I was working out in my basement, which is equipped with two very large windows, complete with very large window wells. As I was jumping up and down from my stepper, I realized I had company. Someone was jumping along with me. A frog had hopped right into my window well, and now could not get out. It’s at least five feet deep, so I knew his little hops, no matter how mighty, were not going to cut it. Thus, unless I wanted him to end his days there, I would have to help him.
Out came the bucket. The well is large, but not big enough, I felt, for me to climb down there with him, within hopping distance of landing on me. I wanted to help him, not be his friend.
My solution: The bucket. Tie string to bucket. Lower bucket. Scoop up frog. Dump frog in pond 200 feet away.
Problem: Frog doesn’t like bucket. Frog hops away from bucket. I plop bucket around the well after him. He hops away.
This continued for a while. Sigh.
New solution: Shovel. Scoop up frog with shovel. Dump frog in pond 200 feet away.
Problem: Frog doesn’t like shovel. Space is barely wide enough to get a good angle for scooping.
Are my neighbors seeing this?
After many, many, MANY attempts, I finally climbed down the ladder to get a better angle. My fear was reaching shoulder level with the frog-filled shovel and receiving a face full of webbed feet.
After a few miss-scoops, it finally worked. I alley-ooped him up out of the well, then followed him up. I scooped him up again from the grass, quickly walked him over to the pond, and slid him off the shovel at the bank.
Have a nice life, little guy. And don’t come back!
Now, I’m left thinking. I’m sure the frog wanted out of there. He must have realized there was no food or water, and he would die, right? Or maybe not. He obviously couldn’t tell I was trying to help him, or he wouldn’t have fought me so.
Can you see where I’m going with this? Yep, I’m the frog. You’re the frog. We’re all frogs, at least at one time or another. Ribbit.
We don’t realize we’re in trouble. Or, we are sure our “mighty” hops are going to get us out, if we just – keep – jumping!
God extends the bucket. God reaches in with a shovel. He even goes so far as to climb down into the world with us to save us. But, like the frog with the fly-sized brain, we don’t see it. We see threat instead of rescue, or help we don’t want. Why? Wasn’t the frog much better off after I was finally able to help him? Of course. But he did not realize this from his vantage point. His automatic response was to flee. We can be so stubborn, blind, rebellious, and more. If we realize that God is trying to help us, we’ll end up much better off too. We have to trust.
At one point, I was tempted to just forget it. He could stay there. If he didn’t want out, he would suffer his fate. But, I decided to keep trying. I finally succeeded by forcing my will on him.
God won’t. He wants to save us. He doesn’t want to leave anyone in the well. He will continue to extend the bucket and shovel, but we have to hop on.
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