Into the Fire

Sometimes it’s a stretch to make metaphors out of certain events that occur in ongoing life experiences. But sometimes it’s merely a way to come through them with a memory which speaks to the moment in another way. For what reason? I’m not sure.

Some of you are not animal lovers, so this might not seem like a particularly stunning occurrence in the emotional sense. You’ll be looking at it from the “practical” side as in assessing damages. Some of you are hunters, and you’ll be looking at it from another angle. I’m an animal lover so this particular accident saddened me.

Early Monday morning as my husband was headed east on the interstate in a semi with a loaded 53’ trailer toward the mountains he passes over every week, he observed a pickup truck ahead of him swerve and miss a large elk galloping across the road in the dark. As he began to slow, he saw the elk arrive safely on the other side of the four eastbound lanes. Then suddenly the elk turned, and my husband had that foreboding feeling that the elk was going to run back across the road the way he’d come. Glancing to his left, my husband spotted the reason for the elk’s indecision: his companion. Trying to waylay trouble, my husband began changing lanes, moving over, but then the elk took off and accelerated back across the interstate and literally ran right in front of my husband’s rig. The semi clipped the elk, crippling him and laying him out in the middle of the fast lane. My husband pulled over and called 911, the man in the pickup came back to see if he could help. The semi was not wrecked in any way, but my husband felt terrible. The other man saw it all in his rear view mirror and remarked how the elk had run right in front of the semi. The sheriff eventually arrived and put down the animal.

Sometimes we run headlong for something we think is worth pursuing through dangerous obstacles. Not always weighing the real value of what we want, we take off simply because it’s desirable. Fun. Maybe even a bit scary in its own enticing way. Expecting to share it with another, we find that the attraction of what we’re plunging into with our exhilaration and enthusiasm isn’t as appealing as we’d hoped it would be to our friend or loved one, and they refuse to join us. Rethinking our pursuit in light of their hesitation, will we return to convince them it’s okay? Or will we return to them because we realize they’re more important than our compulsive intent?

Either way, wrong pursuits hold consequences for us. Not all of them are dire, but some definitely are. Compulsive actions toward dangerous temptations rarely achieve the long term desired affect. Let’s be honest: for awhile the experience might be exciting, even feel rewarding in a scandalous kind of way. Then the implications of our actions begin to corrode our enjoyment, and the pleasure we sought begins to decay, exposing it for the ugly, flawed choice that it is. So we rush away, intending to leave it behind and to return to the way we were. Only it isn’t as easy as we thought to get back. The initial obstacles were nothing compared to the ones we now face. Will we make it back?

Not undamaged. Sin sears. Burns. Cripples. Destroys. If unchecked. It is a choice we must make. Is it really worth it?

Forgiveness awaits a repentant heart, but consequences still carry out their mission. Running into sin we are often blinded to the consequences. Running away from sin we often run smack dab into the pain of our actions.

If only that big handsome elk hadn’t decided to relocate across a major interstate . . .

If only we didn’t find that sin so appealing . . .

Father, thank you for forgiveness, for redemption, for restoration, for recovery. Thank you for revealing the truth of what we face in this human nature and how we need Jesus to fix our broken ways. Thank you for conviction, Holy Spirit. Thank you for saving us, Jesus.