text: John's and Kay's Swaziland Mission Journey: Under His Wings
  We were recently driving away from the care point where I'd just led a woman's Bible study. The care point consists of some classrooms and an outdoor kitchen, and an outhouse (called a long drop here!) all surrounded by a heavy chicken wire fence. As we pulled away, we noticed some baby chicks crossing the dirt road in front of us. It was a warm day and our windows were rolled down, so the next thing we noticed was the mother hen making horrible noises, calling frantically to her baby chicks to come back to her. She was stuck inside the fence and somehow they'd gotten out. It broke my heart to see her frenetic attempts to jump over or somehow claw through the fence to reach her babies and guide them back to safety under her protective wings. I am sure she hurt herself in the efforts, but she obviously was impervious to the pain and only wanted to get to her wayward chicks to save them. Immediately the picture sprang to my mind of the Father, and his desperate, distraught attempts to call us back when we have gone astray. He would do anything, at great personal price, to bring us back under His tender loving care. In fact, he even gave His own son's life to do so. I can't get the picture of that poor chicken out of my mind, and I sure hope she was able to somehow get to her young ones and shepherd them to safety. More than that, I'll never forget the price Jesus paid to shepherd me back to a relationship with my holy Father and eternal life with Him.