I Want to be a Crazy Armadillo

In the previous post, I discussed the big points of my camping trip during the 4th of July weekend. Well, this post is about something more specific.

As we were all having dinner the first night of the trip, an armadillo decided to come into our campsite. This was cool for a moment because I thought that armadillos were born dead, but here was one 4 feet away from me moving on its own. But then I remembered that Armadillos are said to be carriers of leprosy. I don't particularly like the idea of contracting that disease, so we tried to scare it away on numerous occasions, but each time it kept coming back from the thicket and into our campsite.

We flashed the flashlights at it, we yelled, and we even got our dogs to bark at it from close range. Oliver, with his 1.2 tons of body mass was scared of it when close to it, but ferocious from a distance. Joan of Barc, with her 20 pounds was scared of it, but really wanted to get close to it. But yet it kept coming back.

Finally, Donnie took a walking cane and beat the armadillo on the back. We didn't see the armadillo again, but we could hear him and he eventually made it through our site while we were in our tents.

I'm writing about this because we could learn something from this armadillo. As Christians, we have a set path before us. Some would call this the straight and narrow, but regardless, we are called to live a righteous life, leading to the cross. Like the armadillo, we have faced and will face many people, places, objects, and obstacles who seek to deter us from completing our mission. It might be easy to go to the right 40 yards to find another campsite where there are no leprosy fearing campers and cross there, but that may not be the path chosen for us.

We might have to instead bide our time and wait for the forces of obstruction to fall asleep or otherwise turn their gaze upon something else. But the point is, we have to continue the journey regardless and we have to do it on the path chosen.

Furthermore, as Christians walking this path, we will meet people who want and will cane us. Persecution is real. I think that it is imperative that we stay true to the course.

In the real life armadillo situation, I am not condemning Donnie for trying to scare off the armadillo...after all, leprosy is considered unclean. And, I know that the armadillo wasn't out to prove a spiritual point and that he was just dumb and couldn't figure out a better way to do things. However, I admire that shelled creature. He was armed and shielded to do battle, and in the end, though he took a beating, he still completed his journey.

I wonder if Joanie touched the 'dillo and if she might be carrying...oh, I need a bath.