Operation Peacock Rescue

"What do you think?  If a man owns a hundred sheep, and one of them wanders away, will he not leave the ninety-nine on the hills and go to look for the one that wandered off?" Matthew 18:12

While this verse has always spoken to me about the care Christ shows for each child in his flock, I can now claim a deeper appreciation of this idea, thanks to my muster of peacocks.

The morning started out with rain, lots of rain.  Since we are in a drought, I welcomed the down-pour.  However, when it did not let up I began to worry about the baby peacocks we had in a small pen in our pasture.  Sure enough, when I look out from my porch, the water is rising quickly around the peachicks.  I hope the rain will stop soon.  Of course it doesn't.  So, grudgingly, I pull on my boots and slosh through the rain that is now coming down in sheets. Since the pen is only about three feet tall, I have to hunker down and crawl to the back where the babies are standing waist deep in water.  How I did it, I am not sure, but I managed to grab all eight peachicks to my chest and crawl out on my knees without dropping a single one.  Victorious, I put them in the chicken house and slam the door closed.

The rain stopped this afternoon, so I go down to the chicken house so I can recapture the peacocks and put them back up in their pen.  Amazingly, the peacocks managed to escape the chicken house and all eight were running happily after bugs around the pasture.  If you read my blog about the hawks, you will understand why I could not let them stay outside.  So for half an hour, I chase peacocks and manage to catch six.  

Two of the peacocks, in all of the commotion, managed to squeeze their bodies through the fencing and get into my dad's yard.  They huddled together and began to cry underneath the rose bushes that line the fence.  I walk around my house, down the driveway and down the road to get to the other side of the fence so I can rescue these peacocks.  For one hour, I chased and begged and even prayed, "Dear Lord, please help me catch these stupid peacocks."  Finally, I was able to grab one by the tail and that left just one, which brings me to the Bible verse at the beginning of my blog.

I walk back along the fence, up the road, down my driveway and around the house to not so nicely place the rescued peacock back into the pen with its brothers and sisters.  I contemplated just leaving the other one to fend for itself as I wiped away the blood pouring out of the open cuts on my arms and legs from the rose thorns.  

But then I heard its cry.  So back around the house, down my driveway, up the road and along the fence I went.  God must have thought I had all I could take, because just as I get to the peacock, he (or she, I don't know which yet) popped back through the fence and landed back in the pasture.  So back along the fence, up the road, down my driveway and around the house I went and was able to grab the peacock and shove it back in the pen.  

Could have I ignored the cries of the baby, helpless and scared in the midst of the thorns?  I could have, but as much as I hate to admit it, I love that silly peacock.  Did it get itself in that mess to begin with?  Yes.  But that didn't matter.  I cared for the peacock and had to rescue it. 

I am a lot like that peacock.  God tries to rescue me from the messes I get myself into and I tend to fight Him every step of the way, thinking it is better among the thorns.  But because God loves me and you as much as He does, there will never be a time that He abandons us.  He will stay with us amongst the thorns as long as it takes until we allow Him to catch us and safely return us to our home with Him.