As I was driving in to work today I had quite the unique experience. There in the middle of the road was a turtle about a little over a foot long straddling the double yellow lines and frozen in fear. It’s pretty great how God was about to use a simple turtle to teach me an important lesson about life and ministry as I begin my final week at ROLC.
So I pulled over to the side of the road quickly and traffic stopped as I walked out to meet my little turtle friend. I went to pick him up by his sides being careful that I wasn’t near his mouth. And it’s a good thing I did too, because once I began lifting him up a little he flipped out and clawed and tried to snap at me, causing me to drop him. Reminds me of a number of students I’ve had the pleasure of working with over the years in Tidal Wave. Some have been slow to admit their problem or maybe just slow to accept help from someone else. They snap. They claw. They fight. And they can be just downright mean. I knew ministry was going to be a war, but the battles I’ve faced have been constant reminders that sin can so easily blind us all to the desperate state we’re in and how persistent we sometimes need to be in even providing help.
So I now have a little cut from the turtle on my one finger. It might even give me the slightest scar. But thank God for the scars that we gain from choosing to get into the game of saving the stranded and reaching out to the needy! I’d take that over having a sore rear end from sitting too long any day. It’s a painful passion sometimes to want freedom for those who do not even want it themselves, but it’s worth the cuts and the scrapes to lovingly continue to reach out and rescue.
And so I reached out again and this time was prepared for the fight I was going to get. And it was there. But I carried him over to the side of the road and a few steps into the grass I laid him down carefully. I felt such a great feeling then. I’d rescued the turtle. I can’t believe it was so lucky to have been hanging out in the middle of the busy road without getting hit, but I can’t be so sure that it was going to stay lucky much longer. Then here I come along and get to be the one who carries it over to freedom.
But then it hit me. As I got back into my car to drive away it struck me that I had no idea if that’s the side it would stay on. I began thinking that it may just wait a little bit in the grass and then go back over to the other side and quite possibly get hit on the way. Maybe it’s my personality, because I can assure you I’m not that big of a turtle fan to have it be that, but I was really upset about that possibility. I wanted to somehow be sure that it would live happily ever after. But we don’t get that promise, do we?
I don’t get the guarantee that every student I’ve poured my heart into will follow after God when I’m gone. I don’t get the promise that those guys that I’ve counseled will continue to mature and overcome their struggles. There is nothing saying that the teens who have been taught how God loves them and has a wonderful plan for their life will continue to choose to walk in that plan.
We can walk the turtles in our life over to the grass, but eventually we need to drive on.
It’s not something I say lightly. It’s terribly difficult. But it’s absolutely true and absolutely essential. There comes a time when the baton is passed on, when the responsibility must be transferred. At some point we need to believe that we’ve done what we can and must move on. Otherwise we can become too convinced of our own abilities and too dependent on every situation working out just as we hoped it would. But one day someone helped us and we eventually made our decision. And ultimately God is in control. So I will trust fully in Him, “being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 1:6)