Ordinary Times, Extraordinary Lessons
By Pamalia Culvern
Pamalia continues to thrive in Madison, Georgia. She writes, designs and markets themed “Treasure Blocks”, and upon graduation from a counseling course through Exchanged Life Ministries, she hopes to continue her work with teens and the elderly.

It’s ordinarily around 6:30pm that I make my daily routine trek down to the large river rocks that serve as a natural stairway to our lush pond. The quiet still seems eons away from the cares of the day. Underneath a sea of green leaves from the populous hardwoods, there is a kind of serenity that abounds. It’s cool in the shadows of the large trees and the breeze is captivating like soft breaths from unseen angels. Balancing a large round wooden bowl full of dog food, I glance to see lots of floating turtles near the docks edge patiently awaiting my arrival. All those beady little eyeballs checking my every step move hungrily anticipating their food. I cluck my tongue to call any latecomers announcing that dinner is about to be served.

I never thought about turtles having personalities, but some of them are quite shy, hanging back a bit while others are playful and bold. It was my girlfriend, Cat, who told me that turtles enjoy dog food. I’d been fascinated watching them line up on a floating log, counting as many as fourteen on it at one time. They seem to love to sun, but would jump off as I approached the pond. Food was an ingenious idea to hopefully win their trust. It worked like a charm and after a few weeks, I was feeding as many as 30 turtles.

Do you recall the movie “Field of Dreams”? It was one of those heartfelt movies that caused men everywhere to well up with tears. Some perhaps thinking about what might have been with their fathers, others responding to fond memories about their dads. In the premise of the movie, if they built a baseball field, the spirits of players long gone would come to play on it. It was all quite magical as long lost families reunited. We are all promised a reunion like that again one day and it will be the reunion to beat all reunions. I was reminded about my little turtle friends. If I feed them, they will come. And they do. Yet are we not the same?

Many of the followers of Jesus ate from the bread He miraculously provided for them from the fishes and the loaves. Christ, however, spoke of bread from heaven that would bring life to the world. He, of course, is that Bread. Have you ever heard a message that really ministered to your soul, a message that seemed to spark a life-defining moment that was meant just for you? Perhaps it answered some questions you’d wondered about. Those times are golden treasures that can become stepping-stones in our life lessons learned here on this earth while enjoying our journey home to our Father.

Sam, my husband, recently ordered a book that discusses the strange silence of scriptures in a lot of the churches today. It was an eye-awakening experience to read how more and more of our sermons today are more or less teaching us how to become better folks. They may use 2-3 scripture references from different books, often taken out of context from the original subject matter. In some of my home study time I learned the author of Hebrews tells us that we will move on from the elementary teachings of Christ including baptisms, laying on of hands, faith towards God, repentance from dead works, and eternal judgment. I found it ironic that my church had focused on those topics for as long as I could remember. As you keep reading, the author says that we will move on from those elementary teachings IF God allows it, or if He wills it.

I am so very thankful God saw fit to take Sam and me into the wilderness for the past seven years. I had not realized that my own church had become my idol. God ingeniously set up a series of circumstances to wake us up out of the religious sleep of routine that we’d fallen into. Paul, after being blinded on the road to Damascus, was sent into the desert and taught one on one by the Resurrected Christ. Can you imagine? God didn’t send Paul to the church or to the disciples to learn. No, Paul was taught by the Resurrected Christ Himself. What a blessing that must have been! When Christ ascended, He promised us that He would send the Holy Spirit to lead us into all truth. The Bible tells us if you seek, you will find Him, knock and the door will be open to you. Christ said that He is the bread of life.

Christ is irresistible and to Him we will all come eventually. Christ prophesied His own death saying, “If I be lifted up, I will draw ALL men unto Me.” And our Father promises us that every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. If you are feeling displaced or monotonous, be joyful as you could be embarking on God’s trail to lead you to your life, Bread, which is the Christ. Don’t limit God, as God is everywhere. He is the way to see the truth. As truth feeds us, we will all come home.

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