Consider the Birds of the Air . . .

No matter where in the world you may be, God displays the wonders of His creation. While he walked the earth, Jesus would often refer to aspects of creation as a means of deepening our understanding of the Father's love and care for His own. One of my favorite commands of Christ is: "Look at the birds of the air" (Matthew 6:26) During my first week here at Handong, I've had the opportunity to take several morning and evening walks. Along the way, I've been treated to a wonderful display of the beauty of God's creation through the birds of Asia.

I mentioned a couple of days back, that one of my first sightings was of a relative of the Great Blue Heron. I found a great website with some amazing photo's of the birds of Korea -- so, though I can't take credit for the following shots, I wanted to give you a view of a few "birds of the air" that the Lord has been using to remind me of His presence here.

This is a Purple Heron. He's the one who was flying low over the rice fields in the valley behind the Mission House where my apartment is located. Then, while on my morning walk today, I spotted a little guy who I thought was related to a gold finch, but now I think she was most likely a mountain fulvetta, pictured below.
During my second lap around the campus, I heard a strange call in the trees that lined the south side of the road along the edge of campus near the Student Center. Using my "ears as eyes," I followed the sound of the call until I came upon a very large bird perched about 10 feet up in a tree. It looked like a magpie, but its coloring was more black and light blue, rather than black with patches of white. When I searched through the gallery of Asian Bird photo's, I found this photo of the bird I sighted:
He's called an Asian Fairy Bluebird -- amazing! One of the biggest bluebirds I've ever seen. He's about 3x's the size of an Eastern Bluebird! As I was just about to end my walk and return to the apartment some movement caught my eye in the rice fields that extend to the southeast side of campus. When I stopped to check it out, I was delighted to see again a Great Egret -- elder cousin of the Snowy White that inhabits the river bottoms along the Meramec and Missouri.
These a just of few of the wonders of God's creation that have joined together to greet me in this wondrous land! Even the little sparrow I spotted brought to mind Christ's promise that not even one sparrow can fall to the ground without the Father's knowledge! What a caring and encouraging God we serve!