My Suburban struck an opossum the other night. I’m afraid I killed it. As bad as I might feel, there was nothing I could do to avoid it. I barely made out the forms of 4-5 animal shadows crossing the road at night in my headlights. The one I hit was straggling.
It’s not good to straggle behind the group. The Christian straggler makes up excuses to not report for prayer. The straggler seeks entertainment over seeking the Lord. The straggler is loathe to read his Bible, accountability-averse, half-in, not all-in.
The Amalekites attacked “attacked all who were lagging behind” when the Israelites were transversing the desert (Deut. 25:18). The enemy exploited the weak and weary, the undisciplined laggard, the sluggish, because they were the easy target. Ultimately, the people of God defeated the Amalekites, but not without losses.
Do your best to stick with the group. Whatever your church is active in, don’t count yourself among the non-participants. It’s got to be all-in. The trouble with being half-in is you’re half-out.
If you’re a Christian straggler, you could get squished. I’m sure the opossum was not a pretty sight. I didn’t bother to check it out in the morning. It was far from my home. No doubt city workers cleaned up the bacteria-filled mess. If you are a Christian, work at full-speed, keep yourself surrounded by peers who encourage the best of you.
What a picture you frame my friend, but how amazing to use such an incident as a teaching moment!!!!! God bless!
Yeah, that’s what I said…though I lagged behind!
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I’m so glad that picture came from Google and not recent events, haha! Man was this post timely, especially in regard to mine about consistent discipleship. *Pressing forward* Continue to be blessed MSB.
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As a pastor, I couldn’t agree more!
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Wow what a picture…so true
No stragglers!
Great pic!
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Poor opossum. Hard for me to accept road kill. Also I am not all in or in at all. This probably will not make me popular with you but I have to be on the outside. Cannot be “in”– being “in” is just too painful. Some people cannot belong and God understands.
We love you
Well, I certainly didn’t expect that– thank you! Thank you for liking so many of my posts.
Why wouldn’t you expect that? You said something about not being “all in.” And I wanted to affirm you as a human being. I hope to motivate! And, yes, I feel love for other human beings…