September 16, 2002
CYBERCOLUMN:
Tumbling turtles
___By John Duncan
___I am sitting here the old tree oak musing about the day the world came tumbling down. I think of the horror, the pain and the questions. Country singer Alan Jackson wrote a song about it: "Where were you when the world stopped turning on that September day?" Businesswoman Sara Strunk was there and lived to tell about it with questions like "Why?" and "What's next?" Todd Beamer entered heaven's glory because of it. We look at life through a different window now.
___Dr. Seussonce wrote about tumbling turtles in "Yertle the Turtle." He told the story of a turtle on the "faraway island of Sala-ma-sond, Yertle the Turtle was king of the pond."
John Duncan
___Yertle was the turtle on top of the heap, turtle upon turtle stacked, with Yertle at the top. Yertle once proclaimed, "I'm Yertle the Turtle, oh marvelous me, For I am the ruler of all that I see!" Yertle stayed on top of the other turtles until the turtle at the bottom of the heap, Mack, burped. The burp sent Yertle tumbling down and into the mud with a "plunk." I am not suggesting that our great nation has been prideful or "on top of the heap," but that Sept. 11, 2001, sent all of our worlds tumbling down with a "plunk." Sept. 11, 2001, was the day the world went "plunk."
___ Where do people turn when the world comes "plunk"? We turn to God. Of course, in some circles, God appears as a debatable issue. The wall bangers cry foul, "One nation under God?" The cautious warn, "Be careful not to pray in public places such as schools much or to mention the Jesus thing on government property." The Satanists spray-paint churches with words, "We hate God." Hate makes no friends. Hate knows no limits. Hate works long hours plotting revenge. Hate annihilates. Witness New York. Pray tell, though, the day the world went plunk, prayer to the Almighty resurfaced amid flames and smoke streams of terror. Even on government property, politicians gathered in unity to sing, "God bless America." And, come to think of it, God still blesses America. Have you thanked God for his blessing lately?
___ The day the world came tumbling down like turtles still reminds me of one certainty about the uncertainty in our world surrounding Sept. 11, 2001. I find myself thinking of Yertle the Turtle lying in the mud. The day the world stopped turning reminds me really of one simple truth: Humanity has fallen from grace and finds itself stained with sin. The poet Burns called it "man's inhumanity to man." John Calvin called destruction one of life's surest sources when people obey only themselves. Theologians named it original sin. Sin at its best distorts life and at its worst destroys life.
___ So, what about the world? Where do we turn in a world where all the turtles tumble into mud? Martin Luther, early in his ministry, tried to reform people. "You're too inexperienced to reform rascals," his friends declared. Luther learned of God's merciful and gracious work in people to reform them through the combination of gospel truth and the Holy Spirit's empowered grace. Luther applauded the person who accepted God's trilogy of genuine spiritual reform—repentance, faith and forgiveness of sins. Luther confessed that the Apostle Paul offered a mercy seat for the mudders in sin (Romans 3:25). He said, "It will serve as a strong protection and defense for me. My heart and conscience will crawl under it and be safe." God, after all, still has a way of reforming rascal sinners and washing mud-stained tumblers with the wonder of his grace. All Christ asks us to do is to crawl under his mercy seat.
___ So here I am, sitting under the old oak tree. A light mist of rain falls across my face. In the distance, a real-live turtle eases through lake waters. And, of course, Dr. Seuss enlivens the world with talk of tumbling turtles. And on Sept. 11, 2001, the world went plunk. Fierce warriors went to great lengths to spread hate. Jesus went to great lengths to spread love. And here I am, sitting in the mud, leaning to crawl under God's mercy seat, albeit yet praying in a world of tumbling turtles and mud-stained sinners for all people everywhere to crawl under his mercy seat to experience the safety of God's mercy and grace.
___John Duncan is pastor of Lakeside Baptist Church in Granbury, Texas, and the writer of numerous articles in various journals and magazines.
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