The other night, as I ventured out of my home, I bumped into the Bible College Cat. He is a formidable force in the area. A large tabby cat, fat and fluffy, the entire College Campus belongs to him. As I walked past I gave him a pat and said God Bless you. He does his role, keeps vermin away and aggressively defends the entire region from other stray cats. Unfortunately, as is the case with most felines, he also likes birds.
About 30 minutes later I returned home to a strange sight. A little fake bird was sitting near the cat. I did a double take to discover it wasn’t fake at all - it was actually a real baby bird. Sitting terrified, as it stared at the world’s largest lion (namely the tabby cat). I walked over and picked him up, shooing the cat away. He was petrified, obviously the cat had found him, beat him up and was simply tormenting him before the kill. I suppose for a cat catching a bird is a blessing!
He was a baby Kookaburra, a fairly rare native Australian bird. A very special bird indeed. Thankfully he was not badly hurt, though he was frightened and pecked my hand as hard as he could. I brought him inside and got a box, filled it with some soft rags and put him into his new home. I then thought what do I do now? I prayed He would get better then looked up on the internet what to feed baby Kookaburras. Isn’t that always what silly humans do to terrified creatures? Offer them food!
He wasn’t hungry. He continually eyed me with suspicion the whole night. If I got up his eyes were on me like a hawk (no joke intended). I was something completely foreign to him and thus he would peck at me whenever I came near him. His little beak latching onto my hand -hard. I would laugh and tell him I’m not going to hurt you, however, he was intent on really giving my hand a good going over.
I sat down and wondered what God was trying to teach me from this little bird. I closed my eyes, bowed my head and prayed. As I did so a tear came to my eye and the following profound wisdom flowed from heaven.
You are like the little bird. The cat was Satan. I come along and pull you away from his torment. You fear me though for you do not understand me. In fear you turn to anger and even bite the hand that feeds you. But I am bigger than your bite. It doesn’t effect me, my love for you is much greater than that. I understand your inability to understand me. I am beyond your understanding, I am so vast, so powerful and so loving, in my presence you can only tremble if I draw near. But, as you learn my ways I protect you. I cage you to keep you away from sin and all that harms you. When you try to fly you are not ready yet. Thus I surround you with my care until you heal. When you are ready I let you go – and then... you fly. Free as a bird.
Eventually you too will be like me for I will be in you. Other people will fear you for you have become my child. They too will latch onto to you and hurt you. But just as you were with the bird, you must rise above their pain and continue loving them. Do not let the pecking of their beak effect your heart. Forgive them for just like the little bird – they do not know what they do. For they do not understand – yet.
If anyone thinks that the wisdom above came from a mere human they are kidding themselves. I am simply not that smart I promise you. I knew in my heart God had spoken to me through this little bird. And His message matched perfectly with scripture – turning the cheek, forgiving - rising above, freedom from sin, Christ’s work in pulling us away from Satan, it was all in the story of this little bird.
I sat amazed. The following day I sought out an animal shelter. You won’t believe this – the name of the shelter was 'Native Ark' and it was on Hope rd! As I entered the place I showed them my baby Kookaburra.
They preceded to tell me “oh no it’s not a Kookaburra, it is part of the Kookaburra family; however, this one - is a King FISHER”
The King of Fishers - The Christ – The fisher of men.
God Bless
