Of Ducks, Minks, and Salvation

I went to Canada with a group of friends not long ago. The following is one of the journal entries I made during that time.

“Today is our last full day in Canada!

Even though it was wet and rainy, it was still great… This morning started like a bullet from a gun: when we were all on the porch this morning, we seven saw a mother duck and a few ducklings being irritated by a mink. Needless to say, we freaked out, concerned that we were about to witness a duck holocaust…

But then a boat came up. We started screaming asking the man to save the ducks. He did his best, but his boat was too large to maneuver properly. It was holding the mink off for a moment, but it wasn’t a solution to the problem. One of us seven goes running out the back door. No one pays much attention, too fixed on what was happening and too intent to keep yelling for the mink to go away.

The mother duck was clearly getting tired, and just when all seems to be lost - suddenly! – the one who went running out the porch comes flying around the island, a savior on a wave runner. She separates the mink from the ducks, keeping them apart until no harm can come to either the mother or babies. Needless to say, we six girls were cheering louder than was necessary at eight am on a rainy morning…

And it made me think of you, God. Of how the Law [in my case, the inefficient boat] only shows how bad off we are, how impossible it is to obtain salvation. And of how real salvation and freedom came in the most unlikely form of Jesus. The way Your obedience cut off the accuser from destroying me and instead let me escape the punishment for my sins. It made me see the Law is good and You gave it to us – but doesn’t save because we are sinners by nature. And of course, that You came to fulfill the Law and bring us life.

Just like in nature, the mink should have gotten a nice duck breakfast – and in justice, I should be damned. But out of love and grace, the entire order of nature was flipped upside-down. Salvation for the undeserving. Hope on a wave runner; salvation on a cross.

Lord, You are good, and You do good.”

Maybe you had to be there to get the whole picture, and maybe it was just a funny story I can laugh about later – but I can tell you that in that moment, I saw that Christ IS good, and He DOES good, even to the most undeserving like me.

By grace undeserved,
Casey

My GPS and the Way of Holiness

“Thomas said to him, ‘Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?’

“Jesus answered, ‘I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.’” - John 14:5-6

Confession time: I’m incompetent with directions. I can’t read a map. I don’t understand how street signs work. I get lost in malls. I’ve misplaced my car twice this week. Therefore, I own a GPS. My GPS knows how to do directions, so I do what it tells me… usually.

A few weeks back, I had to go to the dentist. I scheduled it directly after my interpreting assignment - this job has been ongoing for several months. I figure I can get to the dentist from there without issue. It’s simple: one left turn so that I’m heading south, one major highway, three right turns and I’m at the dentist! No problem. I’ve used the GPS to get there before.

But that day, I didn’t realize there would be construction work on the first road I needed to take. The whole road was shut down. When I saw it, I did what I always do: pull out the GPS, set my destination and GO!

To my dismay, the GPS told me to go NORTH. Not “drive north until you’re at the first U-Turn,” but basically to drive north for miles and miles… Now, I don’t understand directions, but if I want to go south, driving north seems wrong.

So I ignored the GPS and headed south on an unfamiliar road, figuring I can find entrance to the major highway a little further down the road. Any road will eventually lead me to the place I need to go, right?

Fifteen minutes later, I had absolutely no idea where I was or how to get back to where I’d started. Lost was an understatement. By going in the direction that seemed right, I took myself completely off course.

When I finally gave up and checked my GPS, I’d hoped it would recalculate my path and send me south. It didn’t. Apparently, I was in an area where the ONLY way to get to the dentist was to turn around to my beginning location, and then drive NORTH. Eventually I turned around and began heading opposite of where I wanted to go, trusting my GPS at last.

It was the most uncomfortable feeling. Going north to arrive south didn’t seem right. It went against everything I understood of directions. The entire drive north, I thought that the GPS had to be wrong, because it felt wrong.

Finally, I arrived at the dentist’s office. As I waited for my name to be called, I felt God whispering to my heart: “There is a way that seems right to man, but in the end it leads to death.” (Proverbs 16:25)

The same way my destination was only secured by following the GPS, my only hope for salvation is submitting to God and following Him. Anything less will make me lost; anything less ultimately leads to death.

While submission to Christ leads to life, it doesn’t always feel like it. It can be painful, and heartbreaking, and unnatural – but Jesus says it is the only way.

God says that His road is narrow, and few find it. (Matthew 7:13-14) The road is narrow, and Christ is the Guide that leads us on it. His path and directions may make us uncomfortable, and instinctively feels wrong. It's unnatural, because by our very natures, we sin and go against Him. Loving enemies, embracing forgiveness instead of revenge, submission to Christ, choosing joy despite trials… in human perspective, those feel wrong and unnatural! But Jesus calls us to live that life, to walk that path, while He guides. He is the Way of Holiness, the only one who leads us off the path of destruction onto the road of Restoration.

"And a highway will be there; it will be called the Way of Holiness; it
will be for those who walk on that Way. The unclean will not journey on it;
wicked fools will not go about on it. No lion will be there, nor any ravenous beast; they will not be found there. But only the redeemed will walk there, and those the LORD has rescued will return. They will enter Zion with singing; everlasting joy will crown their heads. Gladness and joy will overtake them, and sorrow and sighing will flee away." - Isaiah 35: 5 - 8

What road are you on?

Learning the Way,
Casey