It would be strange to see that group get together in the parking lot, have their opening rituals, their briefing, then get in their cars and go home. Yet Sunday after Sunday in the Christian world this is often what happens. There is a meeting where expectations of the Christian life are pointed out. But rather than going from there to an adventure with the Lord, everyone goes home and turns on the football game or devours the roast. The meeting is soon forgotten.

Meetings are important. But the Book of Acts model for the church involves a lot of movement beyond church walls. Battles. Excitement. Testimonies about how the war is going.

Another thing I learned from birdwatching, quite unrelated to the above, is that God is the lifter of my head, as said the Psalmist. As a young boy I was pretty depressed. I remember that I walked often with my head facing the pavement on which I walked, rather than the trees or the sky over me. But it was that same young boy who began this passion with birds. Very hard to watch birds and keep your head down at the same time. It was just in those tender days that I was discovering who God is that He found a way to be the lifter of my head.

As birds have helped shape my very personality, I have also learned that birds too have individuality. My expertise goes only to species differences, but it is obvious that even within a species, mother birds are able to hear their own, as is evidenced by the massive amounts of Penguins who "flock together" in the earth's coldest habitable regions. Penguins come and go all day, but when they return to the group of many thousands they are able to hear the cry of their "baby" with no trouble.

And as for those species! Diversity unimaginable. From that penguin who cannot even get off the ground, to the hummingbird whose wings are moving so fast that those nearby think the birds are "humming" - hence, the name. Extremes of color. Extremes of habit. Extremes of migration. Extremes of sounds. God has outdone Himself to entertain earthlings! Still we seek entertainment through the comparatively mundane and often corrupt forms that the world has produced in places like Hollywood.

His creation of and caring for all this diversity reminds us of our own personal providence and that He has a purpose for each of us in His Kingdom, absolutely and totally different from anyone of our neighbors in the Lord.