Lessons From A Stick Bug

One day I hopped into my car, backed out of my drive way and headed up the hill for work when I noticed on the hood of my car, what we in the Midwest call, a stick bug. “Eww … I hope he flies off in a minute,” I grumbled. He was a bright fresh looking green, not unlike a green bean from the garden with legs.

My perfectionist nature was offended by the bug cluttering up the view of my hood, so I sped up the car a little trying to encourage the bug to fly off. Nope, my little hitchhiking friend was determined to stay.

Hmm … how to get this bug to take a hike? Seeing no one else on the road, I sped the car up even more and then braked suddenly. Surely that would make the bug jump off. Now the bug raised one end (the one with antennae) as if praying for help. God must have granted his petition because for the next 15 miles Mr. Stick-to-it rode with me to work. No matter how fast I took the curves or going up hill or down dale, he was there for the duration. It was as if his feet were super-glued to my car!

Finally, I pulled into the parking lot at work. My intention had been that once I got to work I was going to roll up a paper and swat that free-loading rider right off the face of the planet! But I couldn’t do it. Obviously, he had business near my workplace and had tried so hard to get there that he deserved a break. Besides, he looked pitiful! Once a fresh dewy green, now he resembled a yellow wax bean with brown spots. I unrolled the paper and gently scooped him off the hood and placed him on the ground where he slowly ambled off on those funny looking legs. I hope the trip was worth it!

What lessons did I learn? Not to give up! Talk about determination! Talk about persistence! If a stick bug can hold on even through 55 mph winds of adversity blowing against him, surely I can remain stedfast during my trials. (Okay, it was more like 62 mph winds.) And like the stick bug, while I’m going through adversity, prayer better be one of the first things I do.

Something else – just like the stick bug would not leave my car, God won’t leave me, either. “…for He [God] Himself has said, I will not in any way fail you nor give you up nor leave you without support. [I will] not, [I will] not, [I will] not in any degree leave you helpless nor forsake nor let [you] down (relax My hold on you)! [Assuredly not!] Hebrews 13:5, Amplified Version.

The next time life takes me for a ride up mountains and down valleys and curves come at me from nowhere, I'm going to remember that God is sticking with me.