Lift the lid

A friend gave us nine chickens recently. They were just five days old when we got them, and since it's been a long time since our three kids left the roost, it's been great fun for Sue and I to watch these little birds grow and spread their wings. We will keep them inside under a heat lamp until they’re mature enough to go into our chicken coop, along with their aunts. No doubt we will see some infighting when that happens as they go through their pecking order.

It’s 2:35 AM as I write this, and I’m watching one chick that has ventured outside of the small world in which he lives. She jumped up onto the side of the tall box, and she’s sitting and gazing at the what must look like a massive living room.

I couldn’t help but think how tiny her world has been since she was born (hatched). Her whole existence was nothing more than a box, a heat lamp, eight of her buddies, food and water to drink.

It made me think of some people I know who are confined to the small box of the atheist worldview. Their philosophy of "I have no belief in a God" shuts out the eternal and the infinite. It confines him to the natural world, when there is a massive living room of the Supernatural surrounding him. Being born of the Spirit (see John 3) lifts us up out of the confines of the natural world and allows us to think outside of the box.

All it takes to get out is a leap of faith. Talk of faith may make you nervous, but you won't be disappointed if you repent first, then couple that repentance with simple trust in the Savior. Please do it. Unless you are chicken.

[A note to sensitive atheists: the use of the word "chicken" is not meant as a insult. It is analogous of the fact that fear is the opposite of faith. Another word for "faith" is confidence. Those who lack faith, lack confidence.]