Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground outside your Father’s care. And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. So don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows. (Matthew 10:29-31)

During these uncertain times, God sent Andy the Anole to remind me how much He cares for each of us. So grab a cup of coffee and hear Andy’s story…

Andy the Anole

One day as I entered our screened-in lanai, a male brown anole darted inside. He was trapped, although that was not my intention. For several days after that, as my husband Ron and I ate our meals at our table on the lanai, Andy the Anole came out of hiding more and more frequently. Sometimes he clung to the inside of our lanai screen, head raised and beady eyes peering at us. Sometimes he scurried away from us at lightning-speed across the concrete floor.

Often, he’d perch on the top of the back of one of the chairs at our table, inflating his orange dewlap and twitching his head up and down as all anoles do, warning us we were in his territory and putting on a show for any female Annie Anoles that happened to be watching. Occasionally, he’d even sit on the chair right next to us and watch us eat! Of course, we’d push his chair away from the table so he couldn’t leap across the gap and steal our food right from our plates.

We wondered how Andy was getting enough food to survive, since our lanai screen didn’t even allow bugs even as small as gnats to enter our comfortable haven. Many times, we’d try to herd Andy toward the opened door, or toward the tiny rain drains. But we only succeeded in frightening him, so that he skittered behind the siding of our lanai walls. Our neighbors, if they ever watched, must have wondered why my husband and I ranted and ran around our lanai at all hours!

Eventually, I cut the top flaps off a small cardboard Amazon box and made a separate oversized lid with another piece of cardboard. I repeatedly tried to catch Andy so that I could return him to the bountiful feast and freedom of our backyard. But since he probably thought I wanted to catch him and eat him, he kept running away! One day, I caught just his tail. I wondered if he would immediately shed it, since I know anoles can do that when trapped and in danger, but he didn’t. His four little feet scrambled furiously, and I could even see his tiny heart hammering in his sides. So I released him, and he again escaped.

But one day, as he rested on our lanai screen—wonder of wonders—I finally did capture him in the box. Elated, I slid the flat cardboard cover between the box and the screen, trapping Andy the Anole inside. The way he scratched and scurried frantically inside the box, I could tell he thought he was a goner!

As Ron and I laughed and celebrated, I carried Andy the Anole out through our lanai door to the lush grass beyond, lifting the lid and gently pouring him out onto the ground. He immediately burrowed under the foliage and disappeared. He probably thought he was so smart for having escaped the two big monsters who had held him in captivity for the past two weeks. Such a tale of courage and adventure he must have shared with all of the female Annie Anoles!

Andy the Anole and Me (And You)

In a desert land [God] found [Jacob, God’s people], in a barren and howling waste. He shielded him and cared for him; he guarded him as the apple of his eye, like an eagle that stirs up its nest and hovers over its young, that spreads its wings to catch them and carries them aloft. (Deuteronomy 32:10-11)

From Andy the Anole’s perspective, Ron and I were the enemy. And yes, we did want to trap him—but not to harm him. In the process of helping him, we scared him. In his limited lizard brain, he could never comprehend that our intention was to take him to the land where we knew he would flourish and be happy.

To a much more complex degree, I’m like that with God. I don’t understand why God allows us to be “trapped in the lanai.” I don’t understand why God allows racial tension, political unrest, and personal tragedies. I don’t understand why he allows the pandemic and all of the loss of life, health, and financial stability that resulted. I don't understand why one of my cousins died last week of COVID.

“My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the Lord. “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.” (Isaiah 55:8-9)

I resist when it feels like God is “trapping me” in those places that I don’t understand—places I don’t want to go and live. I can’t “see outside the lanai” to the good that God always sees and brings into every circumstance, as promised in His Word:

We know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. (Romans 8:28)

I don’t understand a lot of what’s happening in the world today.

Nevertheless, the Bible assure us that God knows, He cares, and He is at work. We can trust His perfect wisdom and the certain promise of His eternal love and presence with us:

God has said, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.” So we say with confidence, “The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid.” (Hebrews 13:5-6)

The Bible says that God will never leave us. Therefore, we can take courage in these trying times:

[God said,] Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go. (Joshua 1:9)

There is indeed “life outside the lanai.” It was best for Andy the Anole. It is best for us too. God’s best is the best there ever will be.

May you live in the peace and comfort of knowing that God is indeed still in control, He loves you uniquely and immeasurably, and He is working His best for you, me, Andy the Anole, and everyone else!

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