When I was around 10-12 years old, I found a box turtle at my parent’s house. I think my dad actually found it when he was cutting grass. But needless to say we found a box turtle and decided to keep it as a pet. We bought some chicken wire and made a nice size protected area for the box turtle to roam. I would feed the turtle and after some time the turtle would hear my voice and would fully extend itself out of its shell and would let me pet its head and its neck. I think we had the turtle for a couple months when Raphael, that’s what I had decided to name the box turtle, came up missing. We never found him.
A couple of Sundays ago, two to be exact, Breana and I were walking in the parking lot of the church after the 11:15 service. As we were walking to my car, we were talking about what she learned in her class when she kicked something in the parking lot. I caught a glimpse of what she kicked. Breana noticed that I stopped to take a glimpse at what she just kicked and she just assumed it was just a rock, and continued to walk towards the car, not even giving it another thought that it could have been something else. So I picked up this “rock” and showed it to Breana. At first she didn’t comprehend what it was, I mean she was so convinced it was just a rock. But when the “rock” started to move, it was obvious that it was a small turtle. Immediately she felt compassion for the small turtle and asked the million dollar question……daddy can we keep it?
How many times when God tries to speak to us, tries to get us to live outside of the box, tries to get us to move, we assume that it’s just a rock? We are so consumed with the busyness of our schedules, we crave popularity, we long for acceptance, when God breaks in on our busyness we are totally dull to it. God calls us to die to our selfishness, our insecurities, our rejections, and our pride in order to give us life. A life that rebels against the culture, rebels against a me-centered lifestyle, and lives an others-centered lifestyle, a life that the apostles lived in the book of Acts.
I find myself in that place quite frequently. Where I am so enthralled in the task at hand and God wants to move me, challenge me, and stretch me to perhaps to pay for the person’s coffee behind me at Starbucks, or to simply engage in a conversation with a stranger who looks like they just need someone to listen to them, or maybe it’s when your kids are crying and whining because they are not getting what they want……it’s like walking along a parking lot and being sure you just kicked a rock, not thinking twice that it could have been a living, breathing turtle.
Back to Breana’s question, daddy can we keep the turtle. We did keep the turtle…Breana named it Yertle…Yertle the turtle. We’ve had it for two weeks now. But I think the best part of having Yertle is Breana is active in taking care of him. She is always wanting to feed him and see what he is doing. The cutest part is she prays for Yertle every night before she goes to bed.
Breana told me that she is going to pay more attention while walking in the parking, just in case she kicks another turtle….
I hope I can pay closer attention also….and not assume that it’s just a rock!!
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