Animals

Animal Inspiration

The Chicken

By Gary Barnes

Once upon a time, there was a large mountainside, where an eagle's nest rested. The eagle's nest contained four large eagle eggs. One day an earthquake rocked the mountain, causing one of the eggs to roll down the mountain to a chicken farm located in the valley below. The chickens knew that they must protect and care for the eagle's egg, so an old hen volunteered to nurture and raise the large egg.

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Remember When…?

catching fireflys

Author Unknown

Close your eyes and go back... Before the Internet, or the MAC...
Before semi automatics and crack...

Way back. I'm talkin' 'bout...

Hide and seek at dusk. Sittin' on the porch, The Good Humor Man, and Red Light, Green Light.

Chocolate milk, Lunch tickets, Penny candy in a brown paper bag.
Playin' Pinball at the corner store. Hopscotch, butterscotch, doubledutch, Jacks, kickball, dodgeball, Mother May I? Red Rover and Roly Poly.

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Ain’t No Horse or Mountain High Enough – True

By Betty King

Had I stepped on the scales that morning, the needle would not quite have come to rest on 200 pounds. It would have settled though, way past my prime weight of 120. Cowboy boots were not part of my attire but I had managed to stuff my thighs into a pair of denim jeans.

I rode my three-wheel-motorized scooter over sand and past cacti to the front of the barn; there I waited my next mode of transportation.

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God’s Wings

blazing fire in Yellowstone National Park

Author Unknown

An article in National Geographic several years ago provided a penetrating picture of God's wings. After a forest fire in Yellowstone National Park, forest rangers began their trek up a mountain to assess the inferno's damage. One ranger found a bird literally petrified in ashes, perched statuesquely on the ground at the base of a tree.

Somewhat sickened by the eerie sight, he knocked over the bird with a stick. When he gently struck it, three tiny chicks scurried from under their dead mother's wings. The loving mother, keenly aware of impending disaster, had carried her offspring to the base of the tree and had gathered them under her wings, instinctively knowing that the toxic smoke would rise.

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The Geese and the Snowstorm

A Story of Salvation
-- Author Unknown

There was once a man who did not believe in either the virgin birth of Christ nor the spiritual meaning behind it, and was skeptical even about God. He and his family lived in a farm community. His wife was a devout believer and diligently raised her children in the faith. He sometimes gave her a hard time about her belief and mocked her religious observances.

"It's all nonsense -- why would God lower himself and become a human like us? It's such a ridiculous story," he said.

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The Sandpiper

Sandpiper on the beach

By Robert Peterson

She was six years old when I first met her on the beach near where I live. I drive to this beach, a distance of three or four miles, whenever the world begins to close in on me. She was building a sand castle or something and looked up, her eyes as blue as the sea. "Hello," she said.

I answered with a nod, not really in the mood to bother with a small child. "I'm building," she said.

"I see that. What is it?" I asked, not really caring.

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The Integrity of “Ugly” (The Cat)

Author Unknown

Everyone in the apartment complex knew who "Ugly" was. Ugly was the resident tomcat that loved three things in this world: fighting, eating garbage, and, shall we say, love. The combination of these things, combined with a life spent outside, had their effect on Ugly.

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How Poor We Really Are

Author Unknown

One day, a wealthy family man took his son on a trip to the country so he could have his son see how poor country people were.

They stayed one day and one night in the farmhouse of a very humble farm. On the way back home at the end of the trip the father asked the son, "What did you think of the trip?"

The son replied, "Very nice, Dad."

The father then asked, "Did you notice how poor they were?"

The son replied, "Yes, I guess so."

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