Monday, 10:50 AM – Monroe, GA.  “911 to Animal Control” barked the radio. “Complaint of a large bird trapped in a screened patio.” I grabbed my camera and jumped into the passenger seat of an animal control truck. I was hoping it wasn’t like the “large bird” flying around a living room a few weeks earlier that turned out to be just a small Starling. I was hoping it wasn’t a fisherman’s tale or like the “huge” snake calls we get that turn out to be just small Garter Snakes. I was hoping for some excitement; something to add to the life list photos. 
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As we pulled up, the homeowner was out front. “I think it flew in last night and can’t find its way out.”  I walked in the sunroom patio through the doorway that was missing its door. Quickly scanning the room, my eyes were drawn to a beautiful bird perched stoically on the blade of the ceiling fan, eyes near closed as if in deep meditation.

​It was obviously an Eastern Screech Owl (Megascops asio), being way too small to be any other owl species. I fired a few shots.  “Excuse me, I was sleeping here”, he seemed to state as his eyes opened to slightly larger slits. But these slits quickly widened to full, bright yellow coins as my partner reached up with elk hide handling gloves. He then began quickly flapping back and forth across the room, again searching for the exit that he had failed to find all morning long. I got a few more shots as he perched around the room before he was safely hand caught and released outdoors where he gracefully glided off, not phased by the encounter. 

Walton County, Georgia

Thursday and Friday birding walks; December 8-9. Walton County, Georgia. 

​Saturday, 7:57 AM - My daughter and I went for a chilly morning hike at Sandy Creek Nature Center. The early morning frost began to melt from the landscape as fingers of sunrise reached through the tall trees. A melodic and mournful bird song echoed across the water. It was our first time noticing and identifying the call of a White-throated Sparrow.
 
As we sat huddled and hidden in some tall grasses near Claypit Pond, a forceful snort pierced the quiet morning air. As we turned, a White-tailed Deer doe stood between us and her fawns, stomping her foot and snorting. 

He was stuck tight in the ring of a chain-link fence. Even with Kevlar-lined leather gloves, I feared a piercing bite from those long, sharp, bark-shredding, rodent incisors. How could I pull this plump Muskrat out of his predicament without getting bit? Although my motive was to free him, there was nothing I could do to convince him that I meant him no harm.
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Liberating this furry reddish-brown muskrat from his plight reminded me of the complexity of sharing the chain-breaking freedom in Jesus Christ. In our love, we wish to free others from the constricting grip of sin. But as we preach the full gospel, which includes not only Christ’s love and redemption, but also the need for repentance of sin, our listeners may misinterpret our motives and aren’t always sure we mean them no harm. Yet freeing others is a calling motivated by love, as is my mission to free this muskrat.

​As rodents go, Muskrats (Ondatra zibethicus) are bigger than a rat, but smaller than a beaver. With their thick, double-layer of fur, they weigh in at a portly 1 to 4 pounds; just the right size to barely pass through, or, as in this case, get stuck in a chain-link fence! This guy was stuck in a fence surrounding a water retention pond. Preferring to burrow their homes in the banks of ponds and streams, muskrats have taken advantage of these man-made flood controlling constructions. My chubby muskrat must have gotten himself lodged when returning from grazing on the other side of the fence... where the grass is always greener!
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Even we humans, the “crown of creation” and supposed most intelligent creatures can be lured into captivity when we are “drawn away by our own lusts, and enticed” (James 1:14). We too fall captive to “the-grass-is-always-greener-on-the-other-side” mentality and chase fleeting fantasies into restricted areas that leave us trapped and in a helpless struggle. We inevitably need someone to set us free. 

As I approached to liberate this marooned muskrat, I could see his long, bald, vertically-flattened tail and backside trapped fast in the fence. He had given up on the struggle. Reducing the fence’s grip with the aid of bolt cutters, I was able to pull the exhausted critter free without much of a fight.

My now liberated muskrat didn’t immediately run off in freedom. His long exertion had drained his energy and he retreated briefly to recover under a nearby log. He eventually caught his breath, sensed his freedom, and scurried off towards a patch of concealing leaf litter near the water’s edge.
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While they may not immediately embrace freedom, sharing God’s love and the truth of the freeing power of the blood of Jesus Christ does not return void. It will loosen the blinding grip of sin upon the human heart and free them to make a decision. We may have a sense of frustration when some don’t immediately accept Christ, but we never know what will happen down the road. It is still our calling to preach the liberating gospel. As long as there is life there is a chance to decide for Christ. The fruit of our evangelistic efforts may not be immediate, but we never know what may take place. It was a full 12 months from when I first heard a true evangelistic witness to when I surrendered and received Christ. 

Taking a walk to the upper retention pond behind my office in Walton County, Georgia, I found this Gray Fox skeleton partially submerged at the edge of the pond. 

Two White-tailed Deer bucks dueling in my neighborhood during the rutting season. When I turned the car headlights to face them, they were more interested in continuing their spar than they were in running away from me. 

​Have you ever tried to walk through a patch of woods only to get shredded by briars? Or how about walking along barefoot and stop on a prickly thistle plant? Thorns and thistles are the perfect reminder of what our sin has done to our planet. 

​Just like the snagging of our clothing which brings us to a halt in a briar patch, so too our bad decisions make our walk through this life so much more complicated. There are even times that the thorns of this life which weren’t of our own doing make life harder. 

​But thankfully we have a Savior that took upon Himself the thorns and scourgings of our sin to blaze a path for us! 

November 12, 2011 - A Saturday morning hike on Cook's Trail that runs between Sandy Creek Nature Center and Sandy Creek Park in Athens, Clarke County, Georgia. 

November 24, 2011 - another Saturday morning hike around Claypit Pond at the Nature Center.