd.

I quickly got in my car, hoping that no one witnessed my miserable attempt to "get up close and personal" with nature. As I drove home a little shaken, I thought about what had just happened. I asked the Lord, "Am I so intimately acquainted with your voice that when other unknown voices speak to my heart, I know to flee?" Oh, to be like those sheep who knew the sound of their own shepherd’s voice. They would not be fooled even by a gentle sounding voice.

Needless to say, this scene has played before me many times and even now, I can still remember how quickly peace turned to panic by just two simple but unfamiliar words.

Oh Lord, help me to know the sound of your voice. Help me to commit my time to you so that I learn what your voice sounds like. Help me to never take for granted the lessons to be learned through the wonder of your glorious creation.