We’ve had some delicious rain the last couple of days. Actually, this has been a delightfully wet spring, music to the ears of draught-weary Texans, and we have been soaking it all in, at least as much as the grass. With the rain, however, has come cloud-cover, and the windows across the back of my house have turned into mirrors. While this is no big deal for the humans, canines, and felines who roam the property, it poses a big problem for the birds.

CRASH.

WAMMO.

SPLAT.

It’s seriously like watching an episode of 70’s-version Batman.

Those birds go careening into the windows at full speed, since it just looks like a continuation of their surroundings, and while some of them are only stunned, sitting for a few minutes while their little heads stop spinning, others hit so hard that they are dead on impact. We have so many birds out here, that by the time I realize what’s happening and put a decal or something on the windows, we’ve already lost quite a few.

After clearing one from the patio, and carrying it off to its final reward, I thought about us. You and me. We don’t crash into windows, of course (unless it’s a super clean sliding door!), but we certainly do crash and burn on occasion. I could tell you of a few times when elaborate schemes, made to look like a normal part of my surroundings, have been set up by the enemy of my soul. Situations that looked so pretty and appealing that they lured me right on in, until I hit them, HARD, and found myself sitting with my head spinning, wondering what in the world happened.

I’m thankful for the warnings that I’ve learned to look for, now. There’s always a little check in my spirit, from the One who resides there, letting me know that I’m heading for something that is only an illusion…that I’m likely headed for a crash and burn. The real challenge, though, is actually heeding it.

Sort of like seeing a decal on rainy day window, and making a sharp right turn, to fly off in a safe direction.

“No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.” 1 Corinthians 10:13 ESV

“Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.” James 4:7 ESV

“Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world.” 1 Peter 5:8 ESV

“Therefore we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it.” Hebrews 2:1-3 ESV