Look out There

I have a friend named Turtle. Turtle is in fact a turtle. I don't keep him in an aquarium. I don't keep Turtle at all. He lives in a pond a half mile from my house, where he does many turtle-ish things. I only ever see him if it is sunny outside. There is a log in the middle of the pond where he will sun himself, looking like a large smooth stone. Sometimes he shares the log with ducks, but they aren't important for today's story.Yesterday I saw Turtle doing something brand new. Swimming.I knew he must be able to do this thing. It's just, I've never seen him move at all, let alone through the water. He was slowly paddling toward the log, neck stretched out and feet working one at a time. I stopped and watched for several minutes. (I said he swam slowly.)I get to see a lot of cool things on this trail. It winds by a couple ponds, alongside a river, and through a rolling field. Five minutes before seeing this slow swimming turtle, I had watched an osprey take off thirty feet from me and attack the water in an unfruitful fishing attempt. But for some reason there was something far more fascinating about a silly, slow turtle plodding through water.After a few minutes, a family rode toward me on bicycle. Either because they could tell I was seeing something, or just because they needed a break, they slowed down. I couldn't help myself. Looking toward the smallest in the family, I pointed toward Turtle. "If you look out there, right in the middle, you can see a turtle taking a swim." She couldn't see him at first, but with a little help from her mom, she spotted my friend.Her whole face was a part of the reaction. No words, just the honest wonder of a child. I continued my walk, allowing the family to enjoy this moment together. But I could not stop the smile on my face. I felt privileged to have the opportunity to simply point the way toward something special.I think this must have been something like what Philip experienced as he talked to Nathaniel. Philip had met Jesus and he knew he was witnessing something special. Philip finds Nathaniel as he's relaxing under a tree. Giving him an account of his day, Nathaniel can't see it.

"Can anything good come out of Nazareth?"

Philip replies with the simplest evangelistic call in scripture:

"Come and see."

Nathaniel meets Jesus and finds himself struck with the wonder of a child seeing a turtle swimming in a pond. After just a few words, he is ready to declare him the Son of God and the King of Israel. Jesus simply smiles and says, "You ain't seen nothing yet." (New Shaun Version)Do I see Jesus with the same joy as Philip? Does the spark in my heart compel me to run to others to tell them what I've found? Even when I don't have the answers, to simply point in the right direction and say, "Come and see!"Over time, we who have been in the faith a long time allow the joy to dull to a quiet commitment. Not the worst thing. But oh for a heart that beat with the joy of one experiencing grace for the first time. The more I engage God's word with a heart to see my sin and his grace, the more I see that newness return and my heart begins to overflow once more.I've gotta go find Nathaniel and tell him about that turtle.