The Shivering Chick--and The Covering Wing

Timmy and Danny recently got an order of chicks, just before Easter.
Timmy made this little background for taking pictures of them to advertise.

Yesterday Danny was checking on the chicks and discovered several of them were having problems.
Without getting too gory here for people who don't live on a farm and don't know about tending little animals, let's just say we have to keep a good eye on chicks to make sure their systems don't get stuck up and they die quickly. Danny had about a dozen chicks he took out of the pen to carefully clean them off in the laundry sink so they could function again.

They were weak and trampled, and now after getting cleaned off with water, they were wet and shivering besides! So we put four that were the worst off in two little boxes under a heat lamp so they would warm up and dry off without being pecked to death by the other stronger chicks.

Once when I went to check, I discovered one of the sweetest scenes I've ever seen--
a stronger, bigger, drier, fluffier chick in the corner with its wing over the smaller, weaker, wetter one!

Actually, the picture above is a photo I took later of two others doing the same thing, but it gives you the idea.
Is it any wonder that today when I turned to Psalms in my devotions, and read Psalm 91, that this verse stood out to me:

"He shall cover you with His feathers, and under His wings you shall take refuge."

Life on a little farm teaches us a lot of lessons, and one of them is that wings are such a refuge.
Mama Hen's wings;
Mama Bluebird's wings;
Mama Robin's and Pigeon's and Dove's wings;
and even Big Brother or Sister Chick's wings!

God doesn't always protect us from every bad thing.
I read this quote the other day: "Remember Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego.

God didn't put out the fire.

He just put Jesus in there with them and they came out without smoke.

It's not about God stopping all the things that look bad; it's about who is in there with you."

Psalm 91 doesn't say we won't have a need to flee somewhere for refuge, but it does say we will have that Refuge if we dwell in His secret place and maintain a relationship with Him.

There can be peace in the midst of the storm.

But I believe as well that Psalm 91 can sometimes be taken literally, because God does sometimes choose to protect us from various dangers, harm, and bad things. 

Crystal is down sick today, and others of us were sick over the weekend and early this week.

We had company Monday night and Jonathan slightly sprained his ankle and a kitchen glass exploded out of the blue, spraying glass shards all over the kitchen floor. 

But we got through those things and so enjoyed having 16 extra people who were so glad to enjoy country air and horse rides and animals. (Maybe more on that in another post.)

I'll have to squeeze a few pictures in here of Resurrection Sunday.

We had the most luscious fruit salad I think we've ever made.
This looks almost as good as pictures we see in Taste of Home magazine!

And Rose made apple dumplings.

She is a pro with that.

Orange juice is the secret ingredient to give it wonderful flavor.

After supper, we had a Bible sword drill, and I loved Carrie's silouette beside me.

Also Rose's ear-splitting smile, which she smiled JUST for the camera.

There was this beautiful Easter sunset.

And even though we read about threatening violence over at the Gaza area in Israel, and things are so tinder dry right around here that quite the large fires have been started and fought in recent days and weeks, we can take time to enjoy God's creation and appreciate all He gave us in Christ.

Because He lives, we can face tomorrow.

And although the grass withers and the flower fades, the Word of our God stands forever
and under His wings, we can take refuge.