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Monday, September 20, 2010

Faith Healers


If you're looking for a controversial exchange on Faith Healing you haven't come to the right place....This is about Two Girls and a Squirrel.
This weekend my friend Faerl and I went on a bike ride. We both love animals--Faerl especially loves woodland creatures (bunnies, skunks, squirrels, gnomes). Well, we were cruising along at a very fast clip when a small squirrel ran out in front of us. I managed to swerve and avoid him, but he was in between our bikes and there was no way for Fae to avoid hitting him. She felt awful. I wasn't sure what to do. There was blood on the pavement and his little tail started to collapse and his eyes to close.

I kept encouraging Little Squirrel to die because the only thing worse than something dying is watching it suffer. It looked like he was on his way out; he even had a sound like a death rattle going on. It was pitiful. Eventually it became apparent that he was going to linger. We didn't know what to do. I considered picking him up and throwing him in the river so he'd drown quickly. I looked around for a man walking or riding who could send Little Squirrel to Happy Squirrel Land quickly. There was nothing to finish him off and I really, really, really didn't want to be the one who killed him. I decided to pick up Little Squirrel. Expecting to see guts and more blood underneath him, I was surprised that he looked rather well for something that had just got run over. And, his little mouth was so cute with the two long front teeth. I will admit to glancing around wondering if there was anyway to carry him back home. But, the pack on my bike isn't big enough.

So, I laid him down on the side of the road. The rattling became more obvious. I told Faerl we should pray for him. We did. His little eyes kept closing and he kept looking like he was on his way out. We spent a couple minutes asking (read: begging) God to touch our little squirrel. I noticed my bike was still in the middle of the bike path and I needed to move it. As I did, Little Squirrel lifted his head up to watch me. I think all three of us were incredibly excited. We kept stroking his little body and praying. And then, all of a sudden....he jumped up and took off like nothing had ever happened to him. Do I think we are Faith Healers? Umm, probably not. But, I do think that God touched him. Because it really mattered to us. Believe what you will...however, I'm believing that Little Squirrel should be named Lazarus.

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