essays 222-228

1. #228 Avoiding Mirrors and Cameras
2. # 227 Snag it, Bag it, and Give it to God
3. #226 Walk that Walk
4. #225 Houdini Chickens
5. #224 Cute Virus
6. # 223 "Pushme-Pullyou"
7. #222 The Mark of the Rubber Egg

	"For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son..." Romans 8:29
	"But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory even as by the Spirit of the Lord." II Corinthians 3:18

# 227 Snag it, Bag it, and Give it to God

This is a corollary to the essay, "Houdini Chickens". It was a couple of weeks ago; I was on dead bird duty. I was walking down the catwalk, wearing my husband's ragged flannel shirt, his white baseball cap and my $40 respirator. I walked hunched over, hands clasped behind my back so that I could peer at the floor of the top cages. I was concentrating on my task, ready to peel flattened, blackened birds off the cage floor when I noticed a commotion in front of me. Loose bird. Great. And my nifty new long-handled minnow net (purchased at Gulf Shores, Alabama just the week before) was at the other end of the chicken house.

I grabbed this bird with my gloved hands and shoved her back in a cage. When I got to the end of the aisle, I lifted the minnow net from off the wall and glanced down each aisle to see if there were any more birds. I didn't see any. They must have been hiding along the edges. So I continued my patrolling and nearly ran into another hen. Now, where did she come from? I ran back for the net and came after her. The still-caged birds went crazy, flapping and clucking cries of warning. Their cries were unheeded by the hapless hen. In one swoop, my net had pinned her to the floor. The poor flabbergasted feather-head never knew what hit her. Then it was a simple matter of holding her down with one yellow rubber-gloved hand, reaching under the net with the other hand and picking her up under the wings. I was quite pleased. I had a new-found sense of control and power. Why, catching chickens would be as easy as slice-and-bake cookies (I don't find pie particularly easy; especially if you make the crust from scratch) All because of a minnow net. With eight loose birds that week, only one made it down to the pit. Even then, my job was easier because of the net. I felt like the dog-catcher in one of those old Marmaduke comic strips.

If only my thoughts were as easy to capture. Maybe the weapons of my warfare should include a long-handled minnow net to snag those thoughts of mine. I've been walking along, minding the task ahead of me when out of nowhere, plopped right in front of me, is a thought not aligned with the Christian walk. Has it happened to you as well? I did not mean to be thinking uncharitable thoughts towards someone; I didn't wake up saying, "I'm going to nurse that grudge of mine today; I'm going to try to think thoughts of bitterness, resentment, and self-pity." Or perhaps, "Today, I'm going to think of everything that could possibly go wrong in my life and then I'm going to worry about it. Maybe I'll throw in some doubt and fear as well. Or I reach into my job jar and say, "Ah, I've picked out pride and lust and envy for the day; at least I know what to think about now." No, that's not how it happens.

So where do such thoughts come from? I suppose from that deceitful, desperately wicked heart of mine (Jeremiah 17:9). Is there any hope? Yes, with God there is always hope. You just need to ask Him for a net to capture those thoughts early. As I've often heard, the sin is not in the temptation itself but in yielding to it or dwelling on the thought of it. So, snag that thought, bag it, and hand it over to God. It may not be a like those clumsy, foolish hens; it may be more like a live grenade. You can't handle it; get rid of it as soon as possible. The goal is to line up every thought with Christ, in obedience to Him. Remember, you are bought with a price
(I Cor. 6:20) ; you are not your own. Be thankful for that.

Lori Fiechter, October 28, 1999

#226 Walk that Walk

Have you ever recognized someone simply by their walk? Some people's manner of walking is as distinctive as a fingerprint. I'm not very observant, but my husband Stan is. He remarked about someone's peculiar style of walking the other day.

I said, "And how about my walk? I suppose that I slouch?".
"Yes," he said. "You walk kind of hunched over, like this". And he demonstrated even as he was driving the van.
I said, "Well, you walk fast, with your head down and arms swinging low." He said simply, almost smugly, "The Fiechter walk".

I need to be more of a people watcher; other people are. I walked into a Nature store at the mall and the clerk remarked to me "Can I help you? You look like a woman on a mission." (Ah, I don't always slouch; I can look purposeful.) To her disappointment, I was only looking for my husband and boys, not for something to purchase.

So we have slouchers and striders, mincers and marchers, walruses and graceful cats. Walkers with heads down or up; arms swinging or still; feet that never seem to stop and take a break; or feet that often pause; all walking their distinctive walk.

You know where I'm going with this. We Christians have our own walk, too. We won't all have exactly the same walk; we each will have our own individual flavor, but our walk should still mark us as distinct from the world. Walking is an important Biblical concept; just look up the word "walk" in your concordance. For example,

We need to:

Walk worthy of the vocation wherewith we are called;
Walk in truth; Walk in love; Walk in wisdom.
Walk humbly with our God; walk honestly, walk circumspectly.
Walk in the fear of the Lord; before the Lord, after the Lord;
Walk in His paths, in His light (while we have light), in the Spirit.

We are NOT to:

Walk in our own craftiness; in our own counsels.
Walk after our own lusts, according to the flesh.
Walk contrary unto God; walk disorderly in the brotherhood.
Walk in pride (Nebuchadnezzar said that the King of heaven is able to abase such).

Remember that we walk by faith, not by sight and someday, after we have walked with Him through the valley of the shadow of death, we will walk with Him in white.

And now, I need to work on my posture. How about you?

Lori Fiechter
September 21, 1999

#225 Houdini Chickens

"Houdini Chickens"; that is what my brother-in-law Gary calls them. Thank goodness, not all 60,000 of our egg-laying hens have that propensity to escape through latched cages. I don't even want to picture that fiasco. But occasionally, especially during certain moon phases (I'm not sure yet which phases; I need to make an escaped-chicken chart), a bird or two will fly the coop. I rarely catch them before they scuttle off the edge of the catwalk and flutter awkwardly down into the manure pit. Sometimes I find a bent cage latch that the birds simply push open to escape. But often the skinny little featherheads just squeeze through the bars. I know that chickens have bones, I've had them caught in my throat, but some of those birds are contortionists, able to squeeze through tiny openings like house mice. I was on duty one 90 degree day, complete with Indiana humidity. Oh, it wasn't too bad in the pit with the fans going. At least I had my barn boots this time. The last time I ran across the manure in my tennies; I had to give them a bath in bleach water afterwards. My socks, too. The smell of ammonia was pretty strong; I'd left my respirator at home. Oh, well, it just makes my face sweat, sliding down my nose and cutting off my air supply.

I grabbed a bucket and went after chicken #1. I chased him half-way down the pit (our chicken house is 375 feet long), got him (her, of course I meant her. It is just hard for me to believe that a female would created such trouble for me) against the wall and nabbed him. Chicken #2 was more timid and docile; I caught her hiding behind the cat's carrier. I found the last two chickens at the far end of the pit. In the corner. I caught # 3 trying to hide on top of some boxes. Each time I caught a chicken, I had to carry it all the way back upstairs, to the end of the house, in the cages for extra birds. By the time I got to chicken #4, I was sweaty and tired. This last hen was a tricky gal. She could turn 180 degrees in nothing flat and then head off in the opposite direction. I wanted to get her next to a wall; the chickens all seem to head for a solid wall or corner, eventually. I wanted to avoid the shower of manure from above that rained on me every time I crossed directly underneath those still-caged chickens above. That is the reason I never go into the pit without my husband's once-white baseball cap. I missed the first time I threw the bucket over her head; bad timing on my part. Ah, if only I had a chicken net! I caught her the second time, stuck her inside the bucket where it was dark (chickens seem to be calmer in the dark) and trotted her upstairs to her new home. I should've whispered those words, "Campbell's chicken noodle soup" to her before I deposited her; as a warning. Not that she would understand. Stupid chickens.

Liberty. Freedom. Strong words; but what do they really mean? What does it really mean to be free? Why couldn't I just leave those chickens in the pit; they were free, weren't they? No, they were loose, but they were not free. Can true freedom be found in a manure pit--or in a hog stable? Ask the prodigal son.

I don't like crowds, myself. I can understand why those chicken hopped at the chance to get out of those stuffy cages. But the pit is filthy, with no clean water or feed. I suppose chickens can suffer from "the grass is greener" syndrome, too. Maybe you aren't like that. Perhaps you are content with your circumstances, never envying the person with no apparent health problems, or the one with no apparent financial troubles, or the one with a seemingly ideal family. You make the best of your situation at home, at work, at school.. You don't wish you had wings like a dove so that you could fly away from all your problems, and be at rest. (Psalm 55:6) You have learned to be content. (Philippians 4:11) Maybe you learned that wisdom the hard way?

True freedom is found only in Christ. The most important freedom is not freedom from cares and responsibility but freedom from sin. (Romans 6:22) And the only way to be truly free is to be Christ's servant. (Romans 6 again) Just another one of those Biblical paradoxes. I hope that you don't wander off into any manure pits today but if you do, and you belong to Christ, He will grab you by the wing, cradle you under His arm and bring you safely home again. (I know why Jesus used the lamb imagery; it is much more appealing.) The Lord doesn't restrain us by putting us in a cage, although He does place us back in the center of the strait and narrow way. We have the choice whether to stray or stay, whether or flout His commands or obey. And if we make a mistake? Even those silly chickens had the instinct to head for something solid, like a wall, when they were frightened. Do we have the sense to head for the "Rock that is higher than I"?

Lori Fiechter, 7-20-99 and 9-13-99

p.s. I've learned now that the easiest way for me to catch a chicken is to run it ragged. Then it is simply a matter of reaching out and picking it up. I get my exercise as well. There's nothing like a brisk trot through the manure pit to keep in shape. Care to join me?

Removing the Happy99 Virus

#224 Cute Virus

I had never paid much attention to computer viruses. I do run Scandisk occasionally and I'm careful about which e-mail I open. If I don't recognize the sender's address or subject, I usually delete the mail without opening it. So I was surprised to get a telephone call from our local newspaper asking me if I knew that my computer had the "happy99.exe" virus. I'd sent a letter to the editor that morning and the virus came along as an attachment with my e-mail. As soon as the staff person described the virus: "It is a cute virus, with that fireworks display", I knew how I got it. It was an innocent e-mail from a family member, with "look at this" as the subject heading. I'd just received an e-mail that same day warning about the happy virus, but I never connected the two. Until now. I had to download the newest virus scan version off the Internet (my old version didn't catch it) plus I manually deleted the happy virus from my e-mail attachment file. Then I e-mailed the person who gave me the virus, as well as those whom I'd perhaps inadvertently infected. What a mess. I thought it couldn't happen to me; I thought I was too savvy for that.

Have you caught the sin virus? Maybe not the big, obvious sin virus. Not the kind that will send you to jail or cause you to lose your job or your marriage. Maybe the sin virus you have is a cute, seemingly harmless one. The happy virus I mentioned did not infect my hard drive, it simply attached itself to my outgoing messages, garbling them and infecting the receiver if he opened the attachment. Perhaps your sin virus is not readily apparent but it affects your witness and confuses the message ("I am a Christian") that you are trying to send. Maybe it will even infect those who read it: "If she is a Christian and acts that way, then why can't I?" Little sins: carelessness in your speech and habits, not giving your employer your best, purposefully slighting others or gossiping about them. You get the idea. White collar sins. Cute viruses.

Have you been infected? Are you infecting others? Denying that you have a virus won't make it go away. God's scandisk is always updated with the newest viruses, although Satan seems to get along just fine on those few that he's kept handy ever since the garden of Eden: "Did God really mean you can't do that? What's so bad about it? You can be your own boss, control your own destiny."

Ask God to scan for any sin viruses you may have picked up along the way; and remember, this isn't a one shot deal. The only way to stay virus-free is to keep on using that virus software. Or as David wrote: "Who can understand his errors? Cleanse thou me from secret faults." --Psalm 19: 12

Lori fiechter,
August 26, 1999

# 223 "Pushme-Pullyou"

It has been several decades since I read the book "Dr. Dolittle" but I recall it had a two-headed unicorn--one head at each end--in it named a "pushmi-pullyu". (The original double-header?) I don't know why I thought of that this week while I was pushing and pulling full skids of eggs (10,800 eggs per skid) around in the cooler room. I'm not very strong physically (just ask those fifth grade Sunday School girls who beat me in arm wrestling; and I out-weighed one of them by 45 pounds) so I pull the skids as close as I can to their final position before I switch the manual fork lift around and push it the rest of the way. I have trouble pushing those eggs. I'm going to try shoes with better tread today; maybe that will help. I just can't seem to get any traction. But pulling is much easier. I lead and the egg skid follows (not too fast though; I don't want any large scale egg messes.)

What is the best way to attract someone to faith in Christ? Is it by pushing them: trying to argue them into the kingdom? Or is it by pulling them along, as if you are the magnet and they are unwittingly attracted by your attitude? I tend to like to debate; especially the finer points; perhaps that is why I have so few notches on my soul-winners belt. I don't like being pushed myself so I can understand why pushiness is a big turn-off to seeking souls. However, the message should be the same whether we are pushing or pulling. We shouldn't dilute or soft-pedal the gospel message. We need to emphasize the seriousness of sin and the soon return of Christ; but with gracious lips. It is the same old "catching more flies with honey than with vinegar" saying. One last thing; once you've got the words down pat, don't forget to be sure that your lifestyle matches those words.

lori fiechter, 8-18-99

	"If we say we have no sin [refusing to admit that we are sinners], we delude and dead ourselves astray and the Truth [which the Gospel represents] is not in us [does not dwell in us]. --I John 1:8
	"No one who abides in Him [who lives and remains in communion with and in obedience to Him--deliberately, knowingly, and habitually]commits (practices) sin. No one who [habitually] sins has either seen or known Him." --I John 3:6