“God
and the Geese”
There was
once a man who didn't believe
in God, and he didn't
hesitate to let others know
how he felt about religion
and religious holidays.
His wife, however, did
believe, and she raised their
children to also have faith
in God and Jesus, despite his
disparaging comments.
One snowy Eve, his wife was
taking their children to
service in the farm community
in which they lived. They
were to talk about Jesus'
birth She asked him to come,
but he refused.
"That
story is nonsense!" he
said. "Why would God
lower Himself to come to
Earth as a man? That's
ridiculous!"
So she and
the children left, and he
stayed home.
A while
later, the winds grew
stronger and the snow turned
into a blizzard. As the man
looked out the window, all he
saw was a blinding snowstorm.
He sat down to relax before
the fire for the evening.
Then he heard a loud thump.
Something had hit the window.
He looked out, but couldn't
see more than a few feet.
When the snow let up a
little, he ventured outside
to see what could have been
beating on his window.
In the field near his house
he saw a flock of wild geese.
Apparently they had been
flying south for the winter
when they got caught in the
snowstorm and couldn't go on.
They were lost and stranded
on his farm, with no food or
shelter. They just flapped
their wings and flew around
the field in low circles,
blindly and aimlessly. A
couple of them had flown into
his window, it seemed.
The man felt sorry for the
geese and wanted to help
them. The barn would be a
great place for them to stay,
he thought. It's warm and
safe; surely they could spend
the night and wait out the
storm. So he walked over to
the barn and opened the doors
wide, then watched and
waited, hoping they would
notice the open barn and go
inside.
But the geese just fluttered
around aimlessly and didn't
seem to notice the barn or
realize what it could mean
for them. The man tried to
get their attention, but that
just seemed to scare them,
and they moved further away.
He went into the house and
came with some bread, broke
it up, and made a bread crumb
trail leading to the barn.
They still didn't catch on.
Now he was getting
frustrated. He got behind
them and tried to shoo them
toward the barn, but they
only got more scared and
scattered in every direction
except toward the barn.
Nothing he did could get them
to go into the barn where
they would be warm and safe.
"Why don't they follow
me?!" he exclaimed.
"Can't they see this is
the only place where they can
survive the storm?"
He thought for a moment and
realized that they just
wouldn't follow a human.
"If only I were a goose,
then I could save them,"
he said out loud. Then he had
an idea. He went into barn,
got one of his own geese, and
carried it in his arms as he
circled around behind the
flock of wild geese.
He then released it. His
goose flew through the flock
and straight into the barn --
and one-by-one, the other
geese followed it to safety.
He stood silently for a
moment as the words he had
spoken a few minutes earlier
replayed in his mind:
"If only I were a goose,
then I could save them!"
Then he thought about what he
had said to his wife earlier.
"Why would God want to
be like us? That's
ridiculous!"
Suddenly it all made sense.
That is what God had done. We
were like the geese--blind,
lost, perishing. God had His
Son become like us so He
could show us the way and
save us.
As the winds and blinding
snow died down, his soul
became quiet and pondered
this wonderful thought.
Suddenly he understood why
Christ had come. Years of
doubt and disbelief vanished
with the passing storm. He
fell to his knees in the
snow, and prayed his first
prayer:
"Thank You, God, for
coming in human form to get
me out of the storm!"
© John
Mark Ministries.
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