Austin Huntley was a young boy living in Nova Scotia, His main enjoyment was playing with a group of youngsters around his own age and they got up to all kinds of things as boys will.
Occasionally they journeyed to a massive rock which they endeavoured to climb., but they had never manage to climb it all the way to the top. Austin was determined to get to the top. With an all out effort the day came when he made it all the way to the top and sat there admiring the view and eating the lunch he had brought with him.
Then his eye caught something that he just had to go and look at; it was an eagle’s nest. As he gazed down at it he could see living chicks within it. And looking round to be sure that the eagle was not about, he reached into the nest and took one of the chicks. It was a dull grey little bundle with a large head and legs, he decided to take it down to show his friends so it was put into the bag that had recently contained his lunch.
The climb down was slowly made, and he was quick to tell the lads that he had made it to the top and had seen an eagle’s nest. He was not believed at first, but when he showed the baby chick, he was soon the hero among them.
“What are you going to do with that chick” he was asked “I’m not going to climb up there again and put it back” he told them. “I’ll put it in our chicken run”. And that is just what he did.
The poor little eaglet was most confused for a while, but as it grew it tended to copy what the chickens did. It walked like a chicken, ate their food, and tried to make a noise like a chicken, and this went on for a while.
Then one day Austin saw that it was constantly looking up at the sky. There hovering over head was an eagle , and it seemed to cause great excitement to the once baby chick. Who spread it’s wings and ran up and down trying to fly. At last it took off, flying over the netting enclosure and up up, until it joined the adult bird above it . Together the two birds flew until they were out of sight. Austin never saw them again.
The Bible tells us that you and I were made in the image or likeness of God, so we should grow up to be like Our Father in heaven. He sent His Son, Jesus to show us how we should live, and even though we live in a world that is often far from the way He taught us, we don’t have to behave like an eaglet in a chicken run doing what everyone around us does . We used to sing:-
“Turn you eyes upon Jesus, look full in His wonderful face, and the things of earth will grow strangely dim in the light of His Glory and Grace”.
You don’t have to follow the crowd and do what others do. Be the wonderful person God made you to be; Ask Jesus to help you and He will.
Christian love to you. Gerald Gossage.