Chapter 4 - The Letter to the Foxes

About the time that Sammy the Skunk was reading his letter to the turkeys, Tanya the Turtle was steadily making her way to the foxes. Now, turtles are normally pretty slow when it comes to getting places. However, Tanya was so urgent to get Jesus’ letter to the foxes that she had decided to pull her socks and tennis shoes out of her shell and jog the journey. As she jogged, she began to sing to a familiar tune. “Over the river and through the woods,” she sang, “to Flashy Fox Den I go, with bells on my shell and some paint on my nails and sock fuzz in my toes!” Apparently, Tanya the Turtle had gotten some white fuzzies from her socks stuck between her toes! Has that ever happened to you? If there are a lot of fuzzy things stuck between your toes, it can be hard to ignore, especially on a jog through the woods.

As Tanya the Turtle kept jogging, suddenly the Holy Spirit began to remind her of a time five years earlier when God had spoken a strong word of discipline to her. At the time, Tanya had been very busy at her church. She was involved in children’s ministry, evangelistic outreaches, home groups, and many fund-raisers. However, without her realizing it, as Tanya got busier and busier, her simple love and devotion to Jesus had grown weaker and weaker. Instead of giving over and above her tithe out of a cheerful heart, she began giving only five percent out of a grudging heart. Instead of giving sacrificially to missions or to the poor out of her abundant supply, she began buying fancier clothes and fancier finger-nail polish for herself. Instead of boldly declaring the gospel with the lost despite whatever opposition it might bring, she began to shy away from using the name “Jesus” with her unbelieving friends and co-workers. During this time, the Holy Spirit spoke to her one night from Revelation 2:4-5. “Tanya,” the Holy Spirit whispered, “you have forsaken your first love. Repent, and do the things you did at first.” When the Holy Spirit spoke this to her, Tanya wept and wept in repentance. Then the next day she went to the bank, withdrew all the money she had in savings, and gave it to a local mission working with the homeless. Now free from the fear of man, she also came out of her shell and became a traveling evangelist, sharing the good news of Jesus wherever the Spirit might send her.

As Tanya the Turtle remembered how much freedom God had brought to her own life through the fire of His discipline, she prayed for the foxes, that God would also open their hearts to the message in the envelope. Truly, she herself knew how hard it could be sometimes to receive a word of discipline. However, she also knew that in the end God’s discipline always produces good and lasting fruit.

Finally, after many hours of jogging, Tanya arrived at Flashy Fox Den. Flashy Fox Den was located in a large cave, and each Sunday morning and Wednesday night foxes came from miles and miles around to attend services there. When Tanya the Turtle first laid eyes on Flashy Fox Den, it was a Wednesday night, and thousands of foxes were making their way into the cave. By far, Flashy Fox Den was the flashiest place she had ever seen. Located all around the den were shining, dazzling lights of different colors. The lights shone in such a way that they made everyone in the den feel relaxed and comfortable. In one part of the den free coffee and hot lattes were brewing for first-time visitors. In another part of the den a good number of foxes were browsing a bookstore with the latest best-sellers. Many in the bookstore were excitedly flipping through the pages of a book just recently published by their own Fox Den leader, Flashy Freddy. The book was called How to Make Your Fox Den the Biggest and Flashiest in Town in Just Five Flashy Days. On the back of the book was a picture of Flashy Freddy smiling with a slick hairdo and a cool, sly grin ,on his face. Throughout Flashy Fox Den soothing music was playing in the background. And everywhere Tanya looked, she saw foxes dressed in fancy, flashy clothes greeting each other and shaking tails.

The service was about to start, and Tanya slowly made her way into the sanctuary located toward the back of the den. After entering the sanctuary, she sat down next to a small family of foxes who smiled at her. “Good evening, Ms. Turtle,” the Daddy Fox said. “My name is Fabian Fox. Is this your first time with us?” 

“Why, yes it is,” Tanya replied with a smile. “I must say, this den is the flashiest place I have ever seen.”

“Well, just three months ago,” one of the foxes began, “we here at Flashy Fox Den raised three million dollars and made some major renovations. You see those big red flashing lights over there? We just put those in last week.”

“Three million dollars?” Tanya said, staring at the fox with wide eyes. “Wow, that sure seems like a lot of money to invest in big flashy red lights. How much did your den have left to spend on sending out workers into the harvest fields?”

“Well,” Daddy Fox said with a slight look of embarrassment on his face, “after we put the flashy red lights in, we decided to build a family fox life center with a nice basketball court for the kiddos. That left us with about $300 for missions, which we divided three ways between the three fox missionaries that we support.”

Tanya stared at the Fox in disbelief. “Whatever is happening in this den,” she thought to herself, “something is certainly not right here. Do these foxes not read the Bible? If they have placed all their treasures in flashy red lights, where then are their hearts?”

Just as the fox finished saying this, suddenly the lights in the sanctuary became dim, and all the flashy lights in the sanctuary began to flash. Then out onto the stage at the front of the sanctuary came five of the flashiest foxes you have ever seen. The five foxes grabbed their instruments and for the next five minutes led the congregation in worship. Tanya, who was used to basking slowly in the Lord’s presence for extended amounts of time, had just closed her eyes when the worship time ended. “Is the Lord of glory who gave His life for us not worthy of an offering of love more honorable than this?” she began to wonder to herself as an empty feeling crept into her stomach.

Tanya then leaned over to Fabian Fox and whispered a question to him. “Excuse me Fabian, I don’t mean to pry,” Tanya said shyly, “but do you mind to tell me why the worship time was so short?”

“Well, we are on a tight schedule here at Fancy Fox Den. Last year we decided to just keep on building this Den bigger and bigger. As more and more foxes came, we just didn’t have any room for them all anymore, and so we went to three services. Because of that, we just don’t have much time to worship these days. Anyhow, Flashy Freddy says that it is important to keep the service well-timed and polished. We’d hate to make foxes mad, he says, by making them late for lunch or dinner.”

“Oh, I see,” Tanya replied quietly in disbelief. “Well, do you mind if I ask you another question?”

“Shoot,” Fabian Fox said.

“This is a Christian Fox Den, isn’t it?” Tanya asked. 

“Yes, it is,” the fox replied.

“Well, if this is a Christian Fox Den,” Tanya continued, “then why do the songs we just sang have nothing to do with Jesus or the gospel?”

“Well,” Fabian Fox whispered, once again looking a little embarrassed, “Flashy Freddy says that our goal here at Flashy Fox Den is to be as relevant as possible for the modern generation. We don’t want to sing or preach anything that might offend those who attend or make them feel uncomfortable. Loss of foxes means loss of money, and loss of money means loss of relevance. In today’s world you’ve got to be clever, witty, and flashy to play the game. Or so we’re told.”

Then suddenly Flashy Freddy got up on the stage. He was dressed in a flashy black leather jacket and started strutting around the stage in a flashy way, waving and smiling at all the foxes as they clapped and cheered. Flashy Freddy had the smoothest sounding voice you’ve ever heard. For the next ten minutes, he preached a friendly, polished five-point sermon on sound principles of flashy finances. Though he held a Bible as he talked, Flashy Freddy did not open it a single time.

Just as Freddy was about to start talking about how keeping millions of dollars in savings is good stewardship and not hoarding, Tanya the Turtle suddenly felt the Holy Spirit telling her that it was time for her to share the message in the envelope. As she got up out of her seat and walked up to the stage, all the foxes, including Flashy Freddy, became silent and stared at her. When she reached the stage, she looked up at Flashy Freddy and whispered politely, “Excuse me, Flashy Freddy, I was wondering if I could have a few minutes to read a letter from Jesus to the foxes. I promise that it is a very relevant message for this den in this hour.”

For a brief moment Flashy Freddy felt awkward and didn’t know what to do. However, not wanting to offend this first-time turtle visitor, he regained his composure, looked at the crowd, and said, “Fox family, it seems that we have a guest speaker here today. She has a message that is very relevant for us. Please, Ms. Turtle, come up here and share your story with us. We love stories. We think the Bible tells a wonderful meta-narrative.”

“A meta-what?” Tanya the Turtle thought to herself as she stepped onto the stage in a slow and non-flashy way. When she first got on stage, all the flashy lights blinded her. “Flashy Freddy,” she asked, “would you mind to turn off those flashy lights for just a few minutes so I can read this letter.” Flashy Freddy then motioned a signal over to the foxes at the light board, and they turned the flashy lights off and turned the regular lights on. As the room lit up, Tanya now saw the faces of all the foxes in the sanctuary. They were sitting on the edge of their seats waiting to hear what she had to say. “Wow,” Tanya thought to herself with alarm as she kept looking at the foxes, “these poor foxes look like they are starving and haven’t eaten anything of substance for years!”

Then Tanya opened her envelope and pulled out Jesus’ letter to the foxes. When she did so, the Holy Spirit came upon her and she began to read the letter boldly:

Dear Foxes,

First, I want to say that I love you very much. And it is for that very reason that I, Jesus, have a few things I must tell you. For many years now I have been inviting this den to become a shining light in the Western Woods. However, even though the lights in your den have become flashier and flashier, the light of truth has grown dimmer and dimmer in your midst. Even though your buildings have become bigger and bigger, your love for Me has grown smaller and smaller. You say that you do what you do for the sake of “excellence.” However, you are not excellent in the things that I care about most. Your family fox life centers are not centers of life, but dens of thieves. For when My servants, whom I have called to the harvest fields, are forced to come to your doors as beggars, is it not Me that you are robbing? Is it not the lost that you are cheating? Is it not the idol of greed that you are serving? And when you preach, do you dare water-down My Holy Word, which is sharp, living, and active, in the name of relevance and for the purpose of building your own kingdoms? When your messages do not line up with My truth, are you not trampling on the precious pearl of My gospel like pigs? Are you not feeding My sheep with chaff and not grain? Are you not peddling the Word of God for profit? Are you not acting like cunning foxes still trapped in deceit and trickery?

O foxes, the hour is urgent! I am the Bridegroom and the Judge, and I am coming soon! I will examine the motives and secrets of all My creatures. False shepherds will be exposed, and false agendas will be brought low. All else besides your standing before Me on that Day is irrelevant. My dear foxes, you are not yet ready for My appearing. However, I am not giving up on you! And because of that, I must discipline you to get you on the narrow path and prepare you to rule faithfully at My side in My coming kingdom. In but a few days, I am going to send fire to the Western Woods, and in a moment all your flashy falsehood will be burned up in the flames. When this happens, flee to the Great Oak. There you will find healing and truth for the days ahead.

Love,

Jesus

When Tanya finished reading her letter, some of the foxes in Flashy Fox Den began to weep in repentance. Others, however, became offended and angry. Flashy Freddy on his part was trembling. Two ushers quickly moved to the stage and began to escort Tanya the Turtle out of Flashy Fox Den. As they did so, one of them uttered to himself, “Oh my, the offering is going to be low today. How are we going to pay the electric bill this month? These flashy lights are killing our budget!” 

When they reached the entrance of Flashy Fox Den, they politely pointed Tanya the Turtle to the doors. As she left the den, the two ushers locked the doors behind her. As Tanya stared at Fancy Fox Den from the outside, a tear came to her eye and she began to pray. “Father, just as You have had mercy on me, the most lukewarm of all turtles, have mercy on these foxes whom You love,” she said. “Prepare them to become pillars in Jesus’ temple in His coming kingdom.” Then shaking the dust off her feet, Tanya the Turtle began the journey back to the Great Oak.