The Story About the Bugs
I have a confession to make. Before chapel this week, rather than spending most of that time taking on an attitude of worship I spent my time telling a friend about my distaste for insects.
To say I dislike bugs would be a big fat understatement. I hate bugs. To be more accurate I hate bugs like Jesus hates sin. I know creation is good and all, but I seriously am not a fan of the creepy crawlies.
So what brought this angry rant on?
Upon my return to the fantastical land of Riverside I feel as though I have fallen down the rabbit hole and into the land of bugville. Now, let me say that Riverside is actually a really nice place, and I normally do not have close encounters with bugs. Lately, though, these things seem to know I hate them and so they must plague me and make me as uncomfortable as possible.
Let’s start with Plague Number One. I spent an evening in Downtown Riverside over the weekend. This place that should have been crawling with people in reality turned out to be crawling with cockroaches. Okay, I actually don’t know if they were cockroaches, but I know they were REALLY BIG DISGUSTING BUGS. Not only were they ugly, they were not shy. They seemed to just mosey right alongside me as I walked past. I almost felt as if nuclear war occurred and the roaches were just making themselves right at home. What deep, dark hole these things crawled out of, I have no idea. I’ve been downtown many times before and have not seen them there, but they apparently decided to follow me that night. This is definitely not okay with me.
Plague Number Two struck me in the comfort of my own home. I sat in my apartment doing homework when I received a call. I stepped out onto our porch so as not to disturb my roommates. Now, normally I would say that our apartment contains too much coolness due to the amazing people I room with, but I will not say that now. As I sat on the porch a HUGE thing flew in front of my face. I let out a slightly dramatic scream as the beast landed on the railing directly across from me. As I stood in the company of the gigantic cricket-Godzilla thing, I discovered to my horror that my roommates had locked me out in an attempt to be funny. Those scoundrels… Now, I’m all for practical jokes and all, but this was not a joke. This was a matter of life and death. I was caught in a sort of standoff with this bug that gazed coolly at me with its demon-eyes while I stood as tall as I could and tried to look intimidating. Fortunately, I was let inside in time to escape a brutal death by monster.
I hope I’ve given a clear picture now of how I feel about insects. They are vile and disgusting to me, and I can never seem to find anything appealing about them.
This disgust brings to mind a conversation I held with a dear friend of mine. We sat outside once listening to crickets that were being obnoxiously loud when I made my comment about my disliking for the things. After stopping to think for a moment, my friend then brought up Psalm 96. In verses 11 and 12 it says, “Let the heavens be glad, and let the earth rejoice; let the sea roar, and all that fills it; let the field exult, and everything in it! Then shall the forest sing for joy.” So, nature and all things in it are designed to praise God. The crickets, annoying as they were, could not help but sing the Creator’s praises. In fact, that is all they can do. The bugs that fly around looking all scary and gross do so because that is what they are designed for, and in that act they are living out lives proclaiming the goodness of God.
Isn’t that what we’re supposed to be doing?
I’m immediately humbled by the fact that insects and all of nature are more proficient at worship than I am. We as Christians are also a part of creation and our purpose is to glorify God, and yet we tend to only do so when we make a conscious or even painful effort. Worship for us takes sacrifice, whether it is of time, pride or commitment. Christianity is by no means a segmented portion of one’s life, but a holistic, daily choice to put God before ourselves.
With this understanding, the time we are given at CBU to sing to the Creator in chapel every week becomes so much more precious. That is the time for students and faculty to come together and stand before God, using our time and our voices to praise Him for who He is. Our thoughts should be always directed toward Him. After all, if the world, its bugs included, can’t cease to praise Him, why should we?
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