Are you afraid of " The Hermit Crabs"

I have to tell this story because it is so very funny, but also has a great Truth that God taught me through it as well.......My daughter Lexi has been attending a youth ministry called Young Life. One of her teachers at school is a sponsor and invited her a few months ago. She loves this teacher and asked if she could attend, and has been going ever since. Just like she used to do when she went to AWANAS, we are again filling our car each week and taking her friends to learn about the love of Christ. A few weeks ago she came home asking if she could go to camp.....we discussed it and I told her that since she was already going on a mission trip this summer, that we would not be also paying for camp. She was disappointed but also understood, asking if she could earn her own money in order to be able to go. Then the following week she came home telling me about a way that she could win her camp tuition....I was listening! She had to go on a "treasure hunt" with a list of all sorts of silly things that she was to bring to club the following week. Included were * Both parents * A jersey with the #49 on it * Anything involving a unicorn * A can of Verve energy drink * A bath robe * A shirt with the Young Life logo * A moped * and then she was to bring friends! 2 Freshman 2 Sophomore 2 Juniors 2 Seniors .........so we went to work. Lexi had a lot of fun gathering all of the items and inviting her friends. She didn't know many Juniors or Seniors, but she asked her friend's older brother's and sister's.....she REALLY wanted to win this trip to camp. When the night came, we loaded up and went to "Bring It Club"...lol That is what it was called that night. We arrived to find that there were several other kids that were serious about getting to camp as well. It was a friendly competition and Lexi did not end up being the winner of the trip, but her friend and fellow Cross-Country runner and Soccer teammate was!!! We were happy for her.

Now for the funny part of the story. Since we were there for the "treasure hunt" we were supposed to stay for the entire club festivities...lol So we went in not quite knowing what to expect....There we were in the midst of approximately 45-50 high school students singing and praising our Lord and Savior!!! I'm LOVING IT!!! Then they went on to the next part of club....GAMES! and the leader announced that they had "Pre-selected" their volunteers????? He called out the names and guess who was "pre-selected"....lol Yes, you guessed it....I heard "our next volunteer isssss Tammy Null!" and thought OH NO! The other two volunteers were students, but I thought okay...I can do this, as I am going to the front of the room to find out what I had gotten myself into. The leader began to explain the game and told us that we would be blind-folded and lead across a piece of ply board....oh, and then he pulled out a small box and said that we would have to listen closely because the ply board would be covered with.....Hermit Crabs! We would have to be careful and listen closely so that we would get to the other end without stepping on them. I was beginning to think.....NOT!!!!

Before I could say anything they took us upstairs and brought us down one at at time...told us to take off our shoes and socks and then put the blind-fold on. As I am being led through the room blind folded ...all the kids are screaming "Tammy, Tammy, Tammy " I am getting a little nervous. The leader begins to guide me across the ply board by telling me take one small step forward, but when I would go to step... all the kids would begin to scream and shout NO! I would begin to take a step..... and then feel the crabs under my feet! I didn't want to step on them....A.J. ( My 11 years old ) wants one for a pet...he would be upset to know that I killed one. So here I am blind folded....trying to walk across this board with everyone yelling at me ...Do this, Do that, NO! DON'T!......I was starting to sweat, and my heart was beginning to beat faster. Then I felt one of the crabs crawling on my foot....I screamed like a little school girl...lol It was no longer funny and I was afraid they were going to bite me.......I think the leader got the message that I was no longer having fun and took my blind-fold off.....to reveal......PEANUT SHELLS ! There were no Hermit Crabs ! I was so embarrassed ......and found out that what I thought was a crab, crawling on my foot, was actually one of the students rubbing my foot with one of the peanut shells! ...lol But it was fun and there is a great Truth in this!!

There will be times when God will ask us to do something, and we think, " I can't do that!"....."What will people think??"..... We are afraid of the "Hermit Crabs" I thought this way when I began to pray about writing this blog, but what we fear can not hurt us for they are only Peanut Shells!!! If we give into our fears, then we miss out on the Blessing that He has for us. Christ died to set us Free..... He tells us "Follow Me"

Because of Calvary,
Tammy Null