Saturday, September 1, 2012

Taking a risk - to find out what's on the other side

Coming home from Williamsburg on Thursday, I saw the most amazing thing on US58.  Right there on the dashed line between the two west-bound lanes was a turtle, head stuck WAAAAY out, crossing the road.  All I could do was pray that he'd both make it across the rest of the west-bound lanes, and then across the median and across the east-bound lanes as well.

I couldn't help but be amazed.  I almost stopped and moved him, but then sometimes those turtles don't like being moved.  I also realized that I was as much at risk of an 18-wheeler as he was.

But I was thinking about that turtle - all the way home and often since.  I know a turtle doesn't have courage, as you and I do, but what does it take for a creature which prefers woods to be called to move across a hot patch of asphalt, with no idea of what might be next?

What I kept thinking was that sometimes we have to be the turtles, and take that first step in faith and hope, knowing that there are cars, trucks, and the occasional predator bird just waiting for us.

But what's also waiting for us is what is on the other side of the road - and we'll never know what it might be unless we take the first step.

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