Saved from the Fowler’s Net

An excerpt from my newest project…

“Saved from the Fowler’s Net”

“As I was wrapping up work for the day, I made one last stop in the barn to put away my tools.

At the precise moment I was about to leave, a beautiful barn swallow flew into some old netting, hung by the previous owner to keep in their pigeons.

“Immediately, the bird was tangled headlong, quickly enveloping her feet and wings. Before I could think, I reached up and took the struggling bird in my hand.

With my other hand, I had to carefully rip down the rest of the net, without hurting her;

All while inflicting serious pain on my own hand.

“Within minutes I had cut all the netting from her iridescent blue feathers, making sure nothing was missed.

Then, with a quick farewell from each of my children, I opened my hands and off she flew.

“‘Sheesh!’ If I hadn’t been there to get her out of the net, she wouldn’t have made it.

As the scripture tells us, “You never know when hard times will come. Like fish in a net or birds in a snare, people are often trapped by some disaster that suddenly falls on them.”

“This caused me to think about this verse a little differently. In Ecclesiastes, the Teacher leaves this statement as a final thought.

Disaster comes upon people sometimes, regardless of who they are or what they’ve done, and we don’t know how it turns out for them;

A beautiful bird in a net.

“Then, Paul’s words to the Romans came to mind.

‘Christ died for us when we were unable to help ourselves. We were living against God,

But at just the right time, Christ died for us.’

“Had God not sent a Savior at

Just the right time, I would still be tangled

In my net of condemnation, fear and hopelessness.

“Though I struggled against his very hand,

It was those hands, made bloody on my behalf,

That broke the nets that bound me,

And gave me a new life.”