I met him in the High School parking lot. We were there preparing for the Easter Drive-In service and he slammed into the brick wall and fell at my feet. He was not very good at flying. He seemed dazed and confused and sat for a moment on the sidewalk. I looked up expecting that he had fallen from a nest, but there was nothing above me and that is when I realized it was a flight path gone wrong.
I looked at the bird, the bird looked at me, then Momma showed up and got interested. She hovered above my head and flew back and forth in a distress. I assured her that I meant no harm to ‘Junior,’ but she did not believe me. Then the little fellow regained his equilibrium and started bouncing away and then like the Wright Brothers flyer he started to gain altitude. A huge truck with a camper cover loomed in front of him. He gained altitude and barley missed the white capped mountain. Then, it looked like he stalled from too steep of an attack.
I came around the truck like a NTSB investigator examining a crash site. I looked on the ground, I listened, but I did not see him. Momma came swooping around and then I saw him on the rooftop of a car. I kept walking closer and he kept a grim eye on me. His little mouth was turned down in displeasure. I took his photo. I registered his dissaproval.
Most of us don’t want to be seen on the first day that we fly. There are lots of days I’m trying something new and I don’t want an audience. I want to try and work the kinks out before I face the critics. It’s why being a new Christian can be hard, while the ‘new’ has come, there are still the tracings of the ‘old.’ All our flight wings have not fully developed and we need a little space, but people are generally very judgmental and are not very comfortable with those of us who struggle.
Lots of us are struggling right now trying to find the right balance between safe and hypochondria and I think everybody needs a lot more grace as everyone is figure out how to fly.