Monday, February 4, 2008

Squirrelly Thoughts


Say hello to the picture I've attached of Mr. Squirrel. I met Mr. Squirrel last Friday while I was filling up my horse's water trough. The trough was half empty and topped off with an inch of ice.

The water flowed onto that slab of ice and slowly began to melt it. That's when I met Mr. Squirrel. His eye caught my eye. He was peeking up at me from under the ice.

Apparently, Mr. Squirrel needed a drink of water in a bad way, so he climbed out on a limb and rode the limb down to the trough. But because the trough was half empty, he had to go a little too far out on the limb and took a dive instead of a drink.

I'm still waiting on CSI (Cold Squirrel Investigation) autopsy reports, but my theory is that Mr. Squirrel drowned before the water froze. Then he froze.

I broke the ice with a shovel and scooped Mr. Squirrel out of the trough. He was a solid Squirrelsicle. Naturally, I entertained myself with him and took a few pictures of him standing up, looking very much alive. But Mr. Squirrel was very much dead.

My expertise in cryogenics (which comes from watching movies) gave me hope that maybe Mr. Squirrel froze before he drowned and he could thaw out and still be alive.

No, I didn't put him in the microwave. He wouldn't fit. I set him out in the yard in the sunshine. My dogs and I kept an eye on him all day. He thawed, but he didn't live. He did an impressive imitation of a grown man in a recliner. He gradually slumped and slumped and slumped until he was completely relaxed.

A story like that must be told. Even though most squirrels meet their demise in a much more violent encounter with things named Michelin, Goodyear, and B. F. Goodrich, I feel a burden not to let Mr. Squirrel's frozen fate take place in vain.

I know people like Mr. Squirrel. They look alive on the outside. But inside they are dead. They have an appearance of life, but spend their weeks and weekends at Bernies.

Ephesians says, "And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins" (2:1). Jesus told Nicodemus, "you must be born again" (John 3). We are more than physical. We are spiritual beings.

And until we truly believe in Jesus Christ and invite Him to live the power of His resurrected life within us, we are spiritually dead. Though our physical heart beats, our spiritual lungs have been filled by the pollution of our sin. And we drown in it.

Mr. Squirrel only wanted to satisfy his thirst by dipping his tiny tongue into the water. But his thirst sunk him. Sin works that way. Our desires lead us to yearn for just a taste. One bite. One sip. And before we know it, we are drowning in our own thirst.

The "not-so-good-news" for the squirrel was that his rescuer could pull him out of the water, but could not bring back the dead. The good news for you and me is that our Rescuer can do both!

"For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish (drown or freeze) but have everlasting life" (John 3:16). "Even when we were dead in sin, (God) made us alive together with Christ" (Ephesians 2:5).

God can make you alive. All you need to do is call out to Him and trust Jesus with all your heart.

Here's hoping someone reads this and gets saved. Not everyone can say they were saved because of a frozen squirrel. But God is bigger than we figure. He can use irony like no one else. He might just use a squirrel that couldn't save himself to save a sinner in the same trough.

Pardon this ending today... But do you know what the squirrel said when he fell into the water?

Awww nuts!
Perry Crisp

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