OK, this is how I remember it...
I'm working in my office last week - minding my own business - when the phone rings. It's my lovely wife, and she sounds a little upset - so, being the ever-compassionate person I am (just don't ask her about that), I ask, "What's wrong?" And the event begins to unfold...
First, let me set the stage for those who may read this and not live on the coast. Pascagoula has done a wonderful job in recovering after Katrina, but you can still see evidence of its destruction - and one example is found along the coastline. There used to be a number of piers/docks going out into the Gulf. A few have been rebuilt, but many haven't - leaving the remnants of where they used to be. Now, on with the story...
Kristi and the kids were driving down Beach Blvd. when they noticed a seagull in distress. It had gotten tangled in some fishing line that was criss-crossed around the pilings of a former pier/dock. It had no hope of getting free on its own, so my dear family decided that we needed to do something. She called Angela Sullivan (the better half of our chairman of the deacons - and a lover of animals) and Angela "volunteered" Scott to get the bird. Kristi told me that - and she said that I didn't have to come - but you know as well as I that she was just being nice...
So I got in the car and headed home to put on my swimming trunks. But as I was driving home, she called again and said, "Hurry! There is something big coming out of the water - trying to eat the bird!"
Did you see "Jaws" when you were younger? 'Nuff said.
I get changed and grab a pair of gloves - why I thought of that, I don't know - and I headed toward them.
Scott & his crew had just gotten there when I arrived, so we put a plan in motion. We headed over to a concrete thing-a-ma-jig to get in (because there was no beachfront around us) - and Scott carried his ladder with him. He was smart enough to realize that we might not want to jump in (because it's not very sandy around that area). Scott stepped down onto the slime-covered concrete thing-a-ma-jig and looked up at me and said, "It's pretty slippery."
Do you know what happened? That's right! I put one foot down - and both came up! Suddenly, I was sliding down the barnacle-encrusted bank in slow motion - head first. But Scott had my back - or should I say, my foot. As I was falling in slow motion, I felt him grab my foot. I am ever so grateful that he was able to keep my foot from plunging into the depths.
Anyway, we headed out to the pier to free the bird. But Scott remembered to tell me that we'd better be careful because some areas around those docks get pretty deep because they dig them out for boats. SO... now I'm hearing the theme from "Jaws" in my head while waiting to plunge DEEP into the depths.
To make a long story short (OK, I realize that I've already passed that opportunity) - we made it - cut the bird free - and brought it in. Now, since I thought to bring my gloves, I got the honor of carrying it in - and BOY am I glad I brought my gloves because the bird was so tired, the only thing it could do was turn its head and peck, peck, peck, peck, peck.
Angela drove the poor bird out to someone who takes care of situations like this - though I'm not sure they have too many birds rescued by preachers and chairmen of deacons. The bird seems to be recovering - and I dried out and warmed up (did I mention that it is October?).
So - is there any spiritual point to this? Yes, if you'd like to run the rabbits with me.
What a joy it is - to know that God watches after us - and can rescue us FAR better than we could ever do on our own. As the psalmist put it, "Our soul has escaped as a bird from the snare of the fowlers; the snare is broken, and we have escaped." (Psalm 124:7)
Scott's & my meager efforts to free the bird is an itty-bitty picture of what God does for us. After all, Jesus said... "'Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?'" (Matthew 6:26)
I'm not advocating wading into the Gulf in October to free seagulls - but let's be grateful for what God has done and is doing for us.
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