Matthew 24:28 Just as the gathering of vultures shows there is a carcass nearby, so these signs indicate that the end is near.
I Peter 5:8 Stay alert! Watch out for your great enemy, the devil. He prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour.
One of my favorite times of the year is calving season. It’s going on right now! The cows of Hodge Lodge have already gifted us with two beautiful bull calves and one beautiful heifer calf in the past week. I love critters of all kinds, all shapes, and all sizes, but I especially love new born baby critters. Calving season is also a great adventure. Those mama cows have their babies, and then due to natural instincts of protection, hide those babies out of site. When we go to check on the cows and the calves, it is akin to the great Easter egg hunt. We load up in the side by side and ride the pastures seeking and finding cute little newborn calves. It’s actually quite fun and something that I enjoy doing with my husband.
However, calving season isn’t always cute surprises and sunshine. There is a lot of work involved before and after, but there are also times of heartbreak. A couple of days ago, we rode over to check the cows, and as soon as we opened the gate to the pasture, a flock of about twenty buzzards flew up into the sky. That’s always a bad sign! We located the new babies and saw that they were all looking fit and fine, and we continued to ride around the pasture. We soon came upon the remains of a newborn calf carcass. The buzzards had already devoured about 80% of the poor baby calf. Our hearts sank. There wasn’t anything that we could do to save it, yet our minds still wondered what happened. We know that the buzzards are opportunists. They will feed on afterbirth left in the fields. They will even feed on a newborn calf if the mama doesn’t clean it up right away and move it out of the open pasture (thus the hide the baby part.) We began a search for the mama, and when we came upon black cow mama #2, we found a mama with a gaunt appearance. Her big belly was no longer present. She wasn’t due to deliver just yet, so it appears that she gave birth prematurely. The calf more than likely wasn’t mature enough to sustain life, and therefore, it’s demise lead to a lofty meal for the buzzards.
So, you wonder, where is this girl going with this today? I’m going to tell you. I started thinking about the immaturity of the calf and the opportunist attack of the buzzards, and I realized that this happens all too often in the human spectrum of life. Think about it friends. When we are immature in our spiritual walk with Christ, every opportunist in the world is seeking after our soul. Those opportunists are led by Satan, and we know the Bible tells us that the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour (I Peter 5:8). If we aren’t truly living for Christ, we are but a shell of a man or woman. We are no more than a carcass, and wherever the carcass is, there the vultures will gather (Matthew 24:28). If we aren’t maturing in our daily walk with Christ, we are going to get devoured!
I know that this is a strange analogy, but life is strange, Peeps. Life is hard. Every day can be a struggle to keep on surviving. Yes, we are going to stumble, and we are going to fall, but by the grace and strength of God, we can get up. We don’t have to lie there and let the buzzards of the world devour us. We have Christ! We can mature in Christ daily, but how? The answer is simple. Get to know Him. Read the instruction manual: the Bible. Study His Word. Pray. Talk to our Lord and Savior. Grow that relationship, and the maturity that we seek will come. When your faith is feeling weak, remember that Matthew 17:20 tells us that if we have faith as small as a mustard see, we can move mountains! Don’t let the buzzards feast on you! Don’t let the buzzards of this old world win! Get up, clean up, and go rest in the safe arms of our Lord!
Inspirations from the Funny Farm 