A pair of african goshawks have nested in the valley below our home this spring. Their chick screams to be fed every morning as I take my bath. He's fully feathered, almost a juvenile, and tho he's already takes flight, (strictly under adult supervision), he's still unable to catch his own prey. Although predators have inherent natural instincts for hunting and survival - they still need to learn the "how to's" from their feathered folks. Last Sunday we watched as the three birds floated majestically over the valley. The parents circled around the youngster with hardly a flap of their dark wings. When one of the parent birds swooped away toward the horizon, the other was always in detached attendance. His hungry screams subside when I make my way into my prayer room. There are other bird sounds that become evident as the peace of the early morn returns: mourning doves, bulbuls, drongos and the worrying tik-tik-tikking of a little grey bird that I have yet to identify. Zazzles, the orange cat, drags against my legs silently and finds an empty shelf to rest on.
My Bible lies open on my prayer chair. My eye alights on the final verse of Isaiah 48 : "There is no peace for the wicked, says the Lord." and I think of all the stuff of everyday life that irks and abrades. Just as the beasts and birds we are all born with an innocence and a thirst for nurturing knowledge. But we pick up and learn and are persuaded into beliefs that turn us all wicked. Last Saturday, Patti and I had popped into Mr Price Sport for a couple of things and as we stood waiting for a free cashier; we heard and witnessed a loud altercation liberally sprinkled with the F-word as the couple before us attempted to return some article or other. We did our thing and then went into the Christian bookstore next door - as we browsed through the books, the same couple were there too... buying a book on Christian living.
Super Pastor, Rob Bell says in his book "Love Wins", that he tries to raise his own kids in such a way, that they won't have to 'unlearn' anything later in life. You see Heaven is our goal. And Heaven is the absence of unpleasantness and wicked stuff. So in order to be on the correct path, we have to shrug off all the contradictory things that will keep us from our goal. We have to begin to unlearn - or remain wicked ... and never find peace.
pic of Zazzles at peace
My Bible lies open on my prayer chair. My eye alights on the final verse of Isaiah 48 : "There is no peace for the wicked, says the Lord." and I think of all the stuff of everyday life that irks and abrades. Just as the beasts and birds we are all born with an innocence and a thirst for nurturing knowledge. But we pick up and learn and are persuaded into beliefs that turn us all wicked. Last Saturday, Patti and I had popped into Mr Price Sport for a couple of things and as we stood waiting for a free cashier; we heard and witnessed a loud altercation liberally sprinkled with the F-word as the couple before us attempted to return some article or other. We did our thing and then went into the Christian bookstore next door - as we browsed through the books, the same couple were there too... buying a book on Christian living.
Super Pastor, Rob Bell says in his book "Love Wins", that he tries to raise his own kids in such a way, that they won't have to 'unlearn' anything later in life. You see Heaven is our goal. And Heaven is the absence of unpleasantness and wicked stuff. So in order to be on the correct path, we have to shrug off all the contradictory things that will keep us from our goal. We have to begin to unlearn - or remain wicked ... and never find peace.
pic of Zazzles at peace
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