The Eagle's Nest

Years ago we were pastoring a Grace Brethren Church in Homer, Alaska. We were living in the parsonage, located on the church property, which overlooked the picturesque Kachemak Bay. Across the road was a 70 foot bluff, which towered over the bay, and the snowcapped mountains painted the backdrop. There was a tall sitka spruce that clung to the top of the bluff and mounted high, in it's top branches, was an eagle's nest.

From the parsonage window I had the joy of watching this massive bird raise her eaglets. The Lord and I fellowshipped, many a morning, over hot tea and the Word, as she fed them. What a joyous time we had together and the many lessons that He, often, drew, from outside the parsonage window, to help me better understand His Word; Isaiah 40:27-31 being one of the most precious to me. The last verse in that passage He put before my eyes in living color ~ I will never forget it!

Having watched the mother raise her eaglets over many months and, finally, sending them off on their own, we stood in the parking lot, out in front of the church, one day, as she was perched, firmly, on one of the sitka spruce's highest branches. With great force, she leaped into nothingness, her wings full spread, with all the faith that the wind currents would bring her to rest and carry her higher and to my amazement they did!

A six foot wing span she carried and that majestic bird didn't flap them once! Effortlessly, she rose, circling higher, head and eyes lifted toward her Maker, as she climbed to heaven's heights. She soared without any effort of her own, till she was just a speck in the sky. To look away, even for a moment, meant trying to find a pin hole in the sky and in that moment, God's Word pierced my heart:

"Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom. He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall, but those who hope in the Lord, will renew their strength, they will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint."

God's Word is not dusty and old, but "alive and active and sharper than any two edged sword, piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and the intentions of the heart" (Hebrews 4:12)  and that day it spoke to my heart in a way never before!

How often we trouble ourselves over the storms of this life, but how, clearly, the Lord beckons us to learn from the eagle's ways ~ to rise above the storm, mounted up on wings like eagles. Effortlessly, to rise on the gusts, brought by the storms, to the heights above, where there is stillness and rest (in Him). To lift our head to our Maker (to focus on Him) not on the storm, but to be lifted up! (Waiting on Him, trusting!) How powerful is His Word, how great is His creation and how Mighty is our God!

Some look at creation and worship it ~ I see His creation and am in AWE of it's Creator! How about you?