Why Did You Shoot Me?

Why Did You Shoot Me?

“who kills the prophets…” Luke 13:34

The dream was surreal. A crow was standing in my open bedroom window looking down on me as I used my pillow to fight back the morning rays of light! With one wing bandaged and sporting a British accent he asked, “Why did you shoot me?” The accent probably comes from watching too many episodes of Heckle and Jekyll as a kid, but the bandaged wing and the question he asked came from a day back in November when I decided enough was enough!

Since March, this crow along with a noisy entourage had plagued our District Office in Macon. The ladies at the front of building were bothered by a steady diet of cawing. They made such a terrible racket that my co-workers had a hard time concentrating. Not only that, but they made a terrible mess at the front door so that no one would even want to come in through that entrance. One lady put out rubber snakes. Many things were tried and all of them failed. The crows had a party on a daily basis at our expense. If it had only been the persistent cawing and the nasty littering of the walk that would have been bad enough, but there was more.  What worsened the situation was the incessant pecking by one crow. He was destroying the reflective coating on the glass surrounding the entrance. Some people said that he could see himself in the glass and that he was attacking his own reflection. Others said that the shiny glass was pretty and crows like pretty things. I think he just wanted to get in very badly! I really am not sure how anyone could possibly know what caused this strange behavior for sure, but I have my own hypothesis and it is contained in the answer I gave in my dream. He was crazy enough to think he belonged inside!

Every day, the crazy one would go out and attack the huge glass front of our building and the others crowded around to watch. Some days he would do it with so much vigor that he bled on the glass and concrete entrance. My solution was simple and yes, final. A trip to the sporting goods store for a pellet rifle (I had already tried my Red Ryder BB Gun and I think they ate the BB’s!) and scope. The first outing brought a bit of humor as I tried to explain to a young Russian pastor who was visiting our office, what I was doing in the bushes outside the office. It was a tough translation!

The second day, I struck gold. The crazy crow was by himself pecking at the window. No crow guards were on lookout and he was so caught up with his own show that he never saw me or the pellet coming. The result was a wing shot that knocked him from the roof of our building and a foot chase that had me losing him in some bushes in the adjoining property. This crow was not only crazy but fast, too!

The next day, I dropped by the office on way to a meeting in Florida. One of my co workers gave me the latest news. “My crow” was in the front yard. The result was me chasing him through the parking lot toward an Orthodontist office next door. As I got nearer the building full of children and parents awaiting their time with the doctor, I had the very real sensation that I was being watched. Still in our office’s parking area, I decided to retire my rifle and get on the road. Maybe ten minutes later as I filled my truck up with gas nearby, I saw the collateral damage from my hunt as police cars and vans sped toward my building with sirens blaring and blue lights flashing. I had been reported by the office next door and they came with weapons drawn to take care of the “suburban terrorist.” I did what any good pastor would do and let the police sort things out with my fellow workers who had to come out with their hands up!

That crazy crow, doomed to die with broken wing, was sure a “peck” of trouble for me! Maybe he was a “prophet” crow stirring up trouble and that is why he was sitting in my window preaching a sermon through a question. God used a donkey once, (and probably millions more after that) to speak, why not a crow?  “Why did you shoot me?” was more than a question as to why his wing was broken, it was a statement as to the continuing tradition of God’s people to kill the “crazy ones”  so there is no more fuss or mess!  It worked for me. Once I took care the “crazy one” the crow party was over. Their attempt to get into the glass building was a failed one. After having looked into the promise land they still could not enter. The remainder of the crows, even though adoring of whatever they saw in the “prophet crow” left when he was dispatched into crow heaven.  

On one very practical level I am glad I shot that crazy crow. But I have to confess that at a deeper level I’m not so sure!

 More to come in my next Blog.