"You, too, be patient; strengthen your hearts, for the
coming of the Lord is near" (James 5:8).
Hey Gang: In the last morning message I shared the saga of
the sortie into the wilderness to collect and transport six donkeys from their
domicile of forty acres in Mid Michigan to the Village grounds. The
boys and maintenance crew had diligently, and with great effort, built a
holding corral for our new guests but, we soon learned upon their arrival, it
was a mere pittance and it was going to take additional efforts to keep these
critters confined to our property.
Not knowing how these beasts
of burden were going to interact with our horses, we were not about to turn
them loose in the mist of our forty horses. That was a bubble that was
burst within hours, as we searched and collected the escaped members of
the long eared gang. We made a brilliant decision at that time, based on
the simple premise that, if we did not put them in a more secure corral, we
would spend the rest of our lives searching and collecting these critters.
Soooo, being the head honcho I made the brilliant decision
that we would put the six rogue runaways in with the horses, in the more secure
corral and pasture. But I readily admit I did not sleep very well for the
next few nights, until I was sure the new ‘bed and breakfast’ set up would
satisfy them to stick around a check out the food program. I readily admit I
had visions of searching and collecting not only six burros but also forty
horses - at any given moment.
And now for the rest of the story! Several
days after the arrival of the testers of
our patience on campus we had a cross country hike scheduled for the boys
living in one of the houses. The boys, and I hate to admit it- the staff, came
up with the brilliant idea that the burros should be made to work for their
eats, as they were designed to do. I mean why should we, boys, carry
these heavy packs when we have these beast of burden just lying around
doing nothing?
Two were too young for the project, two proved to me too
emotionally unstrung to be used, and one had not had his hooves trimmed for who
knows how long and walking that far would have been cruel and unusual
punishment for the critter. So it boiled down to Jack, the patriarch of
the donkey family to carry the banner for the family.
All went surprising well in preparation and they started out on
their eleven mile hike, but..(How many out there know there is usually a
"but" attached to an unknown experience) Jack decided he had
done his due and lay down in the middle of the road. For more than an
hour they coaxed, pulled tugged and I suspect did some cursing at Jack,
who had made up his mind – ‘I shall not be moved!’
To make the long story short, the hikers and
all staff but one continued on. One
staff remaining to keep Jack company until a truck could be sent to return him
to campus. That is another story to long to divulge here.
When the idea to use the donkeys to be their pack bearers
surfaced I had made up my mind that was not a good idea - but this particular
group of youngsters were a wee bit salty and I thought perhaps four or five
days of dealing with something that was more salty than they, might do
what we, up that point had not had much success in doing.
Soooo, as I study the Scriptures, I find that is precisely
what God does in opening our eyes to the errors of our ways. I have
counseled many young people who tell me they are waiting for God to give them
marching orders. I have learned that God knows how to close doors and He seems
to like to direct the paths of moving vessels more than the ‘asleep at the
wheel gang’. I can attest to that as being fact!
Blessings,
Gramps
No comments:
Post a Comment