Da Bears

Dear Faith Family,

And He humbled you and let you hunger and fed you with manna, which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that He might make you know that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord, (Deuteronomy 8:3).

Rediscovered a live cam feed on YouTube. The eagle’s nest cam that did adorn my office wall is now eagle-less. From two eggs, to hatchlings, to nestlings, to fledglings, to juveniles, the eaglets flew the nest. So, the search for a new live feed landed on an old favorite: Brooks Falls in Katmai National Park in Alaska. A bunch of brown bears hanging outby the scenic Brooks Falls. They’re safer on the tv.

Yesterday, I noticed a few bears waiting patiently for susceptible salmon to swim up the falls creating a brown bear buffet. What I didn’t see was salmon, at least not many salmon. But alas, the salmon began to show up attempting to leap up the falls. It was like the bears knew what time was. Time for the salmon to populate the buffet. And the bears knew right where to go to feed their empty stomachs.

Interestingly, even the gulls know where to go to fill their gullet. The bears often create leftovers of which the gulls take full advantage with eager eyes and daring distances.

Watching the bears (and the gulls) gives rise to a question. Do we know where to go to find food? Not food for the stomach. Food for the heart, mind, and soul. Of course we do, right?!

Oddly enough, our appetites can prove misleading. Instead of heading to the river to feast on God’s buffet we can be drawn away to junk food. The kind of food that tickles the tastebuds and tortures the tummy.

For instance? Entertainment. Relationships. Busyness. Social media. And the list goes on. Let’s face it, anything that serves as a substitute for the feast that God has prepared for us in His Word becomes junk food. It isn’t that the substitutes are necessarily bad in and of themselves but that they are used for the wrong purpose. 

The Word of God prepares us to rightly engage all other areas of life. Are we as eager as bears and gulls to feast on the very Word of God?!

Lets dig in,

Pastor Karl