Fish Community.

I have a tank of fish. Actually, two tanks of fish, right now. They call them mouthbrooders, which means that when they spawn, the female holds and tumbles the fertilized eggs in her modified throat pouch, which expands to protect the eggs until they are free swimming babies (also referred to as "fry").

I have watched their mating rituals, their pregnancy cycles ("holding"), their birthing cycle and their growing cycle. The cycle of life.

This is the first time I've done something to help protect their birthing cycle, as the other fish in the tank would feed off the babies if left unprotected. We moved two of the "holding" females into a birthing tank. While the females are holding, they fast. They eat nothing for nearly a month. She sometimes will even expand her gills, which make them appear to be inflamed and swollen, to make more room for her babies.

It seemed the first due female was holding onto her fry extra long, sacrificing her comfort and her nutrition for them. Today, however, she birthed her babies.

The fry are so small, it's hard to believe that something that small is a living being in God's kingdom. The babies behaviour is so very like we are with our heavenly father. The clamor to get outside of her mouth, outside of the protection. They bounce around on the bottom of the tank, following their momma around, but never quite strong enough to get up to her level, to get back in her mouth when something (likely me feeding them) scares them.

Yet, the good momma that she is, she recognizes their fear and goes down, swooping them up in her mouth, holding them, coddling them until they feel safe again. Safe enough to go face their big, scary world. Their world that is a five gallon tank. Yet how huge that must seem to them.

Isn't that the way we are? Strong enough to go through the day on our own, yet when something goes bump in the night, we clamor to God. We can't get up to His level on our own, we need His comfort, His love, His hands, to hold us and coddle us. We need His protection. The very thing that is scaring us is likely the one thing we need the most. We can't see that, though. All we see is our little five gallon tank of life.

God asks us to trust him. Because he can see the five gallon tank, what's outside of that tank and even beyond our tank. He knows what new fish will be put in our tank, he knows when the rocks will be moved around and the adjustments we'll need to make. He knows when our feeding time and growth time will occur. He even knows when we'll be moved out of our little tank into a bigger, growing tank.

My fish trust me, although, perhaps they shouldn't because I don't know what I'm doing. So why do I have such a hard time trusting God, when he knows precisely what He's doing?

Forgiveness.

I wonder how many of us have ever really thought about what forgiveness entails. My church recently, as part of a four part series, did a message about forgiveness. The message started off with a five question quiz.

Each question is either true or false:

1. A person should not be forgiven until he asks for it.

T or F

2. Forgiving includes minimizing the offense and the pain caused.

T or F

3. Forgiveness includes restoring trust and reuniting a relationship.

T or F

4. You haven't really forgiven until you've forgotten the offense.

T or F

5. When I see someone hurt, it is my duty to forgive the offender.

T or F

As a highlight of the service, Steve Saint (son of Nate Saint) and Mincaye (tribe member) were speaking. Mission Aviation Fellowship had also allowed them to bring along what had been salvaged of Steve's dad's airplane. It was 50 years ago this month that Steve Saint learned his dad wouldn't be coming home again. The new movie, End of the Spear is scheduled to be released later this month. (Pictures from the service...)

I've tried to digest what the service meant to me. It was so powerful and so real, to see Steve and Mincaye standing side-by-side and to realize that Mincaye's hands, that were so lovingly reaching out to Steve were the very hands that shed his father's blood. Yet, there he stood, in front of thousands of "foreigners" giving his testimony, in his native language, when 50 years ago he was spearing someone to death. Forgiven. He was forgiven. His smile and joy in life attested to that.

Mincaye was asked to say a prayer, which he did in his native language, with Steve Saint providing translation. Instead of closing my eyes, I watched him. His voice was kind of nasally, perhaps because the language he speaks requires lots of nasal tones. His eyes were scrunched closed, as tight as they could be. His face spoke of his emotions toward his God, the God who guides him (and us) on our trails as we go to His place. His voice rose and fell with the emotions that he was feeling. His hands moved as he told God his words, conveying story through his movements. And as he prayed, it stripped all the rhetoric, wrapping and bows away and left his faith naked and bare. It was a prayer that anyone who has faith and love for our Creator could pray. It was, perhaps, the most real prayer I've ever heard. And I've heard a lot of prayers. It made me crave that in my relationship with God. It inspired me. It brought me to tears. It brought those around me to tears. It was real. We are forgiven.

If the link works, you can watch the service yourself. Form your own opinions.

Link

You can bet, I'll be at the movie theaters watching the movie, End of the Spear, when it comes out this Friday.

P.S. In case you were wondering, the answers to all of the questions in the quiz listed above are false.