GUTSY? THE D-FLIES; NOT ME!

Just before going home, I saw a young man sitting on the grass looking like he was reading...a Bible!  I knew God wanted me to talk to him; and after a struggle working up the nerve, I asked, "Excuse me; is that a Bible you're reading?"

He quickly closed the book, telling me it was only a novel. He also told me he disliked religion and believed a person should believe himself.  All truth is in man, he said. Then I felt intimidated when he said of all the religions, he hated Christianity the most. (Ouch.) I don't know how much of what he said, he actually thought through himself, and how much he was merely parroting what he heard.

He said a lot of things. He also mentioned interest in drawing. I'd just spent much time drawing the dragonfly at Deeper Pond!

I've mentioned before how I feel dragonflies are the gutsiest of all the insects. Gutsy is NOT how I felt when talking with this young man. It's probably  closer to how Peter felt when threatened by a maiden at the fireside. I am so glad there will be John 21 for all God's own!

CORMORANT and CULT FRIEND?!

Remember my Feb. 27 post, "Just Park Animals" about how, after I wrote about Koree the Cormorant, the cormorant from a nearby river came, bringing two friends? Well, he kept visiting, seeming to insist I draw a picture of him.

Today, when Alabaster the egret and Peter the kawasemi also came to Quasi Pond where Koree the Cormorant swam in front of me, well, it seemed even his park buddies were supporting his dream to be seen. So when Koree came up from a dive with a catch, I decided it was dramatic enough to sketch along with his two non-cormorant friends!

Sometimes, our friends could be, surprisingly outside the fold. I know when I came to the park a few years ago, I had the notion that Biblicists had a handle on the truth and altho' I didn't know it, in some way, I guess I felt Biblicists were better than others. God engineered circumstances so that I became close friends here at the park with someone I didn't realize was a Cultist...and she didn't realize I was a former missionary either. Our love for God, life, wildlife, led to hours of shared thoughts and time together.

When we discovered each others' actual identity, well, we wanted to keep everything aboveboard, but we wanted to hold onto the friendship that had become so precious too. When the elders said it had to end, that was heartbreaking.

Wait a minute...how did I get here? I was going to tell you about drawing a picture of a cormorant!