Mushroom in the Rain

One day a little ant was walking along, when big drops of rain started to fall from the sky. He found a tiny mushroom, and decided to crawl under the mushroom and wait until the storm was over. Oh, it was a mighty storm! But under the soft, cushiony mushroom, the little ant stayed dry and warm.
A butterfly spotted the mushroom, and decided that it would be the perfect place to hide from the storm. When he got to the mushroom, he realized the ant had beaten him there.
“Please, begged the butterfly. Let me come in under the mushroom. I’m weary of my traveling. I’m all wet, and my wings are so tired. I simply cannot fly anymore. I fear I will die in this storm.”
“Well, there’s barely enough room for me under here, but I’ll scoot over,” said the little ant, and he moved aside to let the butterfly in.
Then, a little birdie hopped up to the mushroom. “Please, let me come in under the mushroom from the storm.” The little bird pleaded. “My wing is broken, I can’t fly, and I’m drenched to the bone.” The ant and the butterfly moved over as much as they could, and the bird squeezed in with them.
After a while, a rabbit hopped up to the mushroom. The rabbit was out of breath. “Oh please hide me from the fox!” He panted, “He’s been chasing me, he wants to eat me for dinner, and I have no where to hide.”
“Hurry! Come in out of the storm,” said the ant, “We’ll, hide you.”
It rained, and it poured. They thought it would never stop. Finally , after it seemed like forever, the sun peeked out from the clouds. The ant, the butterfly, the bird, and the rabbit all came out from under the mushroom.
“I don’t understand,” said the ant to the others. “When the rain started, there was barely enough room for me under that mushroom, and now look how many came out from underneath it.”
An old, slow turtle, who was passing by, over heard what the little ant said. “Silly ant,” said the wise old turtle. “Don’t you know what happens to a mushroom when it rains?”
Do you know what happens to a mushroom when it rains? That’s right, IT GROWS!
Do you know that Jesus Christ is just like that mushroom? And you can be like the little ant if you want to be.
Let’s look at the butterfly, the bird, and the rabbit as three different types of sinners in the world today.
First there was the butterfly. The butterfly is a beautiful creature. But being beautiful won’t get you through the storms of life. That butterfly was weary of traveling, and she was so tired and worn out. Her wings were wet and heavy. She was tossed to and fro by the wind. She would have died in that storm if the ant hadn’t let her in under the mushroom. You know, when I think of the butterfly, it makes me think of this verse in the Bible, Matthew 11:28-30. It says, “Come unto me, all ye that labour, and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.
There are sinners out there who need to know that there is a shelter in the time of storm. They need us to invite them in under our soft, warm mushroom. There’s plenty of room under our shelter for them. They’ll die if we don’t let them in. And just because they seem like they’re beautiful, carefree, and happy doesn’t mean they don’t need our shelter. They’re not going to be able make it through if they don’t have a shelter from the storms of life.
Next there was the bird. This one’s my favorite. Every since I was a little girl, I always seemed to enjoy finding all the wounded and sick animals and nurse them back to health. I always seemed to be attracted to the hurt, maimed, sick, and the wounded. Now that I’m older, it has changed from animals to people. Although I still love caring for animals a great deal, animals don’t have souls like humans. They won’t spend eternity in Hell Fire like humans will. For animals are not sinners like us. Animals are my passion though. I learn more spiritually from animals than I do humans, and animals can make much better friends than most humans do.
Well, let’s get back to the bird. The bird had a broken wing, and couldn’t fly. He needed to be under the shelter of the mushroom so he could dry out and get warm. When I think of the wounded bird, I’m reminded of this verse in Luke 4. It’s verse 18 which says, The spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the broken hearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised. The Bible also says in Psalms 51:17 “A broken and contrite heart, o God, thou will not despise.”
If a person comes to God broken hearted, he’ll take them under his wing, he won’t despise them. We should be more than willing to help the broken, the wounded, and the sick find shelter in the time of storm. They need to get under that warm, dry mushroom as much as we do, if not more so.
This little birdie reminds me of my Mother. My Mother’s dad would sometimes come home drunk. She would often watch him beat on her mother. But it didn’t stop there. He would beat on my mother, and her brother’s and sister’s. There was no peace in her home at all, just heartache and strife. Then one day a neighbor asked my mother to go to a revival meeting with her. My mother was so tired and weary from the storms of life. She was broken, as broken could be. She was desperately looking for the shelter. She found the shelter that night at the revival meeting. Thank God for that neighbor. I don’t know who she was. I’d sure like to thank her for showing my mother where the shelter was. It was through my mother’s testimony that my Dad was saved. And all her children didn’t have to go far to find the shelter, that’s for sure. That neighbor has no idea how many lives she’s touched, or how many souls have been led to the shelter, just because she invited my mother to go to church with her.
If you are saved, the spirit of the Lord is upon you. Why? To preach the gospel. That means to simply show lost sinners where the shelter is. The verse also says, “He hath sent me to heal the broken hearted.” How can we do that? We can only heal the broken hearted through God’s word. Yes, God’s word can heal. It can kill the germs. It can cleans away all the dirt and filth in our wounds. It also works like an antibiotic ointment. God’s word can heal a broken heart like nothing else can. We can also set the captives free through God’s word, and recover sight to the blind. The Bible says in 2 Timothy 2:15 “Study, to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.” We can be fully equipped to heal the broken hearted, to set the captives free, and to cause the blind to see, if we study God’s word.
Then there’s the rabbit who was running from the fox. This little rabbit reminds me of my husband. He was lost in the world without God, and without hope. He roomed with some young men who became deeply involved in drugs, and Satanism. They began to try to take my husbands life. So my husband began to run from them. He was on the run from the devil when he ran into Jim Hill, who led him to the shelter, Jesus Christ. My husband was desperately searching for shelter that day. He was longing to be hid from the sharp fangs of the devil. The Bible says that the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.
Praise God, like the rabbit, my husband found the shelter that day. There’s a beautiful song in which the chorus goes like this.

“Oh, Rock of Ages, hide thou me.
No other refuge have I but thee.
In life’s dark vail I wondered far, far from thee.
Then I cried oh Rock of Ages, hide thou me.”

Under that mushroom, I’m safe from the foxes, and the wolves. Those savage creatures would have to tare apart the mushroom in order to get to me. Praise God, I’m under the protection of my savior Jesus Christ. In him, there is no darkness. The storms may rage all around me, but I’m warm and dry. The devil may search for me, but I’m safely hid under my shelter.
There’s one other thing in closing. You know, there’s enough room under that shelter for everyone. No one has to stand out in the storm. And the good thing is, that shelter just grows and grows. There’s no shortage of God’s love. With every storm, that mushrooms just grows bigger.