I don’t know
if you believe in signs from God but I do. I’ve had several, in my honest opinion, but one event
or sign definitely is at the top of my list of signs.
As I’ve mentioned before, in the winter 2003/2004,
I was experiencing one of the darkest periods of my life. Depending on what point of that time you look
at, I was underemployed at the time, working for a local municipality, marketing their compost.
Yes, folks, I was hocking
decomposed organic waste. I kid you not.
One Saturday, I was feeling particularly down. I went for
a long drive alone and wound up at a empty, desolate lakeside park outside of the Dallas area where I live. Since no one was
around, I screamed at God in the privacy of my car. I really wanted to know what I did to hack Him off to cause Him to allow
me to experience what I was experiencing.
After throwing my little temper tantrum, I just
sat there thinking about my dilemma. Suddenly, something strange happened. There was
no booming voice from Heaven. No burning bush on the ground. No bodiless finger writing spiritual graffiti on the wall outside
the park’s restroom. But the darnedest thing did happen. A red bird (Cardinal?) perched itself right on the lip of the
driver side door where the window comes out. The bird just sat there and looked at me, not threatened in the slightest. It
just looked at me peacefully.
It flew to the top of my car and I could hear its talons as it walked across it.
It then dropped down to the same place on the passenger’s door and looked at me the same way. It then flew over to the
lip of the hood in front of the windshield and, again, looked peacefully at me, not at all threatened by my presence.
It then took off and I briefly lost track of it. As I was digesting this little event, I looked at a tree that was
a little bit in front of where I was parked and saw several red birds peacefully perched in its branches.
It
was at that point I felt as if God was telling me that everything was going to be alright. And, for some reason, despite my
circumstances, but because of that darned red bird, I believed what I thought I was hearing in my heart.
Crazy?
Yeah, I am. But this really did happen. Not a big deal, you say? Probably not
to you. I wouldn’t expect you to see it the same way that I do. I was looking
for answers , I wasn’t looking for a sign so this wasn’t some event that I was reading things in to or looking
around for a sign. If I was expecting a sign, it would’ve been more along the lines of getting struck
by lightning for mouthing off at the creator of the universe and not some red bird making eyes at me.
From that
point forward, a red bird has been to me as a rainbow is to mankind: A promise. Not a promise that nothing
bad will ever happen in my life but that my times are in God's hands and it will be okay.
Things did turn
around. And, sure, there have been, and are, challenges. That's life. But since that time, when I've had a bad day,
experiencing anxious times, or when I think God is just wanting to remind me "just because", a red bird will come
into my view. In fact, there are several that must live in the trees around my house now because I see them almost every day.
These harsh economic
times are driving fear and anxiety into the hearts of humanity and for good reason. I’m not suggesting
that we put on rose-colored glasses, drink la-la juice and believe that bad things don’t happen to good people.
We all know better than that. However, I am saying that, despite the times we’re living in
and the trials we may be experiencing, we’re going to be okay.
A little bird told me so.
