HAMSTER FAITH!

Oct - 06 2016 | By

When my adult daughter Chelsea, was a little girl, from age 3 to around 8, she had a series of pet hamsters.  As most people who have had rodents for pets know, they don’t live very long lives.  There was one hamster whom we named “Spiffy”, who had a really strong and engaging personality.  Spiffy was intensely curious and had no fear.  Once I saw Spiffy back a 12-pound cat up in fear and confusion when he bared his teeth at her as if to say, “stay out of my face or you are going to be sorry”.

Spiffy and Chelsea and I would spend a lot of time together around Chelsea’s bedtime, where we would read and act out story books, do comedy routines (often with Chelsea as the ventriloquist and Spiffy as her “dummy”) and sing songs (while Spiffy danced).  Spiffy’s personal favorite pastime was one we liked to call “taking a walk of a thousand miles on a single hand”.  For this I would hold Spiffy in the palm of my left hand and he would start walking towards my fingers.  When he reached the end of my fingers, Spiffy would always keep walking, and my right hand would come up, just as an injurious fall would have been evident had I not, and Spiffy would just keep on truckin’.  He would then walk to the end of my right hand and again, just keep walking, apparently confident that the “road” he was traveling was steady and sure.  My left hand would then come up on cue and Spiffy would have an uninterrupted journey as I kept repeating the motion with my hands, sometimes for 15 minutes and many “hamster miles”.

Spiffy passed away at a little over two years old (about average for hamsters) and shortly thereafter, as it was, I gave my life to Jesus.  As I have said in previous blogs, I don’t know how He did it, but the Lord revealed Himself to me at the perfect time in my life to say “yes” to Him and mean it.  There were several “yesses” as it happens.  The first “yes” was to my friend Tony’s question “John, do you believe that Jesus is the Messiah and that He died on a cross for your sins because you cannot stand before a Holy and a Righteous God without a Savior?”  The second yes came almost instantly after that, as the Holy Spirit hit me and showed me the 43 years of my life previously… This time I said a resounding “yes” to this question… “Are you through with living life as your own master and may I now take My rightful place as Lord of your life?”  The third “yes” came a couple of years later, after He had given me a new heart and my mind was beginning to be renewed, in love with the poor and hurting around me.  That question was… “Will you take up YOUR cross and follow me?”  That one was harder, because now I had steeped myself in God’s Word for two and a half years and I mean DEEP, and so I knew exactly what that yes would require, and potentially cost me.  Again, the Lord knew His servant and as it turns out, I was prepared to answer that question also with a “yes” that truly meant, “yes”!

So you ask, what does all this have to do with a hamster named Spiffy? Well, it was something the Lord showed me right after I said yes for the third and final time. He said “John, some have the faith of a lion. Some have the faith of an eagle. I have given you the faith of a hamster. Whenever you come to the end of my Hand, so that you cannot see where the next resource of money, friendship, wisdom, strength, or support of any kind is coming from, you will know to just keep walking. Be like Spiffy. Have hamster faith.” I have been at the end of all these things several times since and God has never failed, in twenty-one years, to bring up His other hand exactly at the perfect time because I have never failed to just keep walking, praying and joyful sure, but mostly WALKING. The ministry which He has birthed in this servant has thrived. Many have been saved. Many have been encouraged. Soldiers for Christ have been raised up and started cadres of their own. It has been an amazing journey of a thousand miles on One Hand.  

Thank You Jesus.  Thank you Spiffy.

Isaiah 40:31 – But those who wait on the Lord Shall renew
their strength; They shall mount up with wings like eagles, They shall run and
not be weary, They shall walk and not faint.

Psalm 63:8 – My soul follows close behind You; Your right
hand upholds me.

Isaiah 41:10 – Fear not, for I am with you; Be not dismayed,
for I am your God. I will strengthen you, Yes, I will help you, I will uphold
you with My righteous right hand.

 

With love and gratitude for Jesus and His Whole Body,

 

John Henry Raskin, Roadhouse Rabbi 

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