Tuesday, January 03, 2006
Hereford Nightmare
When a dream comes this clearly out of nowhere, a person should pay attention. The occurrence might have to do with our new Pray for America calendar from Coral Ridge Ministries. The prayer for January is for our nation to become a culture for life again. Or maybe because I heard the rerun of the Terri Schiavo experience of forced death on Truths That Transform last week.
It was a Hereford heifer, with the beautiful white face. I thought it was dead, lying there, not moving. 'The man' removed something from its throat, reaching through the neck, so quick and bloodless, taking...done. And then, vividly, I saw the movement, the breathing, the writhing right off the table; horror caught my breath and I saw its white face become even more pale as it curled up, taking its last breath, and died. I don't know...in the world of dreams, maybe the heifer had become a lamb, it was so white.
And I screamed, "WE WILL NEVER DO THIS AGAIN!" As I relived each frame, the animal's sweet face, the vision of life in its windows we call eyes, the senselessness of its struggle for life, or death, whichever could relieve it. I'm not a rancher and can't tell you when I have last thought about cows. I'm not especially fond of them. But I will never forget that white face.
God had something to say about His covenant people, His newly formed nation:
"They have quickly turned aside from the way which I commanded them." Deuteronomy 9:12
"But you have departed from the way; you have caused many to stumble at the law..." Malachi 2:8
"They turned quickly from the way in which their fathers walked, in obeying the commandments of the Lord; they did not do so." Judges 2:17
'Quickly' is the adverb repeated over and over. It describes a sudden betrayal. Isn't that how it happened for us? So quickly did we turn that scarce was the person who noticed and even more rare, anyone who knew what to do. Even now, we hear, we pray, we have nightmares.
Please, let us not do that again!
It was a Hereford heifer, with the beautiful white face. I thought it was dead, lying there, not moving. 'The man' removed something from its throat, reaching through the neck, so quick and bloodless, taking...done. And then, vividly, I saw the movement, the breathing, the writhing right off the table; horror caught my breath and I saw its white face become even more pale as it curled up, taking its last breath, and died. I don't know...in the world of dreams, maybe the heifer had become a lamb, it was so white.
And I screamed, "WE WILL NEVER DO THIS AGAIN!" As I relived each frame, the animal's sweet face, the vision of life in its windows we call eyes, the senselessness of its struggle for life, or death, whichever could relieve it. I'm not a rancher and can't tell you when I have last thought about cows. I'm not especially fond of them. But I will never forget that white face.
God had something to say about His covenant people, His newly formed nation:
"They have quickly turned aside from the way which I commanded them." Deuteronomy 9:12
"But you have departed from the way; you have caused many to stumble at the law..." Malachi 2:8
"They turned quickly from the way in which their fathers walked, in obeying the commandments of the Lord; they did not do so." Judges 2:17
'Quickly' is the adverb repeated over and over. It describes a sudden betrayal. Isn't that how it happened for us? So quickly did we turn that scarce was the person who noticed and even more rare, anyone who knew what to do. Even now, we hear, we pray, we have nightmares.
Please, let us not do that again!
