Bird Migration
Bird migration is fascinating. Feather and fowl know what time of year to begin their journey. Whether migrating north or south, even though they fly hundreds or thousands of miles, they don’t get lost or sidetracked. (Can you imagine trying to drive from here to New York WITHOUT a map or compass and WITHOUT any major highways or signs?)
I get a kick out of watching the documentaries that follow these yearly feathered travels. At some point the narrator says that birds are able to navigate so well because of their “evolutionary development”. Behind those two words, the narrator is really admitting, “We have no idea how birds can migrate such long distances without getting lost. We think they navigate by using the stars or magnetic fields of the earth, but we really don’t know.”
I wish I could ask the narrator, “So, how many generations of birds did get lost or died because they didn’t migrate, before evolution finally ‘got it right’? And did that bird, finally evolved, sit among his peers and convince them to follow his flight plan?” Of course not!
Those of us who believe the Bible realize that migration is clear evidence that God is the brilliant Creator of these creatures. He has built into them “seasonal alarm clocks” to know when to start their flights, and He has included “GPS” to navigate the distance. In fact, God uses the migration of birds as an indictment against the people of Israel. “Even the stork that flies across the sky knows the time of her migration, as do the turtledove, the swallow, and the crane. They all return at the proper time each year. But not my people! They do not know the Lord’s laws.” (Jeremiah 8:7)
The animal world operates by INSTINCT. Humans, on the other hand, operate by WILLFUL CHOICE. It takes a willful choice to receive Christ. Through the message of the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus Christ, our partners have been able to teach the “forgotten” people around them that God loves them and He has made a way for them to migrate to Him. We leave our old life and start a new life the moment we make the WILLFUL CHOICE to repent of our sin and ask Christ to sit on the throne of our life. If you haven’t yet done that, I encourage you to do it soon.
Our partners have also made a willful choice to complicate their lives in order to care for others who are not their biological progeny. It is not instinctive to do so. Your “WILLFUL CHOICE” to donate to AHEC allows us to pass on these blessings to our partners that result in many people migrating to God.
Marlon Furtado