Walking by the hospital every day, I see a lot of interesting things. A Ferrari Purosangue (which I don’t think it is!) A drone show at FAU (I walk to the top of the three garage towers the hospital has.) Interesting groups of people out at night. Etc. Today, it started with the honking of geese. We don’t get that many honking geese here in Boca, so I thought it odd to hear this. I couldn’t see them at first, but it turns out they had chosen to honk where a lot bigger monsters could honk back, the middle of the intersection of Meadows Road and NW 13^th Street. They chose to argue with each other about where they were going right under the stop light!

               As I approached the intersection, a lady pulled into the intersection, as the light had turned in her favor. But halfway through the intersection, she had to stop so she wouldn’t run over the honkers. Now, I’m not going to argue with the wisdom of what she did next. But it did get me to thinking.

               She stopped her car and got out of the car to physically shoo them to the other side of the road. As she opened her door, a car that could go through almost clipped her door, and pretty near took her, too. That disaster avoided, she went on to try corralling the two geese.

               To wax theological (if not eloquently) about this, this woman was coming to the rescue of two birds that had gotten themselves into trouble. And at her own peril. That seems like what Jesus would do. And what He did. He endangered Himself to save us. We all, like geese, have found ourselves fallen astray (I’m pretty sure that’s how Isaiah put it) and find Jesus having put Himself in harm’s way for our sake.

               But that’s not the end of the story. Just because these honkers were facing the South side of 13^th, and just because that’s where this good Samaritan tried to lead them to, that does not mean that that’s where they wanted to go or went. No, she found herself chasing these geese farther and farther down 13^th, not off of 13.^th  (I think this is where the phrase “wild goose chase” came from). Again, not waxing eloquently but theologically, how many of us, having experienced the grace of the Savior, having had a Redeemer stop and help lead us according to His will towards the safety of where we ought to be, instead insist on randomly wandering from here to there to the dismay of God and our own peril? This scene unfolding in front of me just seemed like an illustration of the Christian walk.

               I took advantage of this scene to get myself, as a pedestrian, across this perilous intersection, and found myself walking in front of two golf carts driven by hospital personnel, all laughing out loud (LOL) at the, at the, at the woman! They were laughing at the good Samaritan’s attempts at helping these poor critters! I thought it unfair, particularly as they did not get out to help. And then, of course, I wondered why I didn’t help either. Again, I thought: “How many people laugh at us, as the lost geese, and how many mock the Shepherd because of us?”  (What is the herder of geese called?)

               By the time I was on the side of the intersection where I might have been useful, she had succeeded at herding these two wayward geese off the road. She got back into her car which had kind of blocked any traffic from going, the mockers got back to the hospital, and I continued the rest of my walk.

               I obviously most closely related to the geese in this story. I can wander in life and find myself at intersections where I’m not sure which turn to take. I have been the recipient of God’s grace and direction in those moments and have experienced God’s love and care through other people. I am eternally grateful to the Lord and those people. Otherwise, I’d still be in the intersection.

Back home,

Craig

All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and

the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. Isaiah 53:6 (KJV)