I waited in the car late one afternoon with the windows rolled down
while my husband ran back in the house to pick up something he’d forgotten.
Then I heard it, the distinctive Hoo, hoo-oo, hoo, hoo. I grabbed my phone, did
a little research and confirmed what I was hearing―a Great Horned Owl.
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| Photo Courtesy Alan D. Wilson Creative Commons Share Alike Attribution 3.0 License |
When I have an experience like this, I want to
tell someone. However, I don’t have a long list of friends who really care
about this sort of thing. My friend Jim used to, but he passed some years ago.
My dad always loved to hear about it, but he’s gone. My wildlife biologist son
cares, but he was at work. Then it came to me, I’d tell Kevin, a definite
wildlife aficionado. I hoped to see him later at church.
Often when I’m working on a painting, I get to a point when I don’t
know whether the next brush stroke will be one too many, so I call Lilyan, an
artist, friend, and neighbor. She runs over and gives me a little advice. Or if
my creative daughter is in town, she’s always good for insight on artistic
endeavors.
When I need writing encouragement, I have a group of writers I meet
with on a regular basis who keep me on the right road. I hope I do the same for
them.
However, I wouldn’t call my writer friends with a wildlife sighting or
ask them about a painting problem.
I turn to different friends with different situations.
However, isn’t it a relief to know that we have one friend who knows
about everything? And cares about everything? And has wisdom on everything?
His name is Jesus, and he said these words in John 15, “Greater love
has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. You are my
friends if you do what I command. . . I have called you friends, for everything
that I learned from my Father I have made known to you.”
In this glorious Easter season, we remember again that Jesus laid down
his life for us, his friends. This One whom we can turn to with any problem,
any joy, is our Friend.
Many of us remember this wonderful hymn which goes, “What a friend we have in Jesus, all our
sins and griefs to bear; What a privilege to carry everything to God in prayer!”
The key word being “everything.” No hunting around for just the right
friend, because Jesus is the right friend for every circumstance.
Makes me want to hoot a little myself.
Listen to a Great Horned Owl HERE at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Scroll down and hit the Typical Voice arrow. If you don't know about this site, and care about such things, it's a treasure trove of information on every kind of bird imaginable.