Steve Martin
“For You formed my inward parts; You wove me in my mother's womb. I will give thanks to You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; (Psalm 139:13-14, NASU)
In February of 2019, a few of us men at Antioch International Church in Fort Mill, South Carolina started a men’s group. I hadn’t been involved with one for many, many years. Part of the object of our bi-monthly gathering is to get to know the Lord more, and these men that He is connecting us within this church body.
Every other Tuesday, at the close of the meeting, we are given an assignment, or “heartwork” as our leader, Greg Partipilo, likes to call it. For one particular lesson, one of the four choices was to write a story about a fictional animal. Thus, I composed this story. Can you tell what I felt the Holy Spirit was trying to convey through it? I hope so!
My heartwork story for a March 2019 meeting.
Charlie was an odd bird, and yet he wasn’t a bird. That was part of the problem, as he saw it.No, Charlie was a gopherilla. His dad was a gorilla and his mom was a gopher. Don’t ask Charlie how. He just knew he was what he was.
But God loved Charlie anyway, because no matter what, no matter how, God would always love the ones no one else should, could, or would. God loves. And He knew. He knew why He had created Charlie.
One day as Charlie was out for a nice walk, on a clear blue African day, alone as usual, he was alerted by a ruckus just off the path in the thick brush. Something was trying to get free from a predicament they were in.
Using his big gorilla paws, attached to his long, thin brown torso, Charlie was able to work his way through the greenery, when no one else probably could have, tearing away at the dense foliage. There he discovered a tortilito (a mixture of tortoise and armadillo) desperately trying to slash away and free himself. But the tortilito had gotten so worn out that he had finally stopped trying to escape in exhaustion.
Because Charlie had managed to bust through, due to the makeup of his body, he pulled out his new-found friend. It was a tremendous rescue!
Recovered and very thankful, Chuck and Charlie became instant comrades. Together then they continued down the road, paw to paw, singing the praises of their God.
From that point on the gopherilla and the tortilito were truly the best of the best friends. For you see, Charlie’s Creator had created him for such a time as this, and it was good.
He now realized that God is love. And Charlie was content in that.
“For You formed my inward parts;
You wove me in my mother's womb.
I will give thanks to You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
Wonderful are Your works,
And my soul knows it very well.
My frame was not hidden from You,
When I was made in secret,
And skillfully wrought in the depths of the earth;
Your eyes have seen my unformed substance;
And in Your book were all written
The days that were ordained for me,
When as yet there was not one of them.
How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God!
How vast is the sum of them!
If I should count them, they would outnumber the sand.
When I awake, I am still with You.
(Psalm 139:13-18, NASU)
How precious are all creatures that our Lord God, the Father Almighty, has created. The unborn, the born; the lovely, the not-so-lovely. We are to receive and love them all, even as He Himself does each and every day.
He is the All-Loving God, and as the old saying of years gone by was written and shared by many, “He is good. And He doesn’t make junk.”Shalom and ahava (peace and love in Hebrew).
Now think on this,
Steve Martin
Founder/President
Love For His People, Inc.
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Todah rabah! (Hebrew – Thank you very much.)
Please share Now Think On This with your friends on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, Tumblr, and LinkedIn. Others will be thankful you did.
Now Think On This #395 - in the year of our Lord 03.05.19 – “Charlie the Gopherilla” – Tuesday 2:30 am
