The Hawk

Most of what I do in life is routine.  I take care of kids, dogs, chickens, and even tend to the cats when my husband is not at home.  The cats are typically his domain, but I pitch in when it is absolutely necessary. I also love my birds and watching them is a predictable thing for me.  My Purple Martins arrived last week right on time.  I talk to them and sometimes even pretend that they talk back to me. 

At work, I also have a set schedule in the library and love every minute of it.  We purposely follow the same procedures with our classes and keep things simple.  This allows us to focus on the kids that come in and out of the door all day long and to get to know them. 

Every now and then though I encounter something that totally catches me off guard.  That happened this week.  I was tootling up our white rock road on my way to work and something in our batting cages caught my eye.  It was big, and it was moving.  I realized as I got closer that it was one of my hawks that lives in our front pasture.  I am calling him a “him.”  It just seems right. I have witnessed him scoop up many a mouse from the field.  He stands guard by the lake too and seems to watch over that part of our property. 

However, on this particular day he was in trouble.  He was trapped inside of the massive net and in panic mode.  He was flying from side to side trying to get out.  My husband just so happened to be out of town and my kids were at school.  That meant it was my job, and my job alone, to free the hawk.  I slammed the truck in park and got out to assess the situation. 

The first thing I noticed were his talons.  They were huge and looked as sharp as knives.  I pictured him attacking me, but bravely ignored the risk.  My first thought was to hold the cage up, and I did.  I realized after trying to coax him my way that he was afraid of me. Duh! 

The only other option was to drag a big screen used for pitching over and prop the net up on the top of the screen.  This would give Mr. Hawk a way out.  It took some muscle, but I got the screen moved.  Mr. Hawk was still hesitant to come my way, so I drove on up the road and trusted that he would be okay.  Thankfully, when I checked later, he was free.

This morning when I was preparing for my Sunday school lesson, Mr. Hawk came to mind.  Isaiah 61: 1-3 was the first passage I ever memorized.  It is an absolutely beautiful proclamation of what Jesus was sent to earth to do, and is so worth your time to read.

It begins with “The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me; because the LORD has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor.  He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners.”

I thought…I freed the hawk and Jesus freed me…literally!  I was once held captive by sin.  Without the blood of Jesus, I still would be a prisoner to my own sin. 

Jesus died so that I could be free, and He also died for you.  If you are caught up, trapped, and in trouble, there is a way out!  The way out of Jesus.  Call out to Him today.