Fish Tales. Wednesday, March 25. 2015. Lent.

I like to try and have quality conversations with my students.

And sometimes that high quality conversations include

play-by-plays of scenes from Finding Nemo.

Good stuff.

Yesterday we were talking about the part where

Marlin and Dory end up on the tongue of a whale.

Apparently, if you're a fish, whale taste buds are nice and bouncy.

Dory claimed to speak whale

and had a nice conversation with the whale that sounded a lot like a mooing cow.

While Marlin was intent on getting out of that whale's mouth

so that he could continue on his journey to find his son.

These two unlikely friends had completely different attitudes about their situation.

As Dory continues to converse,

the whale lifts his tongue

and the two fish hang on to those taste buds for dear life so as to not get swallowed.

Finally,

Dory relays what the whale said,

only, she can't quite understand him.

She proudly announces,

"He either wants a root beer floor or us to go down his throat!"

Marlin, being the sharper of the two, yells in a panic,

"Of course he wants us to go down his throat!"

And Dory lets go.

And falls down the whale’s throat.

In sheer abandonment.

Not a care in the world.  

Marlin is forced to let go and follow Dory.

Though he is reluctant, afraid, and angry.

It just so happens that Dory was right.

And not about the soda pop.

The whale did want the fish to go down his throat.

But not to eat them,

to help them.

He timed it just perfectly so that as the pair fell,

the whale shot gallons of water and two fish out of his blow hole.

The pair was once again on their way to find Marlin's son.

We are fish.

God is the whale.

Often we find ourselves in situations,

predicaments,

a rock and a hard place.

We pray and seek.

Maybe we hear an answer.

But maybe that answer is crazy.

Maybe we know in our gut.

But maybe our gut is asking for a root beer float.

Maybe we hear but we are unsure what we hear.

But maybe we hear only what we want to.

Sometimes the crazy thing is the God thing.

Sometimes the normal thing is the worldly thing.

We don't want to be the first one to let go

and drop down into the whale's throat.

Marlin thought Dory was insane.

We don't want to be labeled insane.

But look at the outcome.

Exactly what they were hoping for

and what they needed to continue their journey.

When we find ourselves in tough places,

we automatically see it as a hindrance and an interference.

But in reality,

it might be just the right stepping block,

just the right move,

just what we need.

Where are you today?

Where do you need to be?

What is the Lord saying to you?

What are you hearing?

What are you choosing to hear?

What do you need to hear?

The process may be scary.

It might be hard.

We might kick and scream.

Or we could go with complete abandonment and trust like that little blue fish.