A Donkey's Tale

Many of you know I was held up a about 4 months ago, and after that experience I knew God was teaching me so much through that and even after it. (For an account of the actual hold-up, please email me and I will send it.)

After some time of seeking Him and asking what was next, I woke up one morning with this thought:

"Be the donkey. "

Huh?

"Be the donkey"

It seemed clear that God was saying something but I couldn't quite figure out what He meant.

As I  went though the day and wondered what in the world...
humble as a....? Do the work of a....? As stable and plodding as a a...? Stubborn as a...? I studied  donkeys on line, I went all over the internet wondering what the Spirit was saying.

I realized none of this had to do with what the Spirit was saying and I thought then of Balaam's donkey. Yes, yes...if God can use that,  He can surely use this ignorant woman to speak through... that must be what He meant. 

The thought did not leave me for days. "Be the donkey." 

We were preparing to go to Cuba, a place that moves my spirit to the core. We collected the equipment that would be packed into 33 suitcases we knew we may not be able to get through.  At that time we were reading about the American man who took one suitcase with him with a forbidden piece of equipment and is now the guest of the Cuban government in a jail for 15 years. It was sobering, but we had no doubt we were to go and take all the equipment.  As I prayed for wisdom, discernment and safety and asked Him what my part in this trip was:  "Be the donkey," came the answer.

One of the members of our staff, Chuy,  Margarita's father,  is elderly and he had an attack and fell and we had to rush him to the hospital. He was there several days and one Sunday morning, quite early, I was asked to take the car to the hospital to pick up his wife, as she had taken care of him during the night at the downtown clinic.

It is highly unusual for me to have the car at all. And to be driving it downtown on a Sunday morning around 7 am, alone? A first since arriving in San Cristobal.

As I drove through downtown area,  it was packed! There were people everywhere, on the sidewalks, in the streets. "How odd," I thought, " I wonder what was going on." 

As I drove on I noticed they were all carrying green plant-like things. Tall, small, big and bulky, some braided wreaths. I realized they were palm branches, and they were everywhere, in every hand.  People going back and forth, rushing to mass with long palms in their arms. I rolled down the windows and I could hear church bells ringing. Palms brushed my car as vendors offered to sell me some. 

Of course. Palm Sunday in Mexico.

As I slowly drove through the people and the palms I  was transported to that day so long ago,  Jesus  riding through Jerusalem. People in town for the passover caught a glimpse of him.

"Who started it?" I wondered, " Who said it first? Who grabbed his cloak and threw it on the ground for His little donkey to step on and yelled "Hosannah!" knowing the Messiah had come? Who grabbed a baby blanket and put it down, knowing the Messiah was coming through? Who used his cloak? did the same thing? Who was the first to think " "I have nothing! Oh wait, here's a palm!"

As I slowly drove down the street and watched the people  it was easy for me to picture our precious Jesus, on the little donkey, riding through the city with the throngs around him laying down their palms and yelling joyfully .... the sadness He must have felt knowing they didn't really know who He was, or understand His Kingdom. The profound knowing that they would turn on him in just a few days and scream "Crucify Him! " I pictured Him loving them with a love only He knows, a love that only God is capable of,  a love that is all-powerful and welcomes the weakness of man into His arms. He was all God so He knew what was coming, He was all man so he could not have welcomed the thought of the cross. As I turned and got on another street and I away from the crowds I had tears in my eyes as I imagined Him saying to Himself "They are worth it."

I couldn't shake that picture from my mind and that night as I pulled out my Bible and journal.

When the now familiar thought came to my mind, "Be the donkey." I understood.

"Carry me, Bonnie. Take me where I want to go. You may never have to say a word. Balaam's donkey did, but you may never have to." I understood that when the "Hosanna's" ring out and when the palms cover the ground, they are not for me, they are for Him. The suffering that's coming is not for me, He will take it on. There are parts of the world where no one knows Him, there are homes that He has never been invited to enter. Wherever I go, wherever He sends me, I take Him... and He does the rest.

What a privilege, to take Him where He wants to go, to 'be the donkey' that carries the Master.  A task not reserved solely for me.... anyone who loves Him can and take Him to unreached byways of Cuba, the villages of Chiapas, or the unreached jungles of their job or their neighborhood. 

Anyone one of us can be His donkey, we just have to be willing to carry Him wherever life takes us. And that is all He asks of us "Take me wherever you go." He will do the rest.