In searching for an old email I found this note from 2006. I remember the incident well but had forgotten the lesson I learned.

It was early October and I was sitting at my desk at the office when I heard a disconcerting racket from about 10-15 crows out back. I looked out the window and saw what I thought was a mother duck in a shallow ditch trying to protect her duckling from the crows.

I quickly hurried down the stairs outside and as soon as my feet hit the bottom step the crows dispersed like a crowd of hoodlums that had gathered to watch a fight. I walked over to the area of the ditch and couldn’t see a duck or duckling or anything. Then I looked under a patch of grass and there was a small frightened pigeon laying on the ground. I looked around for the crows that had quieted down considerably and I saw the thing that I thought was a duck. It was a huge hawk sitting on a low branch in a nearby cedar tree! He had been attacking the pigeon and the crows were either calling for help or more likely cheering him on hoping for some leftovers.

I wasn’t sure what to do and I was a little hesitant to pick the pigeon up without a gloves or a towel, but when I looked up in the tree again I knew if I walked off to get something that HAWK would finish off his catch. So I reach down and picked up the pigeon; he was so scared I could feel his little heart beating wildly in my hand. He had one small puncture wound under his wing. He did not struggle with me at all; I guess at the time, I was the lesser of two evils. I put him in a little outside storage area off the front deck at the office with some food and water. I left the door slightly open should he want to leave. My pigeon friend was still there the next day although not as happy to see me. When I checked on him the following day he was gone.

I know that this is the way of nature. The hawk was beautiful and needed to survive as well, but that day, this poor little pigeon was going to be rescued. Chris and I had been going through a stressful period with enemies attacking relentlessly and there were groups of gawkers watching on the sidelines waiting for us to be devoured. Considering all these things, I really needed this little pigeon to be rescued and saved.

It was an illustration to me of how God cares for us even when it seems we are being attacked on all sides. I realized He cares for me and loves me more than I cared for this little wild pigeon that I wasn’t going to abandon to be destroyed by his enemy the hawk.

A gentle comforting reminder that God is always watching over me and protecting me from my enemies. He picks me up, takes me in his arms and shelters me in his hiding place.

Lord, how I love you! For you have done such tremendous things for me. The Lord is my fort where I can enter and be safe; no one can follow me in and slay me. He is a rugged mountain where I hide; he is my Savior, a rock where none can reach me, and a tower of safety. He is my shield. He is like the strong horn of a mighty fighting bull. All I need to do is cry to him—oh, praise the Lord—and I am saved from all my enemies! ~ Psalm 18:1-3 NLT