The Confused Coyote
Believe me when I say that I am the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the works themselves. John 14:11 (NIV)
I grew up here in the Wellsboro area and returned a little more than three years ago. Never once did I ever see a coyote. However, recently on the game cam, amid the pictures of skunks, foxes, raccoons, and deer was a lone coyote looking for leftovers. What a unique creature! Perhaps a little too close to home but certainly fascinating. Lawrence W. Wilson (All God’s Creatures) tells us about a confused coyote during an eclipse.
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A total solar eclipse is such a rare event that it’s worth taking a holiday to observe. The last time one was visible in the United States, I was fortunate enough to live in the zone of totality, that narrow band of territory from which the full eclipse is visible. I marveled at the sight, as did my daughter and son-in-law. The experience left me more convinced of my own insignificance and of the greatness and power of God.
Moments after the sun went dark, shrouding the world in an eerie silver twilight, a coyote trotted warily out of the brush behind my daughter’s house. He entered the clearing, then stopped, looking this way and that, as if unsure what to do. What strange magic is this? I imagined him wondering. It isn’t daylight, but it’s way too soon for dark. What on earth is happening?
A moment later he trotted back into the woods, presumably to go back to sleep until the real nightfall arrived. It seems he was confused, yes, but not all that impressed.
How often do we respond in a similar way when God makes Himself known in some grand, unexplainable way? We may feel curious or momentarily disoriented, then return to our daily routine. God’s miracles are all around us. They are easy to see and impossible to explain, yet we shrug them off. Later, we ask ourselves, “Is God real? I never know for sure.”
We can know. The heavens declare the glory of God. The rhythm of the tide proclaims His faithfulness. The miracles of a growing seed, a living creature, an immense universe are visible each day and far beyond our ability to understand or explain.
Don’t take my word that God exists. Believe what you see.
Almighty God, Creator of all life, thank You for making yourself known to us in such glorious ways. Help us to take those sacred pauses and recognize You. AMEN.