Oh, Mercy!

A while back my husband, Jake, bought 2 dozen feeder goldfish for his afternoon of fishing. But some were too cute to become bait, so I begged, "Please let me keep them as pets."


courtesy of digitalart @freedigitalphotos.net

Those three, named Faith, Hope, and Love, remained. My long-suffering fisherman hubby even bought them an upscale aquarium plant for their tank. A nice one, not the cheap plastic kind I would have picked up.

The other goldfish became bait,

but we showed these three mercy.

Fast forward two years. Jake trapped a possum, which we cooked and ate as related in a previous blog. Seriously. (Click here if you don't believe me.)

Side note:  Anytime people eat something unusual they say it tastes like chicken.       "Rattlesnake? Tastes like chicken"
"Ostrich? Tastes like chicken."
"Possum? It tastes like a collision of ham and chicken."
             It's delicious...once you look past the fur and feet.

Courtesy of jiggoja@ freedigitalphots.net

Enter possum #2. This little guy wound up stuck in the cage without food or water for a day. Jake looked at its sad little face and fed it a McDonald's hamburger.

Disclaimer: Fast food in not part of an optimal diet for possums. Or humans.

Nevertheless, Jake not only fed and watered it, he released it. "Jethro" the possum ambled away, safe from the stew pot.

 Possum one became dinner.

Possum two received mercy.



    courtesy of iosphere @freedigitalphotos.net

Think about God's great mercy. Unlike us, He holds out mercy to all. He doesn't grab anyone and say, "OK, you're bait. I'm dumping you in the river to catch something better."

He never decides, "Hmm, you're not appealing enough. Into the oven with you."

courtesy of iosphere @freedigitalphotos.net

God always extends his mercy to us.

He always gives us another chance.

"The faithful love of the Lord never ends! His mercies never cease. Great is his faithfulness; his mercies begin afresh each morning." Lamentations 3:22-23 NLT

 courtesy of Sura Nualpradid @freedigitalphotos.net

 

 Have you seen God's mercy at work in your life? It's new every morning, special for you.



courtesy of KEKO64 @freedigitalphotos.net

Since God has shown me so much mercy, I'm heading out to extend some right now. Jethro the possum is asking for his McDouble and fries.



Possum, anyone?

Ever had a possum in your oven?

Not some animal that accidentally scurried into your home and holed up behind an appliance.

I'm talking about cooking a critter. One so far outside the norm that people give you "THE LOOK" if you mention it.

A hunk of wildlife that the Duck Dynasty family might enjoy for lunch.

Roasting a possum puts me WAY out of my comfort zone. Seriously, how many guests does a marsupial feed? Looking at its small foil wrapped body, I was pretty sure there wouldn't be enough to even satisfy Uncle Si.

But my parents are pretty light eaters...

I called my mother and said, "You and Dad are invited to dinner. I'm making possum."

There was a long silence on the other end of the line, then my mother burst out laughing. "Sweetheart, I though you said you're cooking a POSSUM."

"Yeah. I was kinda queasy at first, but with the fur off it looks like meat you'd get in the supermarket. Except for the little legs sticking out. Can you come?"

Without missing a beat my refined mother replied, "Thank you anyway, but we had rat for dinner. We're stuffed."

Evidently possum is out of her comfort zone too.

Sometime I let my comfort zones become Grand Canyon-sized ruts. Have you ever been there? The rut, not the Grand Canyon.

Seeing Nick Vujicic on YouTube took away all of my excuses.

http://www.attitudeisaltitude.com/

This Australian-born man doesn't have arms or legs, but he's a father, swimmer, and world-wide inspirational speaker.

He shared how the Lord transformed his life from "A life without limbs to a life without limits."

 

 

Watching him inspired me (OK, guilted me) into addressing one of my literal comfort zones: The Late Night TV & Snack Food Couch Potato Arena.

I'm struggling with this one. Here's the scenario: It's bedtime, but the pull of mindless TV and potato chips draws me to the couch. I sit there like a zombie until I nod off. I wake up in the middle of the night disoriented and covered with crumbs. I stagger off to bed, and wake up in the morning exhausted. Am I the only one?

I've tried to break the habit in my own strength. My attempts were as effective as using honey for fly repellent. If you relate, don't give us hope. God knew we'd be challenged. I came across this reminder today:

"As soon as I pray, you answer me; you encourage me by giving me strength."     Psalm 138:3 NLT

Nick Vujicic crosses the globe to inspire and encourage people. With God's help I can get off the sofa and cross the street to do the same.

How about you? What's your comfort zone? Are you ready to come out of it?

Let's ask God for the strength to do what we were created to do, and make a positive difference in the world.

And leave the roasted possum to Uncle Si and the family.

Photo courtesy of Grant Cochrane @ freedigitalphotos.net