[Faith-talk] Daily Thought for Saturday, July 26, 2014

[Paul]

Hello and good day for the second time today, the day before we all corporately worship our Lord and Savior in our respective churches.  Of course, as this is being written you in New Zealand are no doubt getting ready, and you in the Land Down Under are not far behind, depending on where you live.  For the rest of us, we have a way to go.  I do hope and pray that you are all doing well, by God's matchless grace and His providential care.

Do you like to hear about the activities of birds, and specifically hummingbirds? Well, Bonnie Brockway of Arizona has an article presented for the first time last year entitled "Take It To The Cross," rendered as follows:

"Look at the birds of the air ... and yet your heavenly Father feeds them.  Are you not of more value than they? And can any of you by worrying add a single hour to your span of life?" (Mattthew 6:26)

Recently, I've learned a giant lesson in humility.  It involves a little hummingbird who built a tiny nest on a very small cross wind chime hanging on my patio.

There are bigger wind chimes hanging there, but for some reason she chose the cross.  Fascinating to watch, she would bring little bits of things, poke them in place with her beak, and then tamp them down with her feet.  When the nest was built, about three feet from my French doors leading to the patio, she would sit in the nest.  I talked to her all the time and she became so tame, she didn't flinch or move when I opened or closed the patio doors.

She sat there many days and nights, barely moving.  Two days ago, two tiny little beaks peaked out of the nest.  The mama now sits on the edge of the nest and tends to her babies.  Too little to chirp or fly yet, their little raw pink necks stretch out for her.

Witnessing this, I felt God in the process and I was humbled.  Why do I worry so about external things? Why do I fuss and fume and search for answers? God is in everything (Prov. 3:5-6)! This little bird selected a tiny cross on which to build her nest.  She trusted me, a great big human seated not far from her, to not destroy her nest or cause her harm as she laid her precious little eggs.  The lesson here is ... take it to the cross! There is no reason to fear life if our foundation is the cross.  God is big and we are small, but God will protect our "nests," our beings, our life if we just even the trust of this tiny little hummingbird, the faith of a mustard seed (Matt. 17:20).

I have wept watching this little bird trust me enough to build a nest before my very eyes, so close to me, to sit there day after day, unafraid and patient, and then to feed those minuscule little upturned beaks.

I know that if God cares for birds such as these, He cares for me so much more (Phil. 4:19).

In the quiet of my patio, talking gently to this little bird, I am overcome with the love that God has for me, for you, and this little new family of birds, through the cross that Jesus died to save us.  I feel privileged to have witnessed this miracle.

And there you have Bonnie's article which I hope was a blessing to you today.

I read years ago that the average hummingbird is about the size, if not the shape, of a U.S. quarter, and yet this little creature of God migrates across the Gulf of Mexico each spring or summer, some 500 miles or 800 kilometers across.  Could we do that? Not without an expensive contraption called a boat or plane.  It is so awesome to think that, if God cares enough for hummingbirds and other creatures, that He also cares for us.  And take a look at the Arctic tern which, from what I've read, has the longest migration of any bird on earth, going from the frozen north to deep within South America.  Now I don't know how large or small the tern is, but I do know that, barring any difficulties along the way, they somehow know where and how to go, and all that without a compass, sextant or astrolabe.  My but it's so awesome to think about it.

And now may the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob just keep us safe, individually and collectively, in these last days in which we live.  Don't forget that tomorrow, Lord willing, the weekly Bible trivia game will be forthcoming.  Your Christian friend and brother, Paul