“Jesus stood and said in a loud voice,’Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink.'” John 7:37
“Gotcha!” After seeing the anole about to scoot under the couch, I planned and timed my movement quickly! Successfully grabbing the critter, I then opened the front door and threw it out into the yard… out into an environment where it was ‘created to survive. Remembering the tragic event of that morning, the thought hit, “Oh how I wish it was that easy with people!
Leaving the hospital with another member of our flock, I was told that the lady, wearing the mask, and socially distancing, was going to go down the elevator ALONE since, “she was special.” When I asked, “and what makes you special,” her response, “I have cancer,” didn’t really do anything to endear me to her. I responded, “that’s interesting because so do I!” It went downhill from there!
Using standard powers of observation, it was obvious she was older than me. Her hair was short, not because it was cut that way, but because of either chemo or radiation. She was thin. The mask she wore indicated she truly believed wearing it would buy her more time, indicating to me that she thought life was precious. So I felt qualified when I asked her, “Do you know my Jesus?”
The 2 creatures I encountered in 1 day were similar in many ways. Both were living, yet both were dying as well. Similarly, both had an encounter with me, which presented each of them with a chance and a choice. Unfortunately, using information BOTH believed to be true, they chose to simply flee from my presence. Fortunately for the anole, MY will was able to overpower his!
Lizard-like anoles are dumb creatures having neither a soul, nor the ability to reason. Since the Garden of Eden, they have been programmed to flee from people who were created in God’s image WITH a reasoning soul. Not knowing any better, the anole did what it was programmed to do. I don’t know WHY I felt bad for the little guy, but I didn’t want to see it die of thirst, so I set it free.
Maybe a secret as to the failure to impress the dying lady lies in that last sentence. 1 sentence that sounds SO noble and caring, yet contains the word “I” in it 4 times! When left to itself, free will can get SO complicated. The ‘I’ at the Hospital, had already elevated herself to the position of her own God, and sensed danger when the name of Jesus was mentioned. And rightly so! He is dangerous!
The Anole had no choice in the matter of it’s salvation. The lady, by her own choice, MAY not be so lucky. Instead of choosing eternal life, she has already chosen eternal death. My feeling bad has nothing to do with her salvation, except that it caused me to speak life to her. Maybe that will give her pause to consider just how thirsty for life she really is. But first, she’ll have to take off the mask!
