On wings like eagles...

Isaiah 40: 29-31
He gives strength to the weary
and increases the power of the weak.

Even youths grow tired and weary,
and young men stumble and fall;

but those who hope in the LORD
will renew their strength.
They will soar on wings like eagles;
they will run and not grow weary,
they will walk and not be faint.

The eagle is mentioned many times in the Bible. Why the eagle? Just read this, I thought it was very interesting! We can learn a lot from this bird!

The american bald eagle has been studied very much and is a very majestic bird to say the least. I think it's a very extraordinary bird.

The Bald eaglenever eats something that's started to rot, it eats only FRESH meat. That's what keeps it strong and healthy. If we use that as a metaphore to our faith... we need fresh food every day too - from the Word of God. We don't live on the word from last week or yesterday. If we want to keep growing and become strong in our faith we need to feed every day :)

From the time the birds come out of the egg they are eagles and they destined for one thing - to fly. The grown eagle that soars high in the skies is no more an eagle than the little chick that just came out of the eagle egg. The difference is the young one still has a lot to learn. Once people are born again they all have the same destiny... a life with God for all eternity. The young Christian is not more of a Christian than the old Christian. We are all destined to fly. God wants to lift us up on wings like eagles by giving us faith and teaching us different things throughout our life. God is the one who lifts us up just like the upstream winds lift the eagle up. We just have to seek the wind, find it and stay in it. God will bring us up to hights we never imagined!

When threatened by other birds the bald eagle's response is not to fight. If a group of vultures approaches it to steal it's prey what do you think the eagle does? It flies straight towards the sun! The american bald eagle has a thin eyelid or filmlike eyelid that it closes so that it will not be blinded by the sun. The vultures that follow... they'll be blinded and have to turn away. What do we do when we face temptation, when the enemy is threatening us. Do we attempt to fight or fly towards the sun, towards the Light - Jesus Christ.

In the storm when most other animals seek shelter the eagle does the opposite. It doesn't hide down on the ground, it flies up, high up towards where it last saw the sun until it sees the sun again. It soars over the stormy weather where the sun dries it's feathers again. In the storms of life we can do the same in God, we can soar over the storm knowing that God is our shelter. God wants to lift us up in hard times, he want's to carry us up through the storm to a place where we can find rest in Him - the perspective from up above is a lot better than from the ground where all you can see is the raging storm. We should not hide or let the storm smother us. God is our hope and strength.

Once paired, bald eagles remain together until one dies. A very cool thing they do once they find a mate is this: they fly way up into the sky where they lock their claws togeter and the male wraps his wings around the female and they fall in free fall. The female doesn't do anything until the male stretches out its wings again and they let go of each others claws. Then they do it a seckond time and this time she wraps her wings around him and they do the same thing. This is entirely about trust. We can rest in our Fathers arms, under His wings the same way the eagles do with each other. We can trus Him completely with our lives, even when we feel like we're in free fall.