Come Out, Come Out, Wherever You Are: Guest Post by Stephanie Reeves
I’m on vacation with my family this week—in the beautiful Colorado mountains. I’ve asked some friends to fill in for me here at Kindling. I think you will find these posts very down-to-earth, but still quite able to start some fires in your heart and mind.
We have a couple of varieties of animals that have become worrisome for me. Our hermit crabs, Alex and Titan, have been buried since the day after we brought Alex home from the pet store to replace our dear departed Charlotte a couple of days after Christmas. Hermit crabs, if they are healthy, molt on a regular basis, shedding their old, tight exoskeleton for a bigger and shinier one. (Well, maybe not the shinier part, but you get the idea.)
From what I’ve read, that’s a very stressful process for them and, depending on their size, this can take many weeks, maybe even a couple of months. What’s hard for us is the waiting. They know what they’re doing naturally, but they are hidden from our sight, not eating, not drinking, not seeing the light of day. It’s been more than a month now, and I’m beginning to worry that they didn’t make it.
Our second worrisome set is a trio of kuhli loaches we bought to help control the snail population in our aquarium. They had been recommended by my fish guru, Tiffaney, who assured me that these eel-like creatures would be munching escargot soon. Well, I can’t find them now. They’ve shown themselves a few times, but rarely, and the snail population flourishes. I don’t know much about them, but Tiffaney says they’re shy, and the forums say they like to bury themselves, but I’m beginning to fear they might not be alive either! We purchased three, and at any given time I’ve only seen two, and the last time was several days ago, maybe even a week. Loachies! Come out, come out, wherever you are!Crabs and loaches. And God.
Do you ever fear that He might not be around anymore? Does it seem like a really long time since you last heard from Him?
John 20:29 records this interchange between Jesus and Thomas, His disciple: “Then Jesus told him, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.’”
I’m not sure about the kuhlis and the crabs, but I know about God. Enjoy this song from The Newsboys, declaring the truth that He is alive!
What about you? Have you ever felt God is hiding from you?
From Stephanie: I’m a newly turned 50 mom of thre3, a writer, a follower of Jesus. Not necessarily in that order. I’m trying to get my muse back. I have a wonderful husband of 21 years. I’ve worked with Cru for nearly 27 years as a writer, editor, production manager and now senior copy editor for their magazine, Worldwide Challenge.