Can You Control the Croc?

Here in the west there are tragedies we've come to expect as normal. Every year Oregon Rivers claim a few swimmers when the temperature starts rising, thousands of acres in southern California go up in flames, and homes slide into the sea. Most of these tragedies are caused by our own stubbornness or carelessness. Somehow we think the dark and ugly might claim someone else, but not us.

Have you seen the various clips on America's Funniest Videos where people try to carefully walk on rocks in a stream? They soon quickly fall into the water. I laugh, assuming they were not hurt and remembering when a younger Rick tried the same. It always looked so simple, but moss or quickly flowing water over even flat rocks can be difficult to safely navigate. Usually I fell, embarrassed, wet and sometimes muddy, but mostly OK.

I love the snow. It makes the most modest of landscapes truly beautiful, but sometimes where there is snow, there is ice. Occasionally AMF show clips of people falling on ice. I don't like these. They are painful reminders of how quickly and unexpectedly, what we call black ice in Portland can knock you helpless to the ground. You can only experience, not imagine, what it feels like to go down so quickly with your thermos of coffee between you and the ground. After that my ribs were tender and painful for quite some time. What makes black ice so treacherous is its invisibility. You can suddenly find yourself kissing the hard pavement of what seemed like a dry, safe parking lot.

It seems like every year we watch videos of cars in slow motion banging into one another. Our local News stations set up their equipment to video tape these very common fender benders. They take place on the same hills well known for their treachery. Instead of setting up their cameras to video these costly accidents, why don't they stop people, but, the News comes first, people second.

It's like those nature shows where the croc eats the unsuspecting prey. They knew the croc was there so they set up their equipment to make sure we get the best video possible. We don't want to do anything to upset the delicate balance of nature by depriving the croc of dinner. Then why do we try to cheat death by hooking ourselves up to machines? If we are just another animal, as many say, the derivative of some ancient ancestor, some missing link yet to be found, why waste all this money trying to preserve, lengthen someone's life? Imagine the money we could save on health care, if we simply video-taped a person's last moments? After all, are we any better than the croc's dinner?

Maybe it is coming to that. Money is the plumb line that measures whether or not something will be done. I know the particular prey of that particular croc could have been saved by a few, well placed dollars, but then we wouldn't have the struggle between life and death preserved for us forever. A few well placed dollars and maybe my friend with advanced MS could get the bone marrow treatment she needs.

We foolishly try to walk on step like rocks across a stream, swim or boat without a life preserver, build our homes too close to the ocean because we love the salt air, and live on hills when we know winter will come calling again. These are but a few examples of a posture and an attitude, something inherent in our nature that demands we challenge the vicissitudes of life.

Regardless of your philosophy or theology, sooner or later the inevitable comes to one and all, whether we are discerning and careful, or pregnant with our own poorly placed bravado.

Why do we think we are in control of our life? Why are we impatient, often worse, when our attempts to control others fail? Even if we are careful to avoid foolishness, there are black iced parking lots where too quickly we may find ourselves on our back. When that happens will the cameras roll? Will we be a short segment on TV where some laugh and some say too bad? Maybe we're only a meal for some hungry croc?

You would think God would grow weary of us. I'm sure our tiresome ways intensely displease. In Jer 7:16 and also in verses 11 and 12 in Jer 14, God tells Jeremiah to stop praying for Judah and its people. They had placed themselves beyond the reach of prayer. They built their houses too close to the sea, they bought houses on hills with steep driveways, ... you get the picture.

Jeremiah stands in the gap and identifies with the people. After all, wouldn't you like to live on a cliff overlooking the sea? I would love to live in a high place where I could watch the morning fog roll across the valley in the morning, and see the twinkling city lights at night.

Maybe you do a lot of things right. Maybe you go to church every Sunday, read your Bible, tithe, and build your home where it is safe. Maybe everyone in your family wears a life preserver when you go to the river. Can religion or lack of religion remove the black ice from your future? Does it mean some croc, some disease, some personal failure will not claim you for its prey?

If we insulate ourselves from the pain and suffering of others than the Bible I read declares God's judgment will find us, black ice and crocs or not.

We are not called to wag our fingers and criticize. We are called to love, to identify with the pain and suffering of others. Maturity is more than staring boldly into the face of the reality we often deny. It is more than telling someone what they should have done. It is not about what they may or may not have done wrong. It is about what you and I will do with their pain and suffering. Maturity acts, responds and intercedes.

Jeremiah did not allow his religion or circumstances to separate him from the people. He identified with their suffering and it became his own. This is why God chose Jeremiah and this is why God chose us.