GEORGE (life story)

A PIGEON IN A HOLE
(total surrender)

Whilst in a correctional institution, George witnessed a trapped pigeon being freed by other prisoners. George was just like that pigeon but was set free when he surrendered his life to God.

Sitting in a correctional institution wondering why

A week before I turned my life back over to God after backsliding as a Christian, I found myself in a correctional institution wondering why I had made such bad choices. Drugs and alcohol had got me into this mess in the first place and I could not see how I could possibly get out of it.

Freedom for a pigeon

I was sitting in a four by eight foot cell feeling sorry for myself when I heard shouts coming from the courtyard where prisoners were yelling and screaming. For a moment I thought, "Someone is getting beat up." I looked out the window to see what the ruckus was all about. I noticed that a pigeon was caught in the barbed wire and prisoners were trying to free it. After several minutes, shouts of joy were heard from the courtyard as the pigeon become untangled and flew away.

Tangled in the barb wire of sin

I realised I was just like that pigeon. No one except God could save me or get me out of the mess I was in. I was tangled in the barbed wire of sin, but out of reach of any human rescue attempt.

Surrender led to freedom from my addictions!

A week after this pigeon had been freed I surrendered to God. I asked for His protection and put my life completely in His hands. Thirteen days later, I was free of all my addictions and starting to follow the Christian path again.

Cleaning up the wreckage

For the first few months, my struggle to stay on course was difficult. I had to clean up the wreckage of the past and this put a lot of pressure on me. A solid Christian helped me through this time.

Getting out of the hole

I was standing in this hole trying to get out when along came my lawyer. He reached but could not grab my hand and said he was sorry and went on his way. An old friend who was not a Christian came past and kindly tried to get me out. Even with the longest branch in his hand, he could not reach me. Then, when I had lost all hope, a Christian friend came by the hole and jumped in and said, "We'll get out of this together." Ever since then I have been protected and corrected by the Christians in my life. "Therefore, as we have an opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers" (Galatians 6:10.)

Helping each other

Being a Christian does not exempt you from having struggles in this life. We need to ask God to protect us as we grow to be more like Jesus. Prayer and genuine faith in God helps us through difficult times. Our continued reliance upon God can keep us from backsliding into sin or feeling hopeless when we feel trapped. Christians who have a good foundation in the Lord have an obligation to help Christians who are struggling and reach out to those who are trapped or in pain.

Lord, help the powerless …

If you read the story of Asa king of Judah¹, you will learn of the victory Asa had when he relied on God. You also can read of the consequences Asa faced when he sought help from pagan nations. In Asa's battles, a huge army from Cush under Zerah advanced toward Mareshah and this army greatly outnumbering King Asa's army. Asa sent his troops to meet them, and the battle took place in the valley of Zephathah. Asa prayed to God, and the Cushites were defeated and chased as far as Gerar. Then Asa called to the Lord, "there is no one like you to help the powerless against the mighty. Help us, O Lord our God, for we rely on you, and in your name we have come up against this vast army. O Lord, you are our God; do not let man prevail against you" (2 Chronicles 14:11, NIV).

Defeating the advancing 'army of sin'

Asa trusted in the Lord and the result was victory. In the world we live in now, there is 'an army of sin' approaching us from all directions trying to lure us from our walk with God. We are to always 'seek help from the Lord' like Asa did in his battle with Zerah.

Totally surrender to God and freedom comes.
Pray to God and have faith in Him.
George

"Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom. He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak"

Love George

¹ 2 Chronicles Chapter 14,15, and 16

A TRUE STORY

I ran so fast away from my home. Up over the hill and down the tracks, miles and miles of ties¹, and each one that I passed, I prayed God, help me. The screaming faded as I wondered into the woods to my little stream, where eleven and twelve year-olds go to meet the silent safety of the stream and their dreams, fears and questions-questions that make them sad. I fear my shadow would scare the native trout who have seen a mammoth looking upon their home. The brook trout panic, as I do, as I run so far from home.

"The grass withers and the flowers fall, because the breath of the LORD blows on them. Surely the people are grass. The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God stands forever" (Isaiah 40:7-8).

I break a branch and see a cocoon half way down the stick as I swirl it in the water. It is trapped, like me, in a web of it's own prison, and I know if I try to free it, it will die. Poking the stick into the ground, I look around - I am an endangered species, a product of my environment. I look around, I am with the other endangered species-those who cannot defend themselves … Trout Lilies, Virginia Bluebells and the Bloodroot.

The rare Oconee Bells are silent, but God smiles. I sit and laugh, wondering if God hears a special tune that only He can hear. As the Bluebells play, the Lady Slippers dance, and the Wood Phlox keeps the beat of God's symphony, I sit there wondering how beautiful the music must be. I wonder if God ends His show with the Shooting Stars and Great Trilliums expanding from the onlookers of meadows blazing with wildflowers -swaying to the beat of God's nature, and the flowers that share the same-endangered, without voice as I sit by the stream and daydream.

I have to go. I will return because here is where I find serenity. Days passed until I returned to the stream. There was my stick, standing tall with the cocoon still firmly attached. I thought, "God, is my life going to be like this fragile cocoon? Am I going to be smothered by the things of this world, with no where to run, with no one to protect me?" I look at the cocoon. It's an ugly sack of woven growth hanging on a stick, which, by the way, I almost tossed in the brook a few days ago.

Please help me God, I am scared, frightened, afraid, fearful, nervous, worried, and anxious. What is to become of me? As I hung my head down low, crying because I hated where I lived, I hated the way people were. I did not want to end up in my own destruction of sinful desires and thoughts. As the thing inside the cocoon started to emerge I would see it was swollen in front, with big, false, orange and black eyespots. It had mottled green or brown sticklike chrysalis. Then it began to move. My eyes were mesmerized at what I saw. It tore its way out of the cocoon and slowly spread it's big yellow wings. It had black strips and black around the edges. I later learned it was an Eastern Tiger Swallowtail-but it did not matter then.

What happened next changed me forever. It opened up its wings and flew over to me. I had been crying to God with my head hung low, and as it approached it landed on my arm where my tears had dropped and began wiping them up with its wings. I was speechless, but I felt something wonderful was happening.

After the butterfly was done, it fluttered up, directly one foot from my eyes, and as I looked into the butterfly's eyes, I saw God's eyes staring at me: eyes can smile, and that day, they did. The butterfly I thought was trapped in despair, flew up to me and cleaned my tears, Then it flew to each of the endangered flowers, where they began to sing-except this time I could hear the music. It was nothing like I had ever heard before, and I knew; only Heaven could make miracles happen.

And it is today, many years later, miracles still happen, and God takes the endangered and transforms them into the beauty of His image for others to see the light, and find the eternal salvation that is freely given. God has prepared a place in heaven for all who believe in Him. They will see wonders beyond their belief, and colors of beauty that shine through our hearts and soul-maybe from a butterfly sent from God.

¹ Railroad ties are what the tracks are laid on.

I want to know God

© 2005 Pete Order a copy of this poster