The Scandal of Free Turtles


My son has/had a couple of turtles. Red-eared sliders who thankfully resided at my dear Aunt's place in town. In her spoiling of my children, somehow turtles were purchased and nurtured. We saw these turtles every week and they were very well taken care of. 

Then my beloved Aunt decides to move to Arizona. The plan had long been that once we bought a house the turtles would reside with us in a pond of some sort on our property. But as the inevitable transition approached we balked and my Aunt set out to find a new home for Fred and Percy. 

This brings us to our scandalous story. 

My Aunt arranged for the turtles to live in a pond, in a gated community, in the back yard of a local dentist. We set out on Sunday to meet and send off the turtles to their new home. But as we arrived at the gate, the doctor was not answering her phone and we didn't know how to get in. 

After some time someone drove in and our cars quickly followed through the open gate. Parking at the house the second obstacle became increasingly obvious. The doctor wasn't home and no one was answering the door. 

So what did we do? What any reasonable group of people would do. We let ourselves into the backyard where we found the pond and released the turtles to flourish in a bigger space with actual sunlight. I sure hope it was the right backyard! 

This had me thinking, of course, about Jesus. Crashing a gated community and breaking down walls to give a fuller life... sounds like him. (And for the record we didn't actually break any walls.) 

Jesus' arrival had been arranged beforehand... the Law and Prophets pointed to him and he was to be expected. When he does his ministry there is no welcome from the elites that were supposed to know he was coming. Still, he did his work, entering when no one would get the door for him. Taking on a cross so that his people could flourish, and have real, abundant life. Now in him, we can swim in a spacious place of his provision and care. 

Jesus is pretty great for doing that. He doesn't leave us to fend for ourselves. He makes a way, even when it seems absurd. 

I am glad the turtles have a new home. I am through the roof that we have a home with Jesus. Trust him. 

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