Momma Hen urgently cluck-cluck-clucked to her chicks. She'd seen smoke coming up from that bale of hay in the barn where Little Jimmy had sat not long before, smoking a cigarette butt end one of the farmhands had littered somewhere on the grounds. She knew the boy smoking there was bad news but she didn't like to say anything. He wasn't a kind lad so she tried to steer clear of him.
She wished now she had said something to Farmer Ben. She once had heard him say that where there's smoke there's fire.
Remembering that now she clucked all the more furiously, "cluck-cluck, cluck-cluck!" Little chicks came running from all directions. My, how proud she was of these cute fluffy balls. She clucked harder in great alarm when she saw something red-orange flare up from there had only been smoke moments before. She didn't care now if Little Jimmy called her chicken-hearted, she was determined to protect her chicks under her wings, come what may!
Her wings spread-eagled, chicks came nestling. There should be a dozen in all. She counted and named as she continued to cluck. "Cluck-cluck, Suzy, Clara, Dixie Chick, cluck-cluck, Darby, Peppy, Rudy, cluck-cluck, Ruby, Henrietta, Chicken Little (the runt), Beaketta, cluck-cluck, Clucker, oh where was Pom-Pom!? She's always got a mind of her own!" More loudly, frantically, Momma Hen clucked. Finally, she saw Pom-Pom shivering under her cow friend, Blossom. Blossom mooed at Pom-Pom, "Go, go, girl; go to your Momma, NOW! Moooo-ve it!"
Pom-Pom dashed to Momma Hen. Momma Hen enclosed her with the others already under the shadow-care and protection of her wings. Huddled together, they waited it out for the worse.
The worst came.
In the aftermath, Farmer Ben was beside himself, tears streaming from his eyes - not so much at his financial loss but at the pain his faithful beasts had suffered. Yes, he'd managed to get a good number of them out of the barn but Momma Hen, no. He couldn't find her at the time. He searched and searched now in the rubble, finally finding her.
Carefully, tenderly, he tried to lift her frame even knowing that she was no longer alive. Oh, out ran, one, two, five, eight, 10, 11, oh, praise be, all 12 of her chicks! Unharmed! Farmer Ben didn't know whether to laugh or cry some more. He did declare that Momma Hen was going to have a right proper burial though and have a plaque in her honor in his new barn's wall of fame. She had sacrificed herself for the saving of her brood for under the shadow of her wings they'd been kept alive and well.
This is exactly what Preacher Tom had been preaching about last Sunday, Ben mused. He'd said something about being under the shadow of God's wings until disaster was passed. Now he understood the analogy.
Jesus died for mankind's sake, for Farmer Ben's sake, more specifically. The bood of Jesus could clean all his sin away, not that he was a bad guy or anything, but Preacher had said we all had sinned cuz the bible says so. We just had to repent of it and ask Jesus to cleanse us. Jesus would forgive us and be our Savior, similarly like how Momma Hen had been for her chicks. We'd be right with God, like being under His wings' shadow of care and protection from Hell's fire at the end of the ages of time.
Still holding Momma Hen's remains in his hands, Farmer Ben knelt down and prayed aloud.
"Lord Jesus, I'm so sorry I've held out on You all these years. Have mercy on me, for in You I want to take refuge, under the shadow of Your wings, just like Momma Hen's chicks did with her. I admit I'm a sinner and need Your salvation through Your cleansing blood. I repent and turn away from my sin of unbelief and all the other sins too. Wash me, clean me with Your precious blood. Forgive me. In You I put my hope and confidence. Thank-You Jesus. In Your name I ask."
Farmer Ben got up from his knees, turned and saw that Little Jimmy was standing quietly in his shadow looking scared and sorry, which was something new. "Daddy," Little Jimmy swallowed hard, "Daddy, I have to tell you something." Little Jimmy spoke with such a soft whisper Daddy could hardly hear. "Yes, son, what is it?"
"I think I started the fire. You always tell me to be careful in the barn but I was doing something else you told me never to do, so was hiding out in there. I found a cigarette butt and was smoking it in the barn." Little Jimmy hung his head in shame and fear. Daddy wasn't sure yet if it was in repentance though.
Daddy knelt down again to Jimmy's eye-level and hugged Jimmy. "That was brave of you to tell me, Jimmy. I hope you are truly sorry. There are huge consequences to our sins. You see the whole barn is gone and many of the animals have suffered and died. See, even Momma Hen." Daddy was crying again over it all but mostly now because Little Jimmy had had the courage to confess.
"Jimmy, whenever we do wrong, there are consequences, do you understand?" Farmer Ben asked his son.
"Yes, D-d-daddy," Little Jimmy said with quivering lips and stammaring tongue.
"Look Jimmy, did you know I have done wrong? I have sinned? I needed to repent. That means to stop doing my wrong and turn from it to do what's right. I kept telling God, no, I don't want to accept Jesus. He just gave me the hard lesson of Momma Hen. She protected her chicks from the fire. Little Jimmy, there's a worse fire coming. Do you know it?"
"Yes, Daddy, Teacher Pamela told me about Hell fire in Sunday School," Little Jimmy replied.
"Well, Jimmy, if we admit to Jesus we have done wrong and have sinned and are sinners and ask Jesus to wash our sins away with His blood from when He died on the cross, this is repenting. Jesus will forgive and do it. He gives new life - I know it. That's what I was doing just now when you came. It's like being under the shadow of God's wings - just like the chicks were under Momma Hen's and were safe. Would you like to ask Jesus for His forgiveness and salvation too, Little Jimmy?"
"Yes, daddy, I think that's a good idea."
Father and son knelt and prayed amidst the soot and charred barn debris. Pom-Pom hopped onto Jimmy's lap, and cheep-cheeped at him while he prayed and made him smile. Two new repentant souls were being rejoiced over in Heaven (Luke 15:7,10).
When they got up from their knees, they too, rejoiced. "Come Jimmy, we need to bury what's left of Momma Hen and then round up the chicks to a place of safety. Jimmy, I'm going to put you in charge of her brood. You will be Daddy Hen for them."
"Ok, Daddy," Little Jimmy grinned up at his Dad. Daddy still had a very serious look on his face though.
"Little Jimmy, we need to have a very serious talk later. The Lord has forgiven your sins, and I have forgiven you for causing the barn fire but our wrongs have consequences. Jimmy, your Mother and I will talk it over and see what those will be. Do you understand? We are not trying to be mean but you will need to be disciplined so you will learn and be trained to do what is right even when tempted to do what's wrong. You will have to build up our trust in you."
"You've already shown you can do right by confessing your part in the fire and confessing to the Lord all your wrongs," Daddy explained. "This is a good start in your training. Like I said though, we will be talking more about it. For now, grab a shovel that is useable for digging Momma Hen's grave."
So Momma Hen was buried. A grave marker erected - a beacon reminder of that day when Farmer Ben and Little Jimmy got under the shadow of God's wings and transformation work was done and begun in their hearts and lives.
~ERC February 2022~
Based on Psalm 57:1 and 71:5.
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