“Faith, Hope and Love Remain”

 

Wandering from Home

At a recent neighborhood plant exchange, I met a very unusual neighbor…but more about that in a few paragraphs! Al and I were warmly greeted by the host of the event when we showed up at his home around 9:00 a.m. We brought two succulents and three small perennials that Al had dug up from the backyard to give away.

After setting them out on a long table in the driveway, we walked around to the patio where several folks were congregated, enjoying a continental breakfast. It turned out to be a beautiful morning, perfect for an outdoors gathering.

Our host gave Al and me a tour of the lovely backyard, the size of three city lots. As we were walking out to his garden of heirloom tomatoes, his next-door neighbor, Steve, asked if anyone wanted to see a tortoise. A tortoise in Michigan?

Al went to view the tomatoes, while I followed Steve, along with a young man and his daughter. He cautioned us to step over a low border that separated the two properties and led us to a small shed.

 “Meet Clyde!” Steve said, pointing to a huge tortoise outside the shed.  

Clyde was a horned African desert tortoise weighing about 40 pounds! Steve 

picked Clyde up and showed us the flat shell underneath, explaining that male tortoises have concave shells, females flat shells. Clyde was a girl!

Clyde ducked her head inside her shell, examining us with beady eyes. 

“So where does Clyde hibernate?” I asked, looking at the little shed. Michigan winters were too harsh for tortoises to survive outside and even in June, morning temperatures occasionally dropped into the 50’s and 60’s.

 “She ‘hibernates’ in the living room!” he answered, explaining that there was a special pen set up for her indoors. However, she was beginning to escape from the pen and wander around the house!

Outside Clyde could forage around the backyard, munching on the grass. She was also supplied with cabbage leaves, lettuce, green beans and other veggies.

Clyde hadn’t succeeded in getting over the wooden border around her area in the backyard. However, there was a time when the gate was left open accidentally and she wandered away.

 “She was gone for two months,” he informed us. He looked everywhere for her, put up fliers and checked at the local pet store. Finally, Clyde was returned to her home after having been taken in by neighbors who lived several blocks away.

“They thought she was a pond turtle! She would have sunk right to the bottom—tortoises can’t swim!” he said with a laugh.

            While he talked, I remembered growing up with desert tortoises, beginning with “Myrtle” who was found stranded in the middle of a highway in the Mojave Desert. Eventually, there were other rescued tortoises, all named Myrtle, who stayed in a grassy area behind our house in Bakersfield, California.

Occasionally one would escape and a hunt would ensue. It was hard to understand, with the good care given by my family.

            Unfortunately, Steve said that he was trying to find a new home for Clyde due to her desire to roam. I thanked him for letting me meet her and went back to join Al, with Clyde’s fate still on my mind.

  Straying away from God, a natural tendency for us humans, can have disastrous consequences. As recorded in the book of Numbers, after being led out of Egypt by Moses and Aaron, the people of Israel strayed away from God many times.

And just as they were on the threshold of entering the promised land, the Israelites rose up again. The cities were fortified, the warriors formidable.  They couldn’t be convinced that with God’s help, they could enter and take possession of the land.

Consequently, they were consigned to 40 more years in the desert. This seemed too harsh of a judgement to the Israelites who quickly changed their minds and presumptuously charged into the promised land on their own.

The result? They were attacked by the inhabitants and chased away. It is not a good idea to leave God’s protection and care, thinking we know better than Him!

 Forgive us when we wander away from you, Lord.  Help us to stay in your protective care, to follow and obey you. Amen!

“Show me your ways, Lord, teach me your paths. Guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are God my Savior, and my hope is in you all day long.” Psalm 25:4-5 NIV

                                      

                                  Sister Jan, brother Jack & sister Jill holding desert tortoises

                  pictured above, Judy's nephew Bill and his daugher Stanzi with one of the Myrtles