Like a Turtle Crossing the Road

I took this photo earlier this summer in St. Paul, Minnesota. I was stopped in my car's tracks by a huge turtle crossing the road.
       It took this guy a long time to cross the road. He did not seem in much of a hurry either.
       I often find myself frustrated by the seemingly slow pace of change in many ways.
       * Personally, I change much slower than I would like. At 50 years of age I still have habits I wish I would have shed years ago;
       * Prejudices change slowly. Fifty years ago Martin Luther King Jr. gave his famous, "I have a dream speech." Much HAS changed in that ensuing generation, but new prejudices have sprung up in western culture (toward Muslims in America for example);
       * Church implosions have not changed, and may be getting worse actually. I witnessed firsthand the implosion of a church I love in 1995. I have witnessed another in Denver over the past months. Not much difference really.
       What gives me hope is that I have a picture of Jesus becoming like that big old turtle crossing the road and leading the way across the road! As we invite him in, he becomes the "lead turtle," which I realize is a bizarre image of the Lord of All Creation! He coaxes and models and cajoles us at times to keep moving, to actually cross the road (i.e. be transformed).