We are down to the end of moving our stuff to the new home. One by one and sometimes eight at a time the boxes are getting emptied. Just a few days ago we passed another milestone. The number of boxes emptied is now greater than the number left to be emptied. We're wearing down at this point. Yesterdays load included the ducks for whom we have now erected a temporary enclosure. They were happy to come back with us. How does one tell if a duck is happy? When I cornered them and boxed them up for the journey(they are in the big boxes Cheryl is examining prior to loading in the back of the van)the mallard was not happy. I was wearing buffalo hide gloves so the hands were spared the uncomfortable feeling of being totally pecked. Usually when moving animals that are cantankerous we used a noose on a stick sort of like they use for snakes. Cheryl worries that it might harm their precious necks so I opted for a combination of noose on a stick and snatch fast. Once their wings are pinned and they are off the ground they become very complacent. Cheryl couldn't believe how quiet they were in the boxes. I didn't explain to her that fear causes that silence. It's like that with people as well. Take any one of us and put a box around us and close the lid we get very quiet. Maybe not right away like the ducks, but eventually silence will reign. Life has a way of boxing us in at times. We have nowhere to turn(or so it seems)and nobody to help us out of the darkness. That is precisely the moment when God has always provided the answers for me. Faith can bring us through the darkness and into the light if we are willing to be patient and make our needs known in prayer. God is faithful and just. He will not allow His children unnecessary suffering.
That trailer appears to be filled with junk of many descriptions. But it is our stuff and for us it is "good" junk. We are God's children! He does not create junk, it's always "good" stuff. The ducks, for the most part, trusted us. Now they are out in their swimming pool splashing about enjoying the new digs. Out here on the Great American Desert there are plenty of grasshoppers and crickets to enjoy plus the vitamin enriched food we provide. And lest I forget---the bread that falls from their heaven many times a week. The big treat for them is popcorn. They love it! So, as God has provided for us we have provided for the ducks, and Snickers, of course. He was happy to see his fowl friends. In Christ's Love, Preacher.
