As Eagles or Chooks

I photographed this Wedge -Tailed Eagle chick sitting on its platform nest about 7 metres from the ground in a White Cyprus Pine tree on a farm we had in Western N.S.W. This fledgling was born to join the other Eagles and spend a good part of its life gliding up near the clouds so when it is completely feathered its mother will wait for a day when the warm air is rising and will push the young bird off the nest so it can make use of the thermal and circle up to take its rightful place as master of the skies.

There is a story about another farmer in the U.S.A. who climbed a tree to look as I did, but found that the egg in the nest hadn’t hatched yet. So for a joke he took the egg and placed it under a chook he had, that was sitting on eggs. When it hatched out the eagle chick didn’t look anything like the other chickens but apparently the chook didn’t worry and attended to it as best she could, although the farmer had to feed it a bit . As it grew it waddled around the messy chook yard with the chooks and chickens as they scratched in the dirt and ate the scraps the farmer provided.

One day, when it was well grown, it heard a screech above as another eagle circled over the yard. All the chooks took fright and ran for cover, but not so the young eagle; instinctively he recognised that “call” and knew he belonged up there with that circling eagle and when he heard another screech of encouragement he ran down the yard flapping his wings and like an aeroplane on a runway he became airborne and in a hot updraft of air glided up over the chook yard fence and circled up to the one calling him who was very likely his rightful mother. From that height he would have been able to see things in their correct perspective: there was the dirty little chook yard with his associates scratching in the dirt. (most unimpressive), next to their yard was a Lucerne paddock just coming into flower, beside it a magnificent yellow Canola field backed by a lovely green forest, inviting blue hills in the distance, a sparkling river running by, and sheep and cattle grazing contentedly. The thought of living in that degrading mess, would have now horrified him, so one thing we do know and that is that he would never go back there because he now knew where he belonged.

As I read the News Paper or watch T.V. it upsets me to see so many young people settling for a messy “Chook Yard” type of life because they don’t realise that they are rightly “Children of God, and if children then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ”(Romans 8:17) and fail to hear God’s “call” or realise that Jesus not only offers them forgiveness for any sin they have committed so they can claim that inheritance mentioned above,(if they believe on Him), but he has also “Gone to prepare a place for them” in Heaven. He said “There are many mansions there” designed to be our Eternal home; so the future is assured for those who are prepared to claim their inheritance.

What about the here and now? Well “all things work together for good for those that love God” and commit themselves to Christ: Isaiah in chapter 40 and verses 29, 30, and 31 says: “He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might he increases strength. Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall: but they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall rise up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.”

The words that I have highlighted here indicate what we can expect when we sincerely put our faith in God; and I know it works because I claim it every day; whilst the un- highlighted sentence in the middle of the quote is what we can expect if God is left out of our lives. Before I close let me quote from the Epistle of James (who was apparently Jesus earthly brother).Chapter 1, Verse 5: “If any of you lack wisdom. Let him ask of God.....and it shall be given him...but let him ask in faith, nothing wavering”. Of course “Faith comes from hearing, and hearing from the Word of God”. So we need to read the New Testament and “hear” what it is saying.   Best wishes with that,   Tom.