The Great Turtle Rescue

The Great Turtle Rescue

     One of my wife's favorite things to do is to go for a drive in the country.  She loves seeing the blue skies, the green grass, and near our home are orchards that are in full bloom (check out Butlers or Orrs in Martinsburg)!  What an amazing sight as we behold the creation of God.  Needless to say, my kids (and at times me) are not always thrilled with the prospect of drives.  They tend to think they are boring (as a matter of fact I hear the word at verbatim on some drives).  But this particular day offered us a great adventure.  While were driving I noticed what I thought was a rock in the road but as we got closer I realized that it was a box turtle crossing the road!  This poor little guy was in some major trouble.  This was a pretty busy road and needless to say he wasn't moving at breakneck speed.  I pulled off, put my four ways on, and got out of the van to rescue Mister Turtle.  Mister Turtle wasn't really thrilled to see me at first.  He pulled his head and hid from me.  Now let me be the first one to admit that I'm not an outdoors kind of guy.  I never played with frogs, I didn't get dirty, and I was the classic over-protected only child.  I had never touched a turtle before!  I reached down, grabbed the little guy, showed him to my kids, and put him in a safe spot.  As we drove away my kids exclaimed that I was a turtle superhero (ironically I'm wearing a Teenage Mutant Ninja turtle shirt as I'm typing this), super dad, and countless other cool terms that I will never be able to use on a resume.  

     So, now that I'm branded as the great turtle rescuer I think of someone who rescued me in the past.  There was a time when I was in danger, more danger than I was aware of.  My turtle friend had no idea he was in trouble until I came along...and I was in the same spot.  I had no idea that I was in trouble.  I was living my life carefree.  My top priority was myself and making 'me' happy.  On the outside of my life I looked happy but on the inside, I was miserable, empty, and darkness encompassed my heart.  Nothing in my life made me complete, there was a void that I tried everything under the sun to fill, and yet none of it completed me.  At that time in my life I would have probably been considered an agnostic (I knew something was bigger than me but I didn't think that thing bigger than me cared for me, I surely didn't care for it).  I was as far away from faith as you can imagine.  That is until August 2003.  I sat at a church in my home town and a preacher clearly stated I was in trouble, eternal trouble.  At first this thought offended me.  This guy didn't know me, he couldn't pick me out of a police lineup, but he introduced me to somebody who did know me, Jesus.  He told the congregation that day that we were all sinners (Romans 3:23).  That also offended me.  He was telling me that I wasn't the good guy that I thought I was.  In my mind, I didn't kill anybody and I wasn't a thief.  My life was not destined for jail.  I knew I wasn't the best person, but I knew I wasn't the worst either.  I was a pretty good guy.  He then pointed his finger declaring that sinners were destined for hell (Romans 6:23).  If I wasn't offended prior to this I was now.  This stranger tells me I'm a bad person and I was going to hell....but for some odd reason I didn't shut this pastor out.  

      At this time conviction started to wash over me.  I began to examine my life and found that I was indeed a sinner in my heart.  I had done things that were obviously not good and I started to feel bad for them, I was revolted by them.  I also understood that since I sinned I was indeed in danger.  I gave up hope at that time because I was trying my best (or at least I thought) and it wasn't enough.  God wasn't going to accept my best...I despaired for a moment.  The pastor made it clear that God won't accept my best effort to rescue my soul, but instead, He sent someone to rescue me.  That was a strange thought.  I was raised in a works-related religion, and the concept of working for my salvation had been ingrained in me from children's church.  It was a constant battle of balancing the scale of good more than evil.  Now I heard that someone didn't just come to balance the scale, but outweighed all my sin and evil.  The preacher shared the simplicity of John 3:16.  I heard that someone came to save me and loved me.  In my mind, I thought that God would only love me if I loved Him and did good things.  Instead I heard clearly that God loved me, period, end of story.  He loved me so much that He sent His only Son to die on the cross to rescue me from my sin.  To take away my sin (past, present, and future sins).  And friend, not just rescue me...but to rescue you.  The passage in John 3:16 says God loves the whole world, which means you.  You could replace your name with the term world because you are inferred.  God loves you, He is "crazy" about you.  He is the great people rescuer.  

      Let me close up with this thought, my little turtle friend was in tremendous danger on one of those country roads in West Virginia that John Denver sings about (you know you want to sing it with me).  He needed someone to rescue him.  Let me put it in perspective, you are an immobile turtle trying to cross I-95 in DC during rush hour (see picture).

You are doomed.  Fathom someone stopping their car along I-95 and crossing multiple lanes of traffic to rescue that turtle.  You would call that crazy.  That person would really have to love turtles to put himself in such danger.  The truth is someone loves you so much that they laid down their life to rescue you, to take away your sin.  Have you trusted in that great rescuer?  Have you called out to Him to save you?  Don't be like the turtle and hide in your shell trying to hide from the one that came to save you, instead come out of your shell asking Him to save you!