Soon after I began walking at Bethel, I spotted the carcass of a deer on the dam. I noticed it from afar and trudged through the mud and dead reeds to see what it was. It felt tragic. I stood silently and stared.
Finally I turned away, helpless. There was no way to release the poor thing from its crude resting place. I had questions. How did she end up in such a position? How long would she have to suffer the indignity? Why, Lord, did you show me this? The other park was so full of life.
The deer’s elegant being graced this earth for only a while, but her body hung on that dam for 10 more weeks, freezing with the lake, thawing with the thaws. I checked on her often, wondering what would become of her. But for what was I hoping? I was waiting on God to bring change, to fix the insult of her death.
Jesus died, Jesus rose, Jesus will come again. With His death, He secured my life. In Him I hope..
One day she was gone. I felt a release as well. But all around me God’s creation had never been still. Deer waved their white tails as I passed, an alert to the others to move on quickly. Woodpeckers echoed above my head and cardinals dabbed the bare woods with color. A groundhog peeked from her hole.
God simply never shows me death without filling the space with life. In stillness, a movement. In silence, a knock. In the barren, a blush. After the freeze, a thaw.
So death works in us, but life in you. 2 Corinthians 4:12
Meeting God at the Park 