Bird Killers

We left for church this morning and spent the first 40 seconds debating what is a proper temperature for the car. Shortly after turning the a/c on, we heard a rattling in the car. We have only had this car for a month or so, so at first I thought, "wow, we got a bum deal." But then the sound really started to flutter, and it sounded as though the car was ALIVE!

I started screaming and frantically and clinging to Mike's arm. There seemed to be something flying around in the engine compartment of our car. I immediately started shutting the air vents to prevent the spread of the avian flu (at this point we decided it was a bird flying around). Meanwhile, Mike pulled over into a church parking lot (not our church) to further assess the situation.

As he approached the front of the car, we heard more fluttering--and it was coming from the passenger side (MY SIDE!!). He quickly instructed me to leave the car--because maybe the bird---was going to fly into the car via the glove compartment and peck my face to death, like in Alfred Hitchcock's movie, The Birds.

We had been sitting in the church parking lot for about 5 minutes and in the midst of our adventure 2 people drove in to attend church. I feel it necessary to mention that neither party decided to come over and help or ask if we needed help. And it was pretty obvious we had a problem, we were sitting there with the hood up, etc. Aren't you supposed to get help at a church? But I digress...

Anyway, the baby and I were sitting outside the car observing my dear husband as he tried to coax the bird out of the engine area of the car. We were no longer hearing fluttering noises and decided that perhaps the bird had died. We discussed the merits of heading to a Jiffy Lube where we could get the car up on a rack and perhaps view the carcass from there. Was it an act of mercy? Or should we be heading to church? We decided to head for church as we would probably end up worrying my mom to death if we didn't show up, etc, etc.

We didn't hear a peep...I mean sound from the poor thing for the rest of the day. We even called AAA and they didn't have any great solutions. All the auto body shops were closed...so we will have to take the car in tomorrow for someone to take a look at.

All of this left me thinking about the poor bird. It surely did not think that this would be the last day of his/her life when he/she made the fateful decision to crawl up into the wheel well of our car. A seemingly safe option turned out to be one of the worst decisions the bird could have made. This made me think a lot about life in general. Are there decisions in my life that seem safe but in reality are the worst ever--even leading to death?

One would hope that I would have the foresight to know which are safe decisions and which are not. But honestly, without God's Word I think I would be lost. I am so thankful that He has provided us with something to go to. And even more, I am thankful that He has blessed us with a Savior. He has blessed us with a Son who has died for our sins.

So...I guess this little birdie...or whatever it is...did not die in vain...it did create some earnest reflection on my part.

...it is tough being an over-thinker.