Nail-punctured  Tire  Leads  to  Red-bellied  Woodpecker

Dr. James J. S. Johnson

 Go to now, ye that say, Today or tomorrow we will go into such a city, and continue there a year, and buy and sell, and get gain.  Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time, and then it vanishes away.  For that ye ought to say, ‘If the Lord will, we shall live, and do this, or that’.   (James 4:13-15)

RED-BELLIED WOODPECKER photo credit: Ken Thomas / Wikipedia

How was seeing a Red-bellied Woodpecker, on July the 5^th, the direct result discovering a punctured car tire on July the 4^th? And how was this series of related events an illustration of James 4:13-15?

On the 4^th of July we planned a multi-generational (i.e., 4 generations!) family get-together, to share a meal and a relaxing visit, but en route I discovered a silver screw-nail pressed into the front right tire of our van.  Surprise! – surprises like that can interrupt your “flight plan”, so a “Plan B” becomes necessary.

Although our arrival was a bit delayed, it all worked out, without too much trouble, by using a different car, but on July 5^th about a half-day was spent with me at the tire repair place  —  but I used the wait-time wisely, reading about lobster ecdysis (i.e., shell-shedding, a/k/a molting) and other such fascinating activities of coastal crustaceans!

Yet should I have been totally surprised?  As James 4:13-15, quoted above, indicates, we should never be shocked when our Plan A must be replaced by a Plan B.  In the end, because we belong to our Lord Jesus Christ, it all works out for good (Romans 8:28).

A NAIL, A TIRE, AND INTERRUPTED PLANS

Silver gleamed from a tire of our van;

A road trip stopped ere it began:

A nail caused air to leak,

Making our van’s tire weak,

Quickly changing my day’s checklist plan.

On the brighter side, on the 5th of July, in a grassy are (with a few small trees) by the tire repair center, I saw (and watched with admiration for God’s detailed bioengineering handiwork) a Red-bellied Woodpecker — that’s a bird I don’t often get to see.

RED-BELLIED WOODPECKER photo credit: Helena Reynolds / Audubon Field Guide

Each day has its little treasures, if we have eyes to see them.  (And some days have much bigger treasures, such as when a grandchild demonstrated a sincere reverence for God and His Word!)