Photo by Joe Venturo
We love lists and we love animals. So it is only natural that we would keep an animal list, to record every new animal we find as we travel. Today, a new animal found us! We looked out the front door and standing there, looking at us blankly, was a wild donkey. A burro, as they are called here. We were delighted to have another creature to add to our list. We went out to get a closer look and took pictures. After a moment or two the burro was on his way, and we went back to our school work.
A few hours later we brought our lunch outside and sat down to enjoy it when the burro returned. This time he was on the outside of the fence surrounding our campsite. Kelly brought him a carrot, which he took quite readily and then plodded over to a gap in the fence and walked right into the midst of us, sniffing around for another treat. It was funny, at first, but then we couldn’t get him to leave. He stood resolutely on our mat and strained his neck to get at our plates. We tried hollering at him, we tried pushing on him, we tried all kinds of noises to urge him to go away. We may as well have tried to move a brick wall. Joe tried to lure him with another carrot, but he wasn’t interested in carrots anymore--he wanted our cheese crackers. So Joe tried to coax him along with those. It worked for a few feet, but then the donkey came right back onto our mat and planted himself there firmly. Paul tried to lure him again with a paper plate full of cracker crumbs. The donkey followed, ate the crumbs and the plate, and then came back. It was a battle of wills--seven of us against one donkey--and he was winning. Finally, Caleb tried a new tactic. He began blowing on the donkey’s face. Ha! It worked! The donkey ran away, but not before eating a napkin we had dropped on the ground.
I had plenty of time to observe the donkey closely during this encounter, and it got me thinking. Jesus rode on a donkey when He came into Jerusalem (Matthew 21:1-11). He was praised as a king, but it seems that most of those present did not realize that this was the King of Kings. Not a king to succor an earthly nation, but the King Who would give up His life to redeem all mankind. Who would conquer death itself and make a way for us to be with Him forever (1 Corinthians 15:55-57).
But what struck me at this moment was that the donkey in front of me did not seem fit for a king. He was scruffy and dusty. He was covered with burrs--I think maybe he wanted to get rid of the burrs but he didn’t know how. I also think he had burrs that we could see but that he knew nothing about. He was stubborn and a little bit dumb. And it struck me that this was the type of creature that Jesus chose to use to ride into Jerusalem as king. He could have chosen something much more . . . majestic. Much more fitting. Much more attractive and likeable.
Looking at this donkey, pathetic as he was, I was encouraged. Because just like him I have some “burrs” that I would like to get rid of but I don’t quite know how. And just like him I am sure I have some “burrs” that others see but that I know nothing about yet. Just like him I can be stubborn, and dumb, and a host of other things that are anything but majestic, or fitting, or attractive, or likeable. But just like him Jesus wants to use me. He could do a better job Himself. He could do better with someone else for the jobs He has given me. Yet He gives me the privilege of serving Him. He allows me to be a part of His plan to share the Gospel with the world.
So the wild burro is not the most exciting animal that we have put on our list, but he will be one of the most memorable!
