(Submitted
by Kerry Patton)
Brothers and sisters, we do not want you
to be uninformed about those who sleep in death, so that you do not grieve like
the rest of mankind, who have no hope. 14For we believe that Jesus died and
rose again, and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have
fallen asleep in him. 1 Thessalonians
4:13, 14
The Oblivious Ant
So there I
was, sitting in the front passenger seat of Donnie O’Fallon’s pickup in Azle,
Texas. He and I were on a mission of
mercy for a member of our faith family.
Our mission had been a success, but before we headed back to Weatherford,
we had stopped momentarily at a business.
I waited in the truck.
As I sat
there in the air conditioning, listening to the radio and waiting for Donnie to
return, I observed a rather large insect…an ant, as it crawled across the
windshield. Back and forth, up and down
the glass it crawled. Was it looking for
food, water, or some sense of the trail that would lead it back to the ant
mound that it called home? I didn’t
know. I did feel a bit of pity on it
though, because I knew that very shortly, Donnie would return and we would head
back to Weatherford. The ant would
likely blow off the truck…Lord knows HOW far from where it had come from. Even if I had wanted to get it back to its
mound, I had no idea where that would be.
That ant would NEVER find its way back home. Never.
It would live its entire life lost…perhaps not even knowing that it was
lost, and then it would die. I don’t want
to blow too much drama into the scene…but this was an ant…without hope.
Oblivious People
Driving back
to Weatherford, Donnie and I passed many dozens of people. People in passing cars, pedestrians, and
people on bicycles. Did these people
have hope? Shortly before getting to the
bridge that crosses Lake Weatherford, half of the road was closed due to road
construction. So we sat still for
several minutes waiting for a flagman to give us the signal that we could
proceed. An obviously weary man sat in
the road on a water cooler holding a sign that said “STOP” on one side, and
“Proceed Slowly” on the other. The temperature
bearing down on that poor man must have been near 110 degrees reflecting up off
the road. He hid his face under his
helmet and left arm to reduce the glare from the mid-day sun. I wondered what this man’s life was
like. How many hours would he be able to
endure the torturous heat? I did pity
him and wished I could get him out of the sun.
Shortly, the
flagman reached up and spoke into the mic of a walkie-talkie he had. He then stood, turned his sign so that it
read “Proceed Slowly” and waved us to move forward. As we drove away, I wondered if the man knew
Jesus. Or was he like that little ant
who had been slaving away on the windshield of Donnie’s truck...oblivious to
the fact that he was lost? But there was
a difference, wasn’t there? Because
unlike the ant…this poor man, sweltering in the heat was NOT without hope!
While he may
have been lost spiritually (and I only speculate that he may have been for the
sake of this devotion), he was not without hope. Jesus of Nazareth had brought that flagman
the same hope that you and I have. But
did the man know? That’s where you and I
become so very important. As followers
of Jesus, we are here to share the Hope of Glory, communicate the love of
Christ in our words and deeds, and let the people of the world around us know
that they are NOT without hope.
A Survivor
Donnie and I
arrived back at our destination in Weatherford.
He pulled into a parking spot and turned off the truck’s engine. As I unbuckled my seatbelt, looking forward
through the windshield, what did I see?
Amazingly, that crazy little ant!
It seems that it had found a place to lay low and had survived the
journey from Azle to Weatherford. He
hadn’t blown off the truck after all. “Welcome to Weatherford, Ant…”
Now I was
thinking about second chances…If I get to see that road construction worker
again, I would like to get to know him a bit.
I want to let him know that I appreciate him suffering the heat for my
safety. I’d like to hand him a soft
drink or a bottle of Gatorade and share a bit with him about Hope. I may learn that he is well acquainted with
Jesus, but I could also be the person who helps him know Hope…for the very
first time.
Who will the
Lord place in our path today for his service?
How will he get our attention?
Scripture:
Blessed
be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great
mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection
of Jesus Christ from the dead, 1 Peter 1:3
