THE DEFROSTIES
A friend of mine recently sent me this wonderful little tale: "A mother and baby camel were talking one day when the baby camel asked, "Mom why have I got these huge three toed feet?"
The mother replied, "Well, son, when we trek across the desert your toes will help you to stay on top of the soft sand". That seemed to satisfy the little guy for a while but you could see that the wheels were turning.
A few minutes later he was back with another question: "Mom, why have I got these great, long eyelashes?"
"They are there to keep the sand out of your eyes on the trips through the desert", she replied. Off he went again, obviously deep in thought. After a short while, the son returned once more and asked, "Mom, why have I got these great big humps on my back?"
The mother, now a little impatient with the boy replied, "They are there to help us store water for our long treks across the desert, so we can go without drinking for long periods."
"That's great mom, so we have huge feet to stop us from sinking in the desert sand, and long eyelashes to keep the sand from our eyes and these humps to store water, but mom, why in the world are we in the San Diego zoo?"
I love that story! Somehow the young camel understood that he wasn't equipped for his environs. There was something about how he was made and where he was living that just didn't fit. It's a smart camel, and an even smarter human, who knows they're fit for somewhere else!
Have you ever had one of those 'fit for somewhere else' moments? You know a moment, a thought, a feeling that something wasn't right. Maybe it's a feeling that there must be something more? These 'fit for somewhere else' moments come in all shapes and sizes, but they all have a similar effect; they make us uneasy, uncomfortable, dissatisfied. They create a hunger.
They're the mental and emotional equivalent of "the defrosties". What are "the defrosties"? The defrosties are those moments when you have the fridge door open and your mind in neutral. It's when you have a hankering for something, but you don't have the foggiest what that something is. Then, after an extended period of peering and prodding into the nether regions of the fridge, you finally close the door and leave the kitchen with your hunger no closer to being cured. Why? Because whatever it was that you were hungry for just wasn't where you were looking for it!
Whenever I think of 'fit for somewhere else' moments, I think of Abraham. He's the man; the expert on the subject. In Hebrews 11:8-10, God's Word tells us, "By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going. By faith he made his home in the promised land like a stranger in a foreign country; he lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise. For he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God."
To me this is one of the most powerful passages in the Bible. Whenever I read it, it gives me a case of the defrosties. It makes me hungry, not for the food in the fridge, but rather, for the city with the heavenly architect.
Abraham was a wealthy man, living in one of the most advanced, most comfortable cities in the then known world, a city that even had indoor plumbing and running water. Not only that, but he was surrounded by his family and friends. He had everything that most people spend their entire lives looking for, but he gave it all up because somehow, somewhere, it just didn't fit. With Abraham, his entire life was spent as a stranger in a foreign country. Ah, I love those words. Why? Because they tell me that Abraham wasn't going to feel satisfied until he found his place in the presence of the Lord God Almighty. Nothing else would quench that hunger, nothing else would scratch that itch. That's why Abraham followed God wherever God wanted him to go. Somehow, Abraham knew that he was a heavenly being created in the image of God and designed to bask in God's presence and glorify His Name. Abraham, in the lap of luxury, in the midst of the good life, realized that he was 'fit for somewhere else'. He gave up the unfamiliar surroundings of the zoo and started walking towards his eternal home. You gotta love that faith, that vision, that drive.
One of the worst things to see in this world is someone wise enough to realize that they just don't fit into this world, but then try to fit in anyway by trying to satisfy their hunger with worldly pleasure. Trying to satisfy our 'doesn't fit' uneasiness with wine, women and song, fills our hunger just as much as drinking salt water quenches our thirst. Still, that's not the worst thing that can happen to our soul. Do you want to know what the worst thing is? It's not even realizing that you have a hunger. It's not realizing that your soul is fitted for somewhere else. It's being content in the zoo. It's the life of a willing captive, too content to notice the world on the other side of the fence. Friends, there is more to life than feeding schedules and regular grooming! Sometimes we all have to be reminded of that fact!
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