The Rooster Crows

All three gospels record the denial of Christ by Peter but only Mark says before the rooster crows twice you will deny me three times. The other three say that “before the rooster crows” you will deny me three times. I’m not sure that makes a lot of difference but it was a thought that was brought on by the rooster that crows here in Nakuru, Kenya. However, this rooster crows at odd times of the night and morning.

Usually roosters crow at daybreak. So we assume that the rooster crowed at daybreak on the morning of Peter’s denial. If the rooster there was anything like the rooster in Peter’s day it could have been at 2 AM in the morning. That was the pattern when we first got here in Nakuru. Nellie has a rooster that crows whenever it feels so inclined to crow. And yes, it crows several times at night and through the morning hours as well.

Abba and Amma said that it probably knew we were new to the house (we’ve been here before) and so it was welcoming us. Good try but I know better I believe. I believe it was reminding us that we were here for the Lord and not our own plans or desires. This is perfectly fine with me. I have gotten used to the rooster crowing now and I don’t hear it when I am suppose to be sleeping. I hear it at about 5:30 when Beatie starts the pump and that’s ok because I need to get up and get moving soon after that.

There are roosters back in the village. They seem to do better at keeping time than this rooster. Sunrise is an appropriate time to crow. I don’t think I was as aware of them as I am this one. This one stays in a garage all the time. He lives in a cage. Maybe he is disgruntled about the living arrangements. I would be. So I guess I shouldn’t be too hard on him about the crowing. His hip or legs probably get cramped like mine and he is just showing his disapproval and discomfort from time to time.

The thing I most felt was important about the rooster crowing is that we associate the rooster with a wakeup call. You get those at Motels when you travel. But you get those from God, too. He wakes us up to things that are not right in our lives.

Sometimes it’s a rooster. Sometimes it’s your spouse. Other times it’s a friend or even a stranger. He can use difficult times and boring times to give us a wakeup call. Whatever the case may be, He does call us up to a higher place with him. To walk a higher walk: to be careful about the way we walk in this life He has given us.

Lately he has been working on me and my methods of communication. Emails are not my strong points. Chat seems to be very frustrating. Phone calls work so far. I’m not sure how God is going to help me in those areas or if he is intending to. What he has given me so far is a wakeup call. Let’s call it “The Rooster Crows”. I have a way of writing and texting and chatting that does not fulfill the needs of others or me in the line of communication. I no longer have a FaceBook account and I am being careful about who I chat with.

My recent failure at email has been a double-header, maybe even a triple with my friends and brothers in Christ. I sincerely hope that God’s grace can fill them up for the lack in me. I really love them and want them to be able to communicate with me via letters and chat often. I am sure God will find me a way through all this bungling of words. Thank God for spell check. It would be ten times worse if it were not for that. None-the-less, I am praying that this post will not confuse anyone and be plainly speaking to hearts that need a wakeup call from God.

Why do I say that? Because I believe each and every one of us needs a wakeup call from time to time. The rooster crows and we may be sleeping through it. God may be trying to get our attention and we are not paying attention. We may be too busy living our own lives, filled with our own dreams and desires to hear Him.

So I leave you with this. Pay attention to the circumstances around you. Things happen for a reason. Maybe you are being sloppy about the way you are living your life, maybe you are caught up in some fleshly desire that is occupying all your time you should be using for God. Movies, music, eating out, video games, consumption of elements that alter your thinking or other things that just plain waste your time away from accomplishing the living of God’s life. Pay attention.

A good exercise for a week or so would be to write down what you spend your time doing and how much of that time is consumed with that activity. It can give you a heads up on where you are at with your thinking and doing. If that doesn’t seem practical, ask your friends, housemates, spouse or kids what they think you do the most. Things are more real when you look through the eyes of others. Don’t be afraid to take a good look and let God wake you up to some things.

OK, I have to go now. I hear the Rooster Crowing again. Time to post this and remind you that I am asking for your prayers and input. May God bless you and give you His rest.