Our Stories
The Story of the Beetle
By Char Forslund | posted 10/23/2008
'And God said, "Let the land produce living creatures according to their kinds: livestock, creatures that move along the ground, and wild animals, each according to its kind." And it was so. God made the wild animals according to their kinds, the livestock according to their kinds, and all the creatures that move along the ground according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good.' (Genesis 1:24-25)
Many years ago, (do NOT ask how many), while on a camping trip with a group of friends I found myself wide awake early one morning. With all the others still soundly sleeping, I decided to go out of our tent and explore around the campground. Sitting down on a log, I was enjoying and contemplating the great goodness of His creation surrounding me. Sensing a slight movement, I turned my head and found myself looking directly into the eyes of a large beetle. He, I've always known it was a he, was almost as big as a fifty-cent piece, but beetle-shaped of course. We stared at one another motionless, and then I really looked at him. He was checkered all over black and white... his whole beetle shell covered in small black and white squares. His antennae were striped black and white, black and white. The eyes staring at me were circles of back and white, black and white. All his legs were circles of black and white from his claws to the connection to his body. I was amazed and in that moment any questions I had ever had about Creation vanished as a flood of assurance swept over me. Someone, The Master of the Universe, purposefully created this amazing beetle. We both sat and stared. Then it appeared I was not quite as amazing to him as he was to me, He turned around and scuttled off the log and into the forest floor.
I have told this story many times to children and others as an example of just how thoughtful God was with His Creation and that we can hold onto the fact that if He cared that much about a beetle, how much more did He care for me.
Several years ago, while teaching at a women's retreat, I used the story of the beetle to explain not only that truth about God's care for us, but also how He loves for us to tell our stories. Through our stories, His magnificent Story gets told. At the end of the session a young woman approached me and said, "I have met the beetle. I can tell you exactly where you were camping that day!" I stood there dumfounded while she continued, "You were on the east side of Mount Rainier in Washington State near a little town called Packwood." As she raised her eyebrows and smiled at me, I simply nodded. She was absolutely correct... and we were having this conversation in Missoula Montana. Grabbing coffee and finding a place to sit down together, we shared our stories, not only of the beetle, but of the grace of God in our lives. I still get goose bumps when I think about it.
So why the beetle story... and why now? As Creeksiders we are building a story. We are asking ourselves and one another... What does community look like? What are the components of our story, our community of faith? How does it act itself out among us and in the greater community beyond Creekside? Who are the builders in our midst? What is it that God wants me to do for the good of the Creekside community? What does He want to draw out of me? Out of you? Everyone has a beetle story... yes they do... and in the telling of those small, individual stories, we strengthen one another. Small stories count and we need to find ways to help them have a stage for telling. There is a story behind every prayer request, every baptism in the river, every engagement and marriage, every birth and every death, every nail pounded in at Habitat, every thought and concern for our Creekside community. Small stories can lead to huge steps of faith. Jesus, our Savior, Passover Lamb, was a storyteller extraordinaire! And He used the every day stuff of life to cause eternal results. I pray that we can become a community of storytellers... ours and ultimately HIS.
Love and Joy,
Char
To respond to this message, email Char at charforslund@comcast.net.
