Last weekend I was doing some brush cutting and cleanup and found some trash that I needed to pick up as well during the fun. As I was kneeling down putting some of it into a trash bag I heard a small “Pop”. Wondering what it was I raised my head and almost instantly a Hawk fell right beside my leg. Not being something that I have occur very often, several things ran through my mind rather quickly. Number (1) “What in the World Just Happened?” Number (2) Was the bird ok, shot, did it just run into an invisible force field around an alien space craft? Number (3) Or perhaps (and this one is the winning answer) had he run into the power lines above where I was working? Looking up I saw that the lines were moving, so the small Pop I had heard was the electrical discharge that was enough to pluck him from the sky.
The Hawk looked as if he were a middle aged overweight man sitting on the beach. His legs were straight out in front of him, his tail folded underneath and his wings were at angles out to each side. His head was looking straight forward and he was probably thinking….ummmm whut juz happind??? As he sat there for a few seconds I slowly stroked across his feathers and gathered his wings in closer to his body. After a short time he rotated his head around and looked at me. Then with a couple of blinks of his eyes and the cry that sends chills through the hearts of small rodents everywhere, he sprung once again into the sky flying several feet away and into the top of a pine. He was still a bit rattled and clumsy but within moments he had once again taken his place in the wild blue yonder to soar and hunt again.
Not knowing exactly what goes through the mind of a hawk, aside from natural instincts, I think I can almost 100% guarantee that running into a power line and being zapped was not on his list of “Things to do Today”. As with our own lives “The best laid plans of man” rarely contain the long lists of unexplained happenings that can occur at any given moment. We fly along in our routines, our daily plans to take over our worlds, giving very little thought to those things which can so quickly stop us dead in our tracks! Probably very few of us have seen all of our hopes and dreams come about in our progress of life. Some have seen wonderful blessings one day and life changing hardship and sadness on the day that follows.
2 Corinthians 4:9 Reminds us that “we may be struck down, but not destroyed.” We may get zapped multiple times during our lifetimes. But with God’s strength, we get up, we keep going, we re-group and press on. Psalms 37:24 says “Though he falls, he will not be overwhelmed, for the Lord is holding his hand.” When we have to face the unexpected, the sadness that we hoped wouldn’t come yet does, Lord help us remember that we are not alone in what we face. We are not the first to face lost dreams, or loss of loved ones, or bad health, loss of wealth or any number of unwanted things. Psalm 9:10 reminds us that “They that know thy name will put their trust in thee: for thou, Lord, has not forsaken them that seek thee.”
Keep your eyes and heart on the Lord. Be aware of the things around you, alert to what things may try and knock you from the sky. They can hold you to the ground if you take your trust away from God. He is there for your rest, to clear your mind, to rejuvenate your failing heart and to send you on your way to continue His plan in your life. Sometimes our lives fall from the sky, but with His strength we can soar again.