Vietnam is not what I expected.
A concrete jungle with paved rivers?
Air-conditioned?
Running water?
A REAL TOILET?
Come on, Lord. Give me something REALLY challenging. This is too comfortable. Search my heart.
You ask me, ‘What then, do you really find your comfort in?’.
Uh oh.
That would be my pride, my ability to stay in control of my emotions, and my future.
Good grief. Here goes my pride. I want my readers and supporters to know that just because I’m on the field doesn’t mean I have all my ducks in row. (No one does but for some reason it's easy to believe that folks like me are somehow more 'spiritual' or 'Godly'). Actually, being on the field is forcing me to chase down my ducks all over the place. Little known fact: These ducks are irritatingly fast and love avocados.
A couple of examples of my ducks that tend to run off without my noticing are my pride, my sense of control, and infatuation with the future which robs me of the present moment.
You may be familiar with these ducks. Maybe not. Just stick with me on this analogy though, it’s about to go deep.
The refreshing fact of the matter is that along with being the Creator of the World, Prince of Peace, Lord of Lords, King of Kings, Healer, Defender, a Trinity and all that jazz, He is also a professional Duck Wrangler. And He loves that role just as much as the others.
If only I would just let Him be that for me! If I could just swallow my pride, let Him do what he does best, and wrangle my ducks back into their rows, I could really enjoy the journey instead of feeling stressed out so much of the time.
Does this sound familiar?
Granted, allowing Him to fill the role of wrangler requires the discomfort of humility, more often times the greater discomfort of relinquishing control and usually facing an uncomfortable reality.
When I try to deal with things from an earthly perspective, which I so often do, its rare that I can get my ducks under control and they are usually resentful and act out of a bitter attitude of obligation.
The really sweet thing about Jesus, the Duck Wrangler, is that He approaches the ducks that are deserving of punishment and correction with a counter-intuitive response. A Heaven-oriented, grace-based response.
Are you still with me on this ducky analogy? No? Let me explain.
Por ejemplo:
Peter really lost his ducks three times in one night when He denied Christ before the crucifixion. When His ducks had all been wrangled back to where they belong, Jesus simply asked him, “Do you love me?”
Peter responded, “Yes Lord, you know that I do.”
“Feed my sheep.” (John 21:15-17)
He wasn’t saying, “keep the law.”
He wasn’t saying, “maintain this relationship by keeping all the rules.”
He was asking Peter’s ducks, “Do you love me? Do you really want to have a relationship? If you do, then just follow me and love others like I love you.” (John 21:15-17 New Jennings Paraphrase)
That’s how He gets my ducks in row. Actually, He has them lining up themselves because they want to, they have to, out of a heart of gratitude. The love they have been repeatedly shown just has to flow through them. He doesn’t want to control them, but has given them self-control.
Essentially, when Christ says, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments”, Christ was saying, ‘If you love me, you will adjust your behavior because you want to protect our relationship.” (John 14:15)
This is a relationship worth protecting. Still, my ducks are prone to wander because let’s be honest, staying in row all the time can get uncomfortable when your perspective turns from the Lord to the duck’s butt in front of you.
Fortunately, I have a Duck Wrangler/Prince of Peace/ Savior/ Holy Spirit/ Jehovah/…. who is always with me wherever I go to help woo my ducks back into submission.
This is what I am learning on this journey called the World Race. Also, I’m not sorry for the duck analogy. I really like analogies. And ducks.
Pray today for:
No head lice, we are working in orphanages rampant with it. I have dreads and it would be no bueno.
Our contacts and their work
My ducks: Humility/Pride, Surrender/Control, Present/Future thinking
Blessings!
