Turtle People

It will forever be emblazoned in my memory as one of the more pitiful images I have ever seen. It was one of those events that totally catch you by surprise and the sheer image of it shocks you.

Let me back up a bit. I am guessing it was in the late 80s when it happened. I was driving, where I do not recall, and saw a lady out of her car on the side of the road. Being the chivalrous type (or not too bright . . . take your pick) I stopped to offer my assistance. She was extremely emotional. My first thought was that someone was injured. After a few seconds I realized she had stopped because she had hit an animal with her car. Now for those of us who live in Pittsburgh, that is so not unusual. We in the suburbs have invaded their homes and the encounters take place. But I digress . . .

I thought perhaps it was a dog, or cat or some animal from the wild she had hit. When I walked around her car, I saw the strange pitiful sight. She had run over a turtle. The animal was not dead and not seriously injured, so to speak. The strange thing was that the animal shell was totally cracked open leaving the turtle totally exposed to the elements. It was, as I have said . . . pitiful.

A gentleman who lived in the area walked over to see what was happening and to offer his assistance. We were on a back country road which made the gentleman sort of a back woods type of guy who was well familiar with wild life and the like. He quickly explained to us that in his experience, which I deemed considerable, this animal was doomed. He said we really had two options. We could allow the turtle to go free which would probably mean a very painful death by a scavenger or being hit by another car. The other option was he would return to his home, bring his gun (I am a born and bred southerner remember) and we could “humanely” kill the animal quickly. After some discussion, we opted for the second choice. The lady who had hit the turtle left the scene being totally unable to cope with what was to transpire.

All in all, the incident was a bit surreal.

These years looking back I think many, if not most people I have known are like that turtle. We have been injured by life and we feel exposed, vulnerable and well . . . pitiful. What we do next is interesting. We grow another shell. It will be thicker and tougher than the original one. But we are not going to be exposed like that again. We choose to just live in our shell rather than to risk it, come out and be exposed.

Yesterday I wrote, “Herein is a good lesson for the church. We are not meant to be isolated either. We are supposed to be in community with other believers and with those who are not yet believers . . .”

I would like to think a bit.

What in life has injured you? It may be something totally devastating. It probably is something that cuts deep into your core and wounds you so badly that you simply refuse to reach again. You say things like, “This isolation hurts terribly, but it hurts less than the exposure and injury! So I will remain in my shell. It is much safer here. It is just easier to not risk it.”

You know what? You are right. It is safer inside that shell. It is also very lonely. It is also very dark. It is also dreary. It is also just NO FUN!

How do I know? I have a shell of my own. Sometimes I like it in there. It is small and confining but I know it well and I feel a bit safer. Sometimes I absolutely hate it inside there and scream to get out. But there is that pitiful turtle image that comes to my mind. What if I am ravaged by someone while exposed? What if I end up road kill on the streets of life?

Yeah, what if?

I know the risk is great. Sometimes it is too great. But I also know I know the rewards of stepping out are huge. (As an aside, there are levels of exposure that are not just great, they are foolhardy and unwise. I will attempt to talk a bit about those in a future blog.)

So why are we still there? In short I think there are two reasons. I am sure there are more but these two come to mind.

We were hurt so badly in the past that we just are not going to risk again . . . no matter what the reward. We are done with this relationship / friendship stuff and that is that.
No one has given us enough reason to come out. Perhaps it is that the right person has not sought us out. If that were to happen, we would perhaps venture one more try . . . just maybe.

Now I will leave the application to you regarding your need to risk coming out of the shell but I want to go one step further. My friend, listen to these words. Jesus is not asking you to come out of the shell to Him. Jesus is coming to be with you in your shell. He wants to come where you are and help you heal. He wants to wrap his arms around you, care for you, heal you and then walk out with you.

We need not be alone in our shell. Here the knock on the outside? It may be Jesus wanting to join you where you are. Isn’t that just like Jesus? He accepts you as you are where you are. He does not ask you to clean up and come to Him. He just asks you to let Him in.

Somehow the vulnerability is a bit less, and the pitiful feeling reduced when Jesus comes in to be with us.

Listen. He is knocking. Let Him in. Let Him love. Let Him heal.