The Parable of the Eagle

In a sermon recently, I briefly referred to an old parable about an eagle that thought it was a chicken, likening it to Christians who refuse to "fly" with Christ. One of our members, Rich Mowrer, produced the following, written by James Aggrey in 1925. Enjoy.

"A certain man went through a forest seeking any bird of interest he may find. He caught a young eagle, brought it home and put it among his fowls and ducks and turkeys, and gave it chickens' food to eat even though it was an eagle, the king of birds."

"Five years later a naturalist came to see him and, after passing through his garden, said: 'That bird is an eagle, not a chicken.'"

"'Yes,' said its owner, 'but I have trained it to be a chicken. It is no longer an eagle, it is a chicken, even though it measures fifteen feet from tip to tip of its wings.'"

"'No,' said the naturalist, 'it is an eagle still: it has the heart of an eagle, and I will make it soar high up to the heavens.'"

"'No,' said the owner, 'it is a chicken, and it will never fly.'"

"They agreed to test it. The naturalist picked up the eagle, held it up, and said with great intensity, 'Eagle, thou art an eagle; thou dost belong to the sky and not to this earth; stretch forth thy wings and fly.'"

"The eagle turned this way and that, and then, looking down, saw the chickens eating their food, and down he jumped."

"The owner said: 'I told you it was a chicken.'"

"'No,' said the naturalist, 'it is an eagle. Give it another chance tomorrow.'"

"So the next day he took it to the top and the house and said: 'Eagle, thou art an eagle; stretch forth thy wings and fly.' But again the eagle, seeing the chickens feeding, jumped down and fed with them."

"Then the owner said: 'I told you it was a chicken.'"

"'No,' asserted the naturalist, 'it is an eagle, and it still has the heart of an eagle; only give it one more chance, and I will make it fly tomorrow.'"

"The next morning he rose early and took the eagle outside the city, away from the houses, to the foot of a high mountain. The sun was just rising, gilding the top of the mountain with gold, and every crag was glistening in the joy of that beautiful morning."

"He picked up the eagle and said to it: "Eagle, thou art an eagle; thou dost belong to the sky and not to this earth; stretch forth thy wings and fly!'"

"The eagle looked around and trembled as if new life were coming to it; but it did not fly. The naturalist then made it look straight at the sun. Suddenly it stretched out its wings and, with the screech of an eagle, it mounted higher and higher and never returned. It was an eagle, though it had been kept and tamed as a chicken!"

"My people of Africa, we were created in the image of God, but men have made us think that we are chickens, and we still think we are; but we are eagles. Stretch forth your wings and fly! Don't be content with the food of chickens!"

Five rules for blogging

Here, I will share fruits of Bible study, recommend people and books that can help you in your Christian life, give some brutally honest advice and, on occasion, be as blunt as I need to be to get the point across. As someone once said, "God doesn't command us to be palatable; he does command us to be clear."

But that doesn't mean I'll be impolite -- "Love is not rude," says Paul. A popular wedding photographer and heavy-duty blogger, Jasmine Star, provides five tips for writing through social media. Here they are, with a little tweaking:
1. Give and share, don't just sell stuff or promote yourself. Believe it or not, but the best use of social media is NOT to have your ego massaged (And, "Love is not conceited," 1 Cor. 13).
2. Don't be sour. There are too many sourpusses in the church seemingly confirming Shopenhaur's view that "optimism is irreconcilable with Christianity." Be positive, even when you find it necessary to be negative on some specific issue.
3. Be the first. If you expect people to read and comment on your blog entries -- you do it first on theirs!
4. Be real; be YOU. Be authentic. Don't be vanilla -- your comments with either attract or repel and that's the way it should be.
5. Get personal -- share a little of yourself and always be honest.

New blog!

As if there are not enough blogs out there... what can I add to the conversation? My aim here is to reflect on daily life from a biblical point of view. No big theological issues, no abstract ideas, just down-to-earth living stuff.

Stay tuned... we'll see how it goes.

David