Claiming the bird

I almost twisted my ankle last night. I am surprised that I didn't wake up with more of a limp. The story seems quite absurd now that I have slept on it, but in the heat of the moment, I couldn't think of anything else.

I was taking Roxy out to potty last night before going to bed. Derek and I had a date night thanks to the last minute babysitting offer from my brother. I was uncharacteristically in a pair of heels and still in my date night garb. Roxy runs over to the neighborhood cat, Miss Kitty. I notice they are both looking at a dark something in the grass. All of a sudden Miss Kitty picks up the item of curiosity and takes it across the street, with its victim chirping in protest.

Don't ask me why I was on a mission to save that bird, but I was. I ran across the street as Miss Kitty taunted the frightened bird. I kicked, pushed, and yelled at the cat, but she kept her stealth walk towards her prey a constant. It was almost unnerving how she would not stop for each punch I would try to send her way. I tried to pick up the bird, and then it flew a few feet away. All of a sudden Chloe, the Wilsons' teenage kitten, swoops in and grabs the bird. Miss Kitty and Roxy, who has just been an avid spectator during all this, are frantic to find the missing bird. And oddly enough so am I. I am on my hands and knees in the darkness looking under bushes to find Chloe. I was so close, and felt so defeated. I look towards Chloe's house and see one gleaming eye in the darkness. I jump through the ditches of my neighbors yard (wearing heels, might I remind you), and am running towards the young cat. I pass a huge branch and turn back to grab it. This is where I almost fall over from twisting my ankle so sharply. All for a bird! I then hobble run with the branch in hand towards Chloe, who is harmless, might I add. I am thrashing the branch at the cat's face (Dawn, forgive me), and she is just as adamant about slowly continuing to torment the bird. I was almost alarmed at the strength of the small cat. I finally somehow kick her out of the way and grab the shaken and injured bird.

None of the animals know I have the bird. I run home and walk in the door to find Derek with a puzzled look on his face, wondering where I have been for the last 20 minutes. I show him the bird, and start rushing out that we need to put the bird in the nest in our tree. No honey, I stammer, I don't know if its this bird's nest, but I cannot let those cats get ahold of this bird again. Yes, honey, I know this is all about the circle of life. So Derek calmly gets a stepstool and deposits the bird in the nest. I literally almost drop kick Miss Kitty out of my driveway as her and Chloe sulk off to find another prey.

Why go into detail with such a silly story, much less my insistence on saving one bird? While I was trying to find the bird after Chloe ran off with her prey, I could hear a voice inside of me saying, "Don't let the meaning of this escape you. Just like you are protecting that bird and hunting it down to save it, so am I doing the same thing for you and your family." So it became almost a fight for my family against the sea of darkness we have been up against these last two months. It reminded me of the scripture we went over at Beth Moore this past week as talked about spiritual warfare: "Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. Therefore I do not run like a man running aimlessly; I do not fight like a man beating the air." 1 Corinthians 9:25-26

Beth talked about how we can be one of four people when we are fighting a spiritual battle with the Enemy. The first is someone who keeps punching aimlessly until we eventually hit something. The second is someone who punches everyone around them, passing blame, because someone made them this way. The third almost girl swats at the air, not doing any damage whatsoever. And the fourth takes aim and punches right at the angry enemy.

We cannot choose our war, but we can choose if we are going to be warriors. I had this eerie feeling when I was watching those cats both take multiple blows from me and just continue walking slowly towards that bird, that the devil is the same way. He has a slow, methodical patience as he keeps walking slowly at us, taunting us with each little thing that can get under our skin. And as he occasionally carries us off as we chirp in protest, can we honestly say that we are fighting a beautiful fight? Are we even fighting at all? Psalm 27:3 says, "Though an army besiege me , my heart will not fear; though war break out against me, even then I will be confident."

Right now I feel like my family is that bird. The Lord will swoop in and grab us out of the fight, protecting us as the enemy is searching the ground for our trail. But the Lord's timing is not my own, which is why I continue to keep a heads-up on my enemy.

"I am still confident of this: I will see the goodness of the Lord in the Land of the living." Psalm 27:13


And on a lighter note....

Derek recently told a buddy whose little boy just started walking that nothing prepared him for the day when Justin just all of sudden finally started dribbling the basketball. I didn't think Derek would react one way or the other, but now he and Justin are always outside shooting hoops with a smaller Baylor basketball from Papa and the goal at the shortest level possible. On Presidents' Day, when the high got to be about 45 degrees that day, Derek and JT were outside for at least 2 hours that day practicing their basketball skills. Whether or not Justin has any skills remains to be seen, and really is not a big deal to us one way or the other, might I add. But he definitely has a love for sports!

He shoots...


...he scores!


Christmas photos finally making their way to the blog later this week! Check it off the list.