One summer afternoon, a lady and her small dog were walking along Marine Drive in Sequim, Washington. Marine Drive runs along a high bank next to Sequim Bay. Along one side of the road are homes, but on the other side is a narrow, grassy shoulder and then a very steep decline of about 90 feet down to the water’s edge. Trees grow on this hillside, hanging on to the steep ground, oddly shaped by the strong winds.
In one of these trees along the edge of the road, about 40 feet above the level of the road, wedged into some thick branches, bald eagles made a huge nest out of small branches and twigs, and they lined it with moss and seaweed. Their nest was four to five feet wide, a couple of feet thick, and could have weighed thousands of pounds.
People walking along the road often pause near the tree to see if they can spot any eagles in the nest. The lady walking her dog didn’t see anything in the nest, but her small dog stopped and refused to budge when she pulled on the leash.
Eventually, she bent down to see what the dog was looking at in the bushes. She got a big surprise! She saw a darling pair of baby eaglets sitting on the ground staring back at her with their big eyes. They were covered with gray down and had the faintest beginning of white pin feathers coming out of their heads. Their yellow talons looked oversized for their bodies, and their bellies were fat and round, giving them a comical look.
The eaglets made no effort to hide or run away. They were too young to walk, much less to fly. Parent eagles are very protective of their young, but the unfortunate parents had no way to return their eaglets to the nest. Their sharp talons would have pierced their babies and ripped them to shreds if they tried to pick them up.
The lady knew these eaglets needed help. She called her husband to come to her on her cell phone. Then they called the Raptor Rescue Center a few miles away. A worker from the center came out at once, picked the eaglets up, placed them in a box, and drove them to the local veterinarian. There they were fed and given a health check. The eaglets were in the best of shape.
After talking it over, everybody involved thought the best thing they could do was to return the eaglets to their nest. They asked a local logger to help. This man was eager to do all he could. He and a fellow worker came out to the tree where the nest was. He strapped on some sharp cleats to the bottom of his work boots. Then with a wide leather strap wrapped around the tree and digging his cleats into the bark, he was able to climb up to the nest. As he climbed, he could see the parent eagles flying in circles in the sky above the tree watching what was going on.
On a limb just above the nest, he rigged a pulley system of ropes. His friend standing near the road held the ends of the rope. The eaglets were gently placed into a duffle bag and it was zipped closed so they wouldn’t fall out. Then the bag was tied to one of the ropes and the man on the ground pulled hand over hand on the other end of the rope until the eaglets got all the way up to his friend by the nest. The logger in the tree carefully removed the babies from the bag and placed them back in the nest.
Eagles mate for life, and they also take very good care of their young. Soon the parents were seen landing on the nest and inspecting their eaglets. The next day people watching the nest saw one of the parents bring a large orange Dungeness crab to the nest to feed their babies.
The eaglets covered with gray fuzz didn’t yet have the ability to fly like their parents. And even though eagles take very good care of their young, these eagles couldn’t help their babies when they fell out of the nest. The eaglets needed someone else to save them from their problem. This makes me think of children that grow up in Christian homes. Their parents know the Lord Jesus and love their children, and they may teach them all they can about Him. But they cannot save their children. Only the Lord Jesus can save them. I hope, if you are a child with Christian parents or not, that you have come to the Lord Jesus to save you! He alone is able to save you from your sins, and He wants to be your very own precious Savior. “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and [you will] be saved” (Acts 16:3131And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house. (Acts 16:31)). You must do this for yourself. Have you done it?
Messages of God’s Love 5/29/2022