On Coyote Patrol

I know I keep talking about cows – “our” cows.  We love watching them munching in the pastures surrounding our cabin and taking their dips to cool themselves in the water.  Every morning we sit on the porch, rocking in our chairs, and peering out beyond the dock to the banks watching our cows ease in and out of the water.  We have given some of them names and we have come to know which calf belongs to which mother.

Yesterday we had a fright!  Several cows were in the water while others in the herd, having finished their dips, were wandering away.  Suddenly I sat upright, alert, narrowing my eyes to make certain I was seeing what I thought I was seeing.  Yes.  I was right.  “Mom!” I called, “coyotes!”  There, peeking from a clump of trees was the white colored neck of, first one, and then another, and then five coyotes, tan in color, stepping into full view.  One of the smaller calves was strolling right to them, seemingly unaware of the coyotes presence.  

I whispered to my mother that I would slip inside, grab a pistol, and return to shoot in the air. That would scare the coyotes away and keep our cows safe.  I had no intention to harm the coyotes, just to protect our herd.  I stood, but my movement did not go unnoticed by the coyotes.  Just as quickly as they had appeared, they ducked back into the trees and we never saw them again.  The small calf finally returned to the herd causing my mother and me to exhale with sweet relief.

These are not our cows. They belong to the friends who have loaned us their cabin for our stay in the States.  Even so, in our hearts, we have adopted this herd.  Therefore, we feel a protectiveness toward them.  We love loving our cows.  We want to do anything we can to care for them and just to enjoy them.

I am warmed in my heart to think that when each one of us becomes a child of God, that He, too, like a good Father to His children, keeps a watchful eye upon us. We are told in Scripture that when we receive Jesus as our Savior, that we are then adopted into His family.  We are His.  We belong to Him forever.  In Luke 13:34, as Jesus was thinking about Jerusalem, longing that its people would receive Him, He said, “…How often I wanted to gather you together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing.”  

Oh, how sad if our cows were in any danger, but ran from us when we came to help.  It’s the same when we refuse the love of Jesus, to accept Him as Lord in our lives, as the One who gives hope to each new day and promise of an eternity where there are no more tears or death.  There are many coyotes in this world, taking on various forms, seeking to destroy us.  How easy to run to the One who always has His arms open wide.