Ferret of Faith? Are you kidding, Abba?

God has a very rich sense of humor and He knows us better than we will ever know ourselves. I would NEVER in my entire understanding of myself EVER have chosen a ferret to personify me! Maybe an over friendly dog or a gregarious chipmunk or squirrel would have crossed my mind, but a ferret…. No way! So, how did the idea of a ferret pop up in my imagination?

Flash back to 2011 and the upcoming church picnic. I was asked to teach the adult Sunday School class that morning. The audience would be a conglomeration of folks of all ages, from all over the church who come together once a year . So, it would be like teaching a basket of speckled pups, no two are the same.  Of course, it was a great opportunity to reach people who never attended a Sunday School class before, but it was also a great opportunity for me to give those who did have a regular class a fresh perspective on studying The Word.

OMG! What a challenge!  Fortunately,  I had a couple of months to make a plan.  I wanted it to be solid but  unique, not an ordinary lesson.   My desire was for all of them to see that getting into God’s Word was really a grand adventure…following a path with cool treasures to be found along the way,  wisdom, knowledge and uncovered truths… one”AHA” after another!

Now, I am a teacher by trade so I know some cool tricks to get kids involved in learning. Over the years I discovered a lot about our magnificent brains and the gift of having an IMAGE-ination.  When when we can visualize something, it becomes real to us.  By imagining something, we have  vicarious experiences that stick in our minds as if they are real. For example, if I say “Rocking Chair”, do you visualize the typed word or do you see a rocking chair in your mind?  Exactly!  And I am sure the chair you visualized was one you are familiar with.  That bit of knowledge led me to think in terms of teaching a Bible lesson using ideas easily visualized.

Anyway, I wanted people to visualize the adventure. In my mind I could see myself walking on the beach (I love the beach!!! – ferret happy dance! oops! Sorry, back to the topic). In my mind I was walking on the beach with a metal detector looking for treasure. I liked it! I would go with that, bring a metal detector and some metal objects to find… but… there was a nagging in the back of my mind. Something wasn’t right. As I continued to chew on it, the phrase “ferret of faith” kept repeating itself in my head. A ferret? Really? What is scriptural about a ferret?  (For that matter, what is scriptural about a metal detector?)  I got it, Abba!

Oh well, so, what did I know about ferrets?  And in a blast from the past,  a long buried memory popped into my head.  When I lived in Dothan, Alabama in the early 70s, a nuclear power plant was being built and when the duct work was done, it had to be totally dust free before they sealed the system.   So they put big specialized brushes on the tails of ferrets and sent them through the ducts to clean them. Cool, huh?  God gifted these cute little creatures with the desire to explore, to run through tunnels without fear, not knowing what was  around the next bend.  And because of that gift, they did for hundreds of thousands of people what they couldn’t do for themselves.  Their exploits in those ducts insured that millions of people, for years to come, would have LIGHT!  Do you think God was showing me a parallel here?

I began to read everything I could find on ferrets from pet owner manuals to scientific articles to build an image in my mind of exactly what a ferret is like. I even visited a friend to meet her adorable little fuzz balls. As I studied I dove into article after article connecting dots and picking up pieces of understanding that eventually came together in my imagination as a picture of a ferret. Ahhhh!   Before I knew it, I was laughing out loud!  I realized that in my own way, I am, instinctively, curious, running down one trail after another to find answers. I think Abba was laughing too as I began to figure it out…. I  AM a ferret of faith! LOL…Who knew????

So, this is what I “ferreted out” about ferrets:  They are lively, gregarious animals with a strong sense of adventure. They are curious investigators, inquisitive and persistent in satisfying that need to know more. They are master problem solvers, finding creative ways to get from one place to another in order to investigate something new and interesting. (Often getting themselves into trouble in the process) They are fearless in exploring new things and seeking out the unknown. They love the freedom to explore and are in constant need of variety and adventure. (Whoa! So that’s why, for me, a daily devotional and a couple of scriptures in the morning are as exciting as a watching water boil!  No Wonder!)

They enjoy playing and when they are happy they make clucking sounds called“dooking” (I am a “whooper”… woop, woop …. Woohoo … Woopie!). When they get excited they do a little dance called a “war dance”. It is a haphazard series of little sideways hops done in an erratic fashion. They are awkward in the dance and sometimes bump into things and fall over whatever is in their way. It is a display of joy and happiness, usually because of discovering something new. My dance is more like “twist and shout” or  I groove  in my chair dancing on the inside, using my arms and shoulders, bobbing my head from side to side “doin’ my celebration dance”. All that to say, I get carried away with excitement when I find something new in the Word!

I am not saying I am totally like a ferret. I am definitely not long and lean, nor do I sport a fur coat (although I’d love to have one for winter). But I certainly have the nature and personality of one. When I open my Bible I am always excited about the adventure the Holy Spirit plans for me. I run down familiar trails and take those interesting little side trails through lexicons, Greek/Hebrew dictionaries, commentaries,  science books, math books, history books and the like. I love finding those connecting passages between the Old and New Testaments and I am always amazed and excited when I “ferret” out another beautiful truth that God has hidden in His Word for those who diligently seek Him. With every new treasure I find, my understanding broadens and I find new truths on old paths. Then the Word changes in its entirety again with every new revelation because I see it with new eyes and a new perspective! The thrill of each new find pushes me to explore for more of the depths of God, which are, of course, unfathomable!

Fast forward to the present….Question!   Why on God’s green earth  a blog? I never, ever thought of a blog! But God has sort of nagged me in a loving way for 5 years now, about writing down what I find to share with others and He kept bringing “Ferret of Faith” to my mind. At first I thought I would write a book….  Nah! Not a ferret thing… you can’t add cool new adventures to a book with an ending! So I just sat on it until about a month ago. The nagging got much stronger to the point that I was sort of squirming, and so I asked Abba to “give me a sign” about what He wanted me to do. In a week’s time, 3 different people asked me about writing a blog… can you believe it? Well, that was out of the question! I have a serious mental disorder –TBD – technology brain deficiency! So I talked it over with Abba again and I told Him if he wanted me to blog, he would have to SEND someone to help me set it up and to teach me what I needed to know. I put the thought on the back burner thinking God wouldn’t move on it any time soon.  I never dreamed that He was so adamant about this blog that He would actually do it!

OK, you have to know God never does things in a regular way… right? The very same week I was feeling petulant about politics and I posted a “rant” on Facebook. A dear friend replied “you should write a blog”…. OMG! That was the 4th person in a week! Then, to make it  even weirder,  under my friend’s reply, another good friend who I hadn’t seen in a couple of years  replied to her reply (All you Facebookers will appreciate the complication here and the depths God will go to in order to get my attention!)  HE replied to HER reply on MY post that  he would help me set up a site and get me started!  Yup!  In a week’s time, he had 4 people suggest I write a blog and then he SENT help.   Can you believe it? I shouted UNCLE! Messaged my tech “angel” and, as they say, the rest is history! Here I am dancing in my chair and excited about getting started on a new adventure…blogging, Here I come!!!!!!