Lord, You've Got to be Kidding

"Do not remember the past events, pay no attention to things of old. Look, I am about to do something new; even now it is coming. Do you not see it?" (Isa. 43:18-19a HCSB)

"Lord, You've got to be kidding," I said.

"No, I'm quite serious. You draw the illustrations for Chancellor Ferry's Praying Hyde," said the Lord.

"Me? But the other books have beautiful pictures by very talented artists," I said.

"I know, and this book will have simple, pen and ink cartoons by an obedient servant," said the Lord.

"Oh Lord, You'll have to help me!" I said.

The Lord smiled and said, "I always have to help you, My child."

Beloved, what impossible task is God telling you to do? Fear not! The Lord will never leave you or forsake you. The Lord is your helper (Heb. 13:5-6).

From storybook-in-the-making, Chancellor Ferry's Praying Hyde:

              Long, long ago in eighteen hundred and ninety-two, a fellow named John “Praying” Hyde

 sailed across the ocean blue to the far-away land of India.   In the depths of India's Punjab, 

the hard-of-hearing missionary labored throughout the villages from sunup to sundown - praying fervently for lost souls to turn from darkness to light, escape the devil’s clutches, and come into the everlasting arms of God. Well, as grace would have it, the Lord answered Hyde’s prayers in a powerful way and snatched hundreds from the flames of judgment.

But this story isn’t about “Praying” Hyde, the missionary. Nope. This tall tale, flavored with an ample portion of truth, is about a “praying” bug – yep, a little, brown mantis, named Norman Hyde, that lived along the Coosa River during the Great Depression of the U.S. of A.

So, what in this whole, wide world, you’re probably thinking, does the missionary Hyde in India have to do with a small-town bug Hyde in Alabama?

Well, I’m glad you asked. The story’s told that on a hot July day in the little town of Childersburg…1

1 CHANCELLOR FERRY'S PRAYING HYDE.  Copyright Jill Glassco, 2015.