There is no one like the God of Israel. He rides across the heavens to help you, across the skies in majestic splendor. The eternal God is your refuge, and his everlasting arms are under you. Deuteronomy 33: 26 - 27a

Outside the Kettle

    From where he stood, it was not a comforting sight. Recently, my husband, Mark, who doesn't do heights unless he absolutely has to, was up on the extension ladder leaned against our old gambrel barn. Both he and the ladder were extended to their limits. He wouldn't have been up there at all except for the fact that a hayloft door and a couple of nearby boards had popped their fasteners, let go, and fallen to the ground, leaving gaps. Mark was up there trying to fill in the gaps. (I just noticed that "gaps" and "gasp" contain the same letters. I'm sure that's not a coincidence.) Anyway, up near the peak of the barn, Mark was gripping the ladder and trying to figure out how he was going to let go long enough to both hold the board, which he'd rigged to a rope to pull up after him, and swing the hammer. It was then he noticed he wasn't alone.

    Above him, six vultures circled. And continued circling.

    Needless to say, their message seemed clear, "Go ahead, make your mistake. We'll wait."

    Scientists say that vultures soar for the sake of joy, though I don't know how anyone figured that out. Interviews? Vulture satisfaction surveys? Scientists also say that a group of vultures in flight is called a kettle. Mark, suspended up there, was in hot water and he knew it.

    We'll leave him there for just a moment to talk about something else.

    For several years now I've read The One Year Bible. Daily entries contain readings from the Old Testament, New Testament, Psalms, and Proverbs. I often find the echoes between the Old and New Testament passages astonishing. One recent day's reading included these two entries:

In the Old Testament passage we're reading near the end of Moses' life at the time the Lord told him:

But go up to Pisgah Peak and look over the land in every direction. Take a good look, but you may not cross the Jordan River. Instead, commission Joshua and encourage and strengthen him, for he will lead the people across the Jordan (Deuteronomy 3: 27-28a).

In the New Testament passage, we read that Jesus, too, went up on a mountain and then  chose those who would carry on his ministry:

One day soon afterward Jesus went up on a mountain to pray and he prayed to God all night. At daybreak he called together all of his disciples and chose twelve of them to be apostles (Luke 6:12-13).

    Now wait, why have you left poor Mark suspended up there on that ladder to tell me this, you may be asking. Yes, the parallels in these passages are rich with meaning, but what do they have to do with a guy being stuck up there in a kettle of vultures?

    It's the first few words of the Luke passage I want to focus on here. Though hundreds of years passed between the events of Moses' life and the events of Jesus' life, the opening words of the Luke passage, "One day soon afterward," can be read as true and in context from God's point of view. Looking at it from His point of view, we can go straight from Deuteronomy to the gospel of Luke without a gap.

    God is outside of time.

    Though we as humans are suspended on the ladder of time with mortality circling close, and the time between the earthly lives of Moses and Jesus seems long to us, it's no time at all to God. Literally.

    I find great comfort in that.

    I'm happy to report that, in time, Mark nailed the boards back in place and made his way down from the ladder without mishap. The vultures moved on. Someday, we won't have to worry about things like gaps and ladders and vultures; time and mortality will no longer have a say. Isn't that a gasp-worthy thought? Sometimes it helps to think outside the kettle.

Daye Phillippo

April 2016