wooly worms

This past weekend some friends and I went camping near Linville Falls, North Carolina.  It was a beautiful weekend.  The leaves in the mountains have already turned beautiful shades of red, orange and yellow.  The temperature was warm during the day, but chilly at night...perfect for huddling around a bonfire.

One of the highlights of the weekend was the Wooly Worm Festival in Banner Elk.  None of us was sure exactly what a wooly worm was until we found one crawling around our campsite.  It is not the most beautiful worm I have ever seen, but it was cute.

As I was holding the worm, whom we named either Wanda or Wilfred or William Wallace, I found myself saying to it, "It would be so sad if you stayed a worm forever."  As I said this my heart caught up in my throat and I realized I was talking to myself.  I have been feeling particularly wormy lately.  Wanting to be different but finding myself the same.  Doing the same things I always do.  Thinking the same thoughts I always think.

Last night my roommate and a friend and I were sitting around my table and somehow the wooly worms came up in conversation.  I told them about how sad I felt at the thought that a wooly worm might stay a worm for life.  All of a sudden I felt desperate to know if the worm was actually a caterpillar.  "I don't want to be a worm.  I want to fly," I shouted.  I couldn't look it up fast enough.

 I burst into tears as I discovered that indeed, the Wooly Worm is actually a caterpillar.  It is the larva of the Isabella Tiger Moth.  Hope!  Sweet hope flooded over me.  Knowing that the worm was going to become something else one day was encouragement to my overwhelmed heart.

The next day I was listening to Beth Moore and something she said made me realize that I still did not have it quite right, though.  The thing is, I am not a worm at all.  The Lord has already made me a new creation.    I don't have to live like worm anymore.  "Become what you already are," a friend said to me recently.

My favorite part is that Isabella, the name of the moth, means "God's promise" or "My God is a oath."

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! 2 Corinthians 5:17

Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. Hebrews 10:23 

You make me new, you are making me new. ~ Beautiful Things by Gungor

"adventures"

All smiles!  The SLCAXC team post race- with a little planking and owling action.

We had another SLCA Cross Country "adventure" yesterday.  We have had many adventures this year: an interesting encounter with a swat team, being chased by a storm, bus not starting, bus breaking down on 485, forgotten shoes, monsoon conditions at invitational meet.  We seem to attract "adventures."

Yesterday was no different.  The meet at this school had been cancelled once already because the course was under water.  We arrived to the meet and it was cold and rainy.  We were all wondering why the school didn't just cancel the meet a second time.   Everyone was freezing and wet.  The tent was leaking water all over the book bags.  The guy who was supposed to be scoring the meet was late, so we had to wait longer.  10+ kids had fallen in the mud during the middle school race; one had twisted her ankle.

There was much grumbling and complaining and discontent.  "Why are we even running this race?"

Race time!

One hill was so steep and slippery the runners had to use their hands to pull themselves up.  One girl lost a shoe. The same girl fell.  They slid in the mud.  Someone else fell.  Mud splashed up their backs.  Water soaked their shoes and blinded their eyes.  But they ran. 

Then the surprise came.

As each runner finished the race they were smiling!  "Best race ever, coach!"  They all laughed and compared battle stories.  They cheered on the rest of their teammates coming in.  For the last three runners they even made a tunnel.  I just laughed with them.  Everyone was so joyful.

Today at practice we read James 1:2-3

Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.

I think the joy came from persevering under trial.  In the beginning they were grumbling about the race.  The conditions were not ideal.  But they persevered, and in the end they matured as runners.

We are also running a race...a really long one called life.  The conditions are not always ideal, but maybe it is just another "adventure;" one that is meant for our good and God's glory.  Lord, let me see trials as your grace testing my faith to make me mature and complete, not lacking anything.