Of Snapping Turtles and Good Samaritans

*The following is an expanded version of the children's message for this morning.

In our family, we kind of have a thing with turtles and tortoises--this is mostly through my brother and my mom.  My mom would send my brothers out into the road to rescue snapping turtles that were in danger of being hit by cars.  She herself raised turtles in aquariums as a kid.  Some of this compassion rubbed off on my brother, who rescued two African tortoises while in college, and who will likely outlive him (they have quite the setup in his basement and are growing steadily).

I like most turtles and tortoises, but I don’t like snapping turtles.  In fact, I’m afraid of them.  After all, their jaws are big enough to take off your finger.  In my adult life, I’ve not had to contend with them at all--until a few weeks ago, when, coming home from the church office, I realized one was in the other lane on Netherwood Road (which is kind of busy that time of day).  I could see that the turtle was in danger.  However, I was still quite afraid of what might happen if I stopped to get him off the road.  In fact, God and I had to have a little conversation about whether I was going to help the turtle or just keep going, and I finally decided that I’d turn the car around and go back and help, but God better not let that turtle bite me in the process.

All this transpired over only a few minutes, but when I got back to the place where the turtle was, I discovered he was already gone.  He couldn’t have made it on his own.  What happened is that somebody else coming along had already stopped their car and rescued the turtle, putting him safely back in the ditch.  I was grateful, both for the turtle’s safety, and sort of secretly, because I didn’t have to be the one to rescue him.

In the story of the Good Samaritan, a priest and a Levite both see the man who was beaten, robbed, and left for dead at the side of the road--and they just keep on going.  I wonder if some of these thoughts were going through the minds of the folks who didn’t stop to help the man.  Were they afraid of being injured?  Or perhaps of getting dirty?  Or perhaps they just didn’t want to get involved and hoped someone else would take care of the problem?  I do kind of understand those feelings after all...

Sometimes, though, we are called upon to help someone when we’d rather not.  Perhaps they are dirty or upset or angry.  Perhaps we feel afraid.  Perhaps we’re unsure what to do.  These are all good times to ask for God’s help in deciding what to do, and if we possibly can help someone else, then we should try to do so.  We should practice good sense and safety when we’re helping others, and we can also ask for help from others when the job is too big for ourselves alone.  Once the Good Samaritan offered the ‘first aid’ which he could, he brought the man to a place where he could be given proper care until he had fully healed from his injuries.

God is always with us, in any situation, even when we’re afraid.  With God’s help, we can share God’s love with others and help them in their times of need.  Thanks be to God!