Don't Eat Like a Bird: Finding Christ before the storm hits

Some more thoughts about the birds and the birdfeeder on our deck… If you haven’t read the other posts, you can read them here and here.

Here are the two pictures I took of the birdfeeder on the deck. Let’s pretend this is a children’s magazine – what do you see that is different between these two pictures?

The first picture is from the article I wrote about the birds eating cat food instead of the food that was intended for them. When I wrote it, the weather was still mild, especially for January. The second photo is from the article about different kinds of birds coming to the feeder. At that time, we had just experienced a snowstorm. In each of those articles I compared the birdfeeder to a church. Just as the birds come to the feeder to be fed, Christians go to church to be fed the truth of the Bible. That truth is available for everyone.

I now have a new thought about those birds. Why do they wait until the storms come in order to come to the feeder? The food was available - ready and waiting - ever since Christmas. (How ironic – that is when the Word became available to us as well.)

“The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth” (John 1:14)

However, this article is about the storms. When a snowstorm hits, the birds come to the feeder. The snow has covered the seeds on the ground, and they can’t find any food. Sadly, we do the same thing. We scrounge for “food” on our own, trying to make it without any help and thinking we are entirely self-sufficient. Eventually, however, the storms do come. During those times we realize we aren’t quite as self-sufficient as we thought we were. We go in search for real food - or real truth. Jesus wants us to come to Him anytime, all the time. We shouldn’t try to work through the problems on our own and then when we finally realize they are bigger than we can handle, turn them over to Him.

As I sit here writing this, forecasters on the radio are predicting record-breaking snowfall during the next 24-48 hours with life-threatening winds. A different kind of storm came this past weekend as life-threatening illness invaded my family. Political storms are raging in Egypt. Spiritual storms. Economic storms. Around the world, they are all growing.

However, the radio message of a massive storm was followed by a different kind of message through the words of Chris Tomlin in his song, “I Will Rise.”

There’s a peace I’ve come to know

Though my heart and flesh may fail

There’s an anchor for my soul

I can say, “It is well”

Jesus has overcome

And the grave is overwhelmed

The victory is won

He is risen from the dead

Click here to read the continuing story in the saga of the bird feeder.