distracted
It was a bright, nearly cloudless day and several dogs had chased the two deer for quite a while. The dogs sounded a good distance off and the deer were running at nearly top speed to put the finishing touches on a clean getaway. They came through an overgrown peach orchard with scrub trees all the way to the edge of road. As they dashed from behind the trees and went to cross the road, one flashed directly in front of the large BellSouth bucket truck and the other crashed directly into the driver’s door.
The badly wounded deer managed to drag itself out into an overgrown field and lie down to hide and try to recover from the horrific damage to its body. Later in the day, in the lonely field, its life came to an end. The animal had been in full strength and health but it was distracted by a distant danger and had collided with one near at hand.
The mockingbird had marked out its territory and its nest was nearby – this particular backyard was claimed as part of its home turf. The only problem was that the yard was also the area claimed by a medium-sized part poodle belonging to the masters of the property.
As mockingbirds will do, it became very agitated at the audacity of the dog crossing part of its space and started diving at the quadruped. By the third dive, the canine had had enough – it had been measuring the dives of the bird. As the bird dived, it did not see the tensing of the leg muscles and just at the very worst possible time for the bird, the dog sprang upward and ended the flight career and life of the irate bird. The flyer had been distracted by anger and misjudged the capabilities of the other creature.
The seagull was attracted to the small pieces of fish floating on the surface of the very large, man-made orca pool. It settled on the water’s surface and had just started eating its fish dinner when suddenly the huge killer whale came from below and made a light snack of the feathered swimmer.
What the gull didn’t know was that this was a trap set on purpose by the orca. The large mammal had somehow figured out that if it regurgitated a small amount of fish it would attract these scavengers and it would have a chance for a quick, between meals tidbit. The gull was so distracted by the promise of a few tasty morsels that it didn’t see the danger until it was too late and its life came to an end.
Many years ago there was a young man that at one time was a church attending, married man. He became distracted by others and the marriage came to an end. Though he came to church, his answer to any that would ask why he didn’t make a real commitment to God was a comparison of his life to others in the church. He was distracted because some were not living the way he thought they ought to.
He was a safe driver and always wore his seat belt, except for one time. On a late night trip he became tired and allowed someone else to drive. He released his seat belt to lay back and get a nap. They say the driver ran off the edge of the road, overcompensated and then left the road on the other side, he was thrown out of the vehicle and his own car ran over him - his life was ended. The difference in him and the animals was that he continued to live in a different form and if he didn’t take the opportunity to repent in the few minutes before he died, he will live forever separated from God.
Another young man was raised in church and was considered to be a “good boy”. He became distracted by a desire to find out exactly what was wrong with doing all the things he had been taught were wrong. His actions caused him to be separated from God for more than three years, but God’s love and mercy reached out to him and like the prodigal son of the Bible, his Father forgave him and took him back.
He is now old and on occasion still gets distracted, mostly by wasting time on things that are not bad in themselves, but become that if they cause him to not follow his Savior as closely as he should. He has an enemy that has distraction down to an art form, but his resident Savior is greater than any enemy and he can have victory through the power of God if he so chooses. This is the same power available to us all through Jesus Christ. ec
The badly wounded deer managed to drag itself out into an overgrown field and lie down to hide and try to recover from the horrific damage to its body. Later in the day, in the lonely field, its life came to an end. The animal had been in full strength and health but it was distracted by a distant danger and had collided with one near at hand.
The mockingbird had marked out its territory and its nest was nearby – this particular backyard was claimed as part of its home turf. The only problem was that the yard was also the area claimed by a medium-sized part poodle belonging to the masters of the property.
As mockingbirds will do, it became very agitated at the audacity of the dog crossing part of its space and started diving at the quadruped. By the third dive, the canine had had enough – it had been measuring the dives of the bird. As the bird dived, it did not see the tensing of the leg muscles and just at the very worst possible time for the bird, the dog sprang upward and ended the flight career and life of the irate bird. The flyer had been distracted by anger and misjudged the capabilities of the other creature.
The seagull was attracted to the small pieces of fish floating on the surface of the very large, man-made orca pool. It settled on the water’s surface and had just started eating its fish dinner when suddenly the huge killer whale came from below and made a light snack of the feathered swimmer.
What the gull didn’t know was that this was a trap set on purpose by the orca. The large mammal had somehow figured out that if it regurgitated a small amount of fish it would attract these scavengers and it would have a chance for a quick, between meals tidbit. The gull was so distracted by the promise of a few tasty morsels that it didn’t see the danger until it was too late and its life came to an end.
Many years ago there was a young man that at one time was a church attending, married man. He became distracted by others and the marriage came to an end. Though he came to church, his answer to any that would ask why he didn’t make a real commitment to God was a comparison of his life to others in the church. He was distracted because some were not living the way he thought they ought to.
He was a safe driver and always wore his seat belt, except for one time. On a late night trip he became tired and allowed someone else to drive. He released his seat belt to lay back and get a nap. They say the driver ran off the edge of the road, overcompensated and then left the road on the other side, he was thrown out of the vehicle and his own car ran over him - his life was ended. The difference in him and the animals was that he continued to live in a different form and if he didn’t take the opportunity to repent in the few minutes before he died, he will live forever separated from God.
Another young man was raised in church and was considered to be a “good boy”. He became distracted by a desire to find out exactly what was wrong with doing all the things he had been taught were wrong. His actions caused him to be separated from God for more than three years, but God’s love and mercy reached out to him and like the prodigal son of the Bible, his Father forgave him and took him back.
He is now old and on occasion still gets distracted, mostly by wasting time on things that are not bad in themselves, but become that if they cause him to not follow his Savior as closely as he should. He has an enemy that has distraction down to an art form, but his resident Savior is greater than any enemy and he can have victory through the power of God if he so chooses. This is the same power available to us all through Jesus Christ. ec
posted by mreddie | 7:09 AM
11 Comments:
bubba - Very true - always the light. ec
Amen!
Amen! Thank you so much for sharing those amazing and somewhat heartbreaking stories.
Distraction has always been a problem...and sometimes willful disobedience, like the young man who deliberately goes in the opposite direction. We pray for guidance and courage.
adannells - Thanks.
jayleigh - About the deer, I was the one driving the bucket truck, my friends dog is the one that got the bird and I read about the Orca in the news. The young man killed in the wreck was one of my best friends at the time and of course, the last one was me.
bonita - You are correct, sometimes even a momentary distraction can change a life. ec
Hi Mr Eddie ~ What a great post.
Sorry you were involved with most of the stories, and so glad that
your life has turned around.
Thank you for your visit and kind words about my daughter. It was so great to actually talk to Julie as she is so far away from me here. I am so relieved that the news is good and she will be OK again soon. Thank you again.
merle - Thanks for the kind words. From a father's (and a grandfather's) heart I know the pain when your offspring is under the knife or not well. I'm just glad the news is good. ec
I thought it sounded much too personal to be a parable.
Thank you.
granny - It was very up close and personal. ec
hey mr eddie - how easily we are distracted is quite scary, actually. i love the perspective you gave - we get slammed by something right in front of our faces, when our attention is focused on something else. thankfully, our Intercessor causes the Spirit to send out SOS's - it's up to us to recognize them and listen to them.
ann - We sometimes plan for the things that seem far off but get blindsided by the unknowns that are near. And you are right, if we depend on the Holy Spirit we can be saved a lot of pain and trouble. ec
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