Paul - Ella
Erin - Scriabin
Jonah - Nick Fury
Jude - Baby
Idelette - Robot
Morrow - Sweet Chickie
They look something like this, although one of these chicks below is not one that is listed above. I'll explain in a moment.
Over the last few weeks, during breakfast, our family has been reading through Long Story Short, which is a daily reading from scripture from the Old Testament followed by discussion questions and prayer. Since we just started this book we have been talking a lot about the first few chapters of Genesis, which tell the story of creation and the first man and woman, Adam and Eve. Just about everyone is familiar with this story, and unfortunately for a lot of people, the story has lost a lot of its meaning. It's a story about good things followed by a terrible failure that ultimately lead to the beginning of bad things. Because of Adam's sin all of creation fell into disorder and nothing worked the way it did prior to that moment. Death became a promised future for all things and life became painfully difficult. Because of sin, death began to reign. When I hear people say things like, "How could cancer exist?" or "Where is God in all this suffering?" it seems to show how forgetful we really are, or maybe that we don't really want to believe what God has told us regarding these things. All things in our universe are fading away, but this is the terrible result of sin in the world. Sin is bad and comes from us. God is good and is keeping each one us breathing and eating, keeping our hearts beating and holding all creation together. He is the God of life and promised it eternally to those who believe in His son Jesus and follow him as Lord. We all get upset at death, and somehow think that God is to blame, when it is us. We choose ourselves over Him and rejoice in our own pride and then wonder where He is, when it would seem that we care little for Him in the first place. Truly, He has numbered our days, but death exists because sin exists. We cannot forget that. We need a Savior and can't conquer death without him. So, what on earth does this have to do with our chickens?
Well...
When Erin walked into the house earlier today to check on the chickens she noticed that Jude's chick, Baby, was not moving. She soon discovered that, sure enough, Baby was dead. She called me at work and I asked her to wait until I got home from work to tell Jude since we knew he would be very sad about the whole thing. When I came home we told the other kids to go downstairs while we told Jude what happened. At first he seemed to not understand what we were saying, but once it sunk in he did what was expected. Jude mourned. We hugged him and kissed him and told him that we were sorry that this happened and let him say goodbye to Baby one last time. I told him that I would take him to get a new chick if he wanted and he liked that idea so off we went. On the way to the store Jude said to me that he wanted to pray for Baby and hoped that she was with God and Jesus. I don't know whether she is or not, but I'm sure God was pleased that this little boy, in his sadness, thought to call on Him even if it was just to talk to him about a little chicken. After picking out a replacement, who Jude nicknamed Oriana (which means Golden), we came home, buried Baby together, prayed again, and went on with our night. In all honesty, Erin and I were both tempted to just replace Baby with a similar chick without him knowing, but even at four years old we both agreed that he needed to see this. He needed to be aware of death and see firsthand what we had talked about every day for the last few weeks in our devotional time. He needed to see the sting of death and be upset about it. But he also needed to hear from his parents that death ultimately loses its victory if a person repents of their sin and follows Jesus. He may not totally understand that, but I wouldn't dare miss the opportunity to tell him that their is hope, and not just a grave. As sad as death is, it is a constant and powerful reminder that we are all moving in that direction whether we like it or not, but it doesn't have to be the end. Through Jesus it is only the beginning of a real life. A new heaven and a new earth with no more tears or sadness, pain or death. What a glorious thing to hope in thanks to Jesus. I hope my kids see that clearly one day and share it with their kids and as many people as they can, and I'm glad to have been able to share this sad, but hopeful moment with them today.
Rest sweetly little chick, we will miss you.
