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I must be a nut
by Lewis McNeely on Friday, Jun 6th, 2008 at 12:08 pm

When I was in the 7th or 8th grade I lived in a little town called Harlem georgia, the birth place of Oliver Hardee. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oliver_Hardy   It’s a small town that is laid out pretty much in a square with straight and flat roads. One summer afternoon I was walking down one of the suburb streets down the middle. (I know, not smart but the town was small with one traffic signal so the roads were not exactly crowded metropolis through-fares.) So I was in the middle of the road half way between the last and next intersection when at the far end of the road a squirrel hopped into the street. I froze thinking maybe he would come closer if I didn’t move. He began cautiously walking and  hopping toward me in a zig zag pattern from one side of the road to the other. As he grew closer he started traveling more in the middle of the road. I was thinking perhaps he believes I am a tree to use if needed for an escape route. Of course I do not want to know what would have happened if he decided to climb me.  Se he continued until finally he walked right between my legs and continued on. I remained stoic and slowly turned my head to watch him mosey to the next intersection where he bounded then up a tree. Another remarkable thing is no cars came during that time. 

Fast forward to this morning.  I come out of the house and noticed a squirrel crossing the road who then bounded up a telephone pole. He then jumped into a nearby tree. Amazing the leaps they make. As I opened my car door I caught another movement out of the corner of my eye. The mulberry tree next door, was at that moment, habitation to about 4 squirrels running and playing in the limbs. Suddenly one ran down off the tree and was pretty much following the path of the first squirrel I mentioned. I started to get in my car when I noticed that he slowed and was sniffing and looking intently at me  I decided to not move and see what would happen. He then turned and slowly started walking to me. We were locked eye to eye and he was vigorously trying to figure me out. I assume he was trying to determine if I was safe. He slowly, and without the  normal cautious tale flicking of uncertainty, kept coming toward me. Now at this point, I was the one feeling cautious. As much as it was neat to have a feral animal come close to me, I was beginning to wonder what would happen if he climbed me, then found out when he was on me, that I was not a tree. So I moved a little. He stopped then circled wide. I then watched as he went around me in my driveway and started coming to me again. He was maybe 2 and 1/2 feet from me when I then made a bigger movement to alert him to scram. Instead of running, he turned and headed away slowly and calmly to the telephone pole up the street.

In prayer afterward I thought of several things. There is a movie titled “Things we lost in the fire”. I was thinking about “Things we lost in the garden.” I cried because first of all, we lost tangibly walking with our creator. Now we only see through a glass darkly. Second I was sad because we also lost the connection humanity had with our surroundings especially the animals of God’s creation.  It was neat to have an untamed animal not fear me this summer morning.  We were all friends at one time and God even allowed one of our kind to name their kind. We were, at creation, so closely connected to them that God allowed Adam to search for a suitable helper from among them. Genesis 2:19-20

http://www.users.bigpond.com/rdoolan/adaminal.html

I also thought about how I wish we did not see through a glass darkly but could see face to face clearly. I also recalled of how after Israel wanted a king, that it seemed God then only spoke through the prophets after that. Before that time several patriarchs in the old testament had close encounters with God. I have not studied all of this out but I cannot recall even King David having a direct encounter with God face to face as some of His forefathers did. “Through a glass darkly”. Still the main focus should not be on the “glass darkly” part but on the ‘Now we see” part. Thankfully we do see, albeit darkly.  We are no longer blind. We can, through the cross, prayer and studying the Bible, begin to walk with God again in the cool of the day. Finally, I think sometimes we are like that squirrel. Looking at our creator as a large strange being that seems so foreign to us and yet, if  perhaps if we put away our fears, we can indeed know Him and even understand Him. Thankfully, unlike a squirrel looking a a human, we can even become like Him for “we know that when he appears, we shall be like him.”(1 John 3:2-3)

Pastor Lewis 

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