Grey Crowned Crane Seen at DisneyWorld

Recently my wife and I were enjoying an early morning breakfast. We were on vacation at Walt Disney World’s Kidani Village where animals roam the resort. This was our first visit and everything was new and marvelous. Our breakfast table was next to a window and we watched different animals outside. We saw giraffes, zebras (two kinds), okapis, ankoles, ostriches, impalas, and many kinds of birds. Suddenly, a Grey Crowned Crane sauntered right up to our window and I snapped its picture.

Word quickly spread through the restaurant that a Crane was at our window. A “crowd of small humans” came to see the Crane and take pictures. I felt as if we were the ones in a zoo, being watched by a crane and closed in all around by children. I wondered what the crane thought of us. It looked right at me, and it did a dance. The crane watched us a long time before it became bored with us and left. Then the children also left, and my wife and I were once again relatively alone with our breakfast meal, albeit now cold.

So, I wondered. Who was free? The bird was a captive of an otherwise nice zoo. It had the freedom to walk up to our window and watch me try to eat. But no matter how big its “cage” was it was not free. It was limited by high fences and with clipped wings could not fly away even though it perches in trees in the wild. The Crane looked healthy and well fed. It also had companion cranes who did not come near to our window. It was being taken care of, and probably would live a longer life than in the wild, perhaps 40 years. Yet, it was not free. Unlike the Crane, our own boundaries for travel is much vaster. But are we more free than the Crane, and who takes care of us?

1 Peter 5:6-7 “Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.” (ESV)‬‬

My wife and I are in our last years of life. We can look back over our lives and realize how often God cared for us. There were tough times, but He got us through them. Nowadays we have more health issues, but He still cares for us. Yes, someday we will die.

Hebrews 9:27-28 “Everyone must die once. Then they are judged. So Christ was offered as a sacrifice one time to take away the sins of many people. And he will come a second time, but not to offer himself for sin. He will come the second time to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him.” (ERV)‬‬

We accepted Jesus as our Savior and received salvation which means by grace and faith we are forgiven of our sins and have eternal life in the hereafter. Without salvation we were headed for eternity in Hell, a place of eternal punishment. We now have true freedom, through our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

Who cares for you?