Yesterday I was making my bed when I glanced out the window. I noticed that our "Chicken Jake" was outside trying to catch something that looked a bit like a crane. I called Michael over to ask him what in the world was HIS son trying to do. I was on the verge of opening the window to scold Jacob for not being where he was suppose to be. At that moment, we saw Jacob run from the "crane" with a large rock in is hand. He was heading back up to the house to ask a question. Michael quickly opened the window and told Jacob to throw the rock hard at the crane. Jacob is a wonderful baseball player, and he used his skills quite well to hit the "crane". I was still confused at this point. (I am a bit slower at identifying birds and animals. I spent the first 6 months of my life in Tennessee thinking that guineas were turkeys. You can imagine my husband's laughter when I announced that it would be good turkey hunting in our neighbor's flock of guineas!) When the "crane" flew away, I saw our Henny Penny chicken on the ground not moving. Our chickens will often play dead when there is a threat. I have seen many a "dead" chicken get up and walk away. I yelled through the screen and asked Jacob if she was playing dead. He shook his head and said, "I don't think so. Her head seems to be missing". The "crane" was actually a hawk that decided we had a nice chicken buffet running around in our yard. This chicken was one of the aggravating chickens. She did not like staying in the electric fence with the other chickens. She was always flying over the fence in search for something better somewhere else. Jacob and Michael had caught her many times and put her back with the others, but she always got out again by the next day. She was our most productive egg layer. We got in the habit of looking for her eggs in the barn, and she rarely disappointed us.
I hated to see that stupid chicken killed by the hawk. I was thinking about how stupid she had been. After all, we had purchased her a nice boundary fence that kept her safe, but she refused to stay there. We had a nice coop she could have laid her eggs in, but she refused to use that which was provided for her. She just had to do things her way...which resulted in her head being pulled off! That is when the Lord spoke to my heart...am I really any different than the stupid chicken? Don't I want to do things my own way instead of His? Doesn't my own way seem productive at times, but in the end it always results in disaster. Ouch, the Lord used a dead chicken to convict me of my own sin. I am so thankful that God uses real life situations to show me His ways. I will also take the time today to talk to Jacob about the folly of his beloved Henny Penny. It will be a lesson easily remembered for him as he was the one who took her dead body to the woods.
Last night, Jacob came in the house with his pockets full and a smile on his face. I asked what he had in his pockets and his smile became bigger. He started pulling out eggs. Henny Penny had left 9 eggs in the garden bed right next the safe enclosed pen. I see another Bible lesson for our Chicken Jake here!!
grace and peace,
julie
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