It was just another clear bright Southern California Spring day with a rich azure blue sky around an early morning sun. The morning dew sparkled across a new green lawn and the wisps of yellow pollen dance in loosely clouded puffs in the morning breeze adding to the scent of sticky pine already in the air. 

Above, sat my enemy, taunting me. He was seemingly careless and unaware of the grave danger I held in my hands. "Thief" said I. Slowly I raised the cold black steal and set my eye to the sight. Carefully I studied this destroyer of morning quiet and as I fixed the crosshairs onto his head suddenly he froze ... dead silence. As I watched through the much magnified eye piece his arrogant look changed quickly to a look of curious wonder, perhaps even one of fear. As I focused more closely on his head, I could see his deep black eye glistened as it darted back and forth from me to a hummingbird dancing a few feet away, to somewhere in the distance, back to me, to the moth that just flew by again to me constantly flitting back and forth here and there but always returning directly to me. He shuffled uneasily, then he quickly spread his wings and crouched as if to take off but again his attention was drawn to the hummingbird and then again just as quickly his glance returning to me as he folded his wings back close to his body. His tail spread opened, shook side to side and then closed again. It was obvious he was nervous. 

It was, very real, very strange, almost discomforting and yet...Not now! I thought and as I dropped the sight further still to the deep brown wood revealing numerous splinters and pock marks with silver indentations. BAM! As I added another to the pole and Monsieur Crow "caw caw cawed" away into the distance.

This was not my normal morning taunting of the crows.  Although in the early morning, when Diana is still sleeping, I do enjoy finding ways to chase the noisy little busybodies away, normally, I wouldn't be using a pellet gun. On this particular day I just happened to be setting the sights on my nephew's. Quite frankly, I love the beauty of these birds, and I know they are a very necessary part of God's creation. 

What were the animals like before the Flood?

    What changed it?

         What will it be like in the future?

Then I met "Bob."

I remember it was a Wednesday in July of '98 because the the Farmer's Market had been across the street that day and the crows were making an awful racket and fighting over the leftover popcorn and numerous other bits left behind. It was just about two weeks since my dealings with "Monsieur Crow" and I giggled to myself as looked out the window and daydreamed that had I had my pellet gun there would be no end to the "shots" just waiting to be taken. During one of my quick breaks I walked outside to the warm 4 o'clock breeze and a cool glass of water. A car raced by and from the corner of my eye something moved in an unusual way. A short time later another car passed and a crow that had been sort of on the side of the road leaped into the air and came down very clumsily. Odd I thought, crows are some of the most graceful and agile of fliers. I watched, and then I noticed he was also watching me. He didn't move. I stood up, he coward and took an uneasy step backwards and scrunched himself against the curb. Something's wrong. I took a few paces with my eyes fixed on his whereas he leaped in the air and gave away his weakness for his crumpled wing was cracked, bent, red with blood and showing white bone. Oh boy...

I went into the restaurant to get a tablecloth and went out and ran him down in the field. It was quiet easy and he made little sound but his friends began a terrible racket. I carefully wrapped him in the cloth so that his head was sticking out but so his wing was somewhat firmly tucked close to his body. Already blood stained the cloth and I thought this one won't last long. I "humanely" stuck him all rolled up into the shade of a cool bush so that if die he must at least it would be the gentle sleep of bleeding to death instead of the terrifying claws of a cat or the jaws of a dog. I went back to work.

Round about 9:35 pm (I know cause I heard the fireworks of Disneyland) I was ready to head home and as I was locking up a looked and saw the bundle I had conveniently forgotten. All was motionless and quiet and I thought he was dead but to my surprise as I reach down for it, "he" stirred. Shoot, now what. Well I'm not taking a wounded crow home to Diana so I searched the restaurant and found a large box. I spent another half hour with this makeshift "cage", set out a bowl of water. As I left he sat down, blinked his eyes at me, and then as I watched his eyes went to half mast, then fully closed. I turned to leave and looking at all the blood on the cloth I thought, he's sure to be dead by morning. I forgot about him before I reached home.

Early the next morning it's still dark when I arrive and I open the front door ready to attack all that needs to be done. Ah shoot, the bird. I peek over the top of the box and...without moving a muscle he just barely opened his eyes. I run my finger gently over his head and he still makes no motion, just closes his eyes again.

For two days I worked around him, he hardly seemed to move. I'd pick him up and look at his wing and think no way. But he made no sound, didn't stand, didn't walk, nothing. Each night before leaving I'd change the water and leave some food for him. Nothing.

Finally on the 4th day I walked in at first sunlight to a loud SQUAWK! He was up and about, food was gone, water and poop everywhere and I knew I was in trouble. He allowed me a good look at his wing. I stretched it out, felt the entire length inch by inch. I had no doubt it was damaged far beyond anything I could repair. Seems he sensed my assessment cause as soon as I had made it he was cawing, clawing, pecking and letting me know it was time to set him down. I knew right then, this was the beginning of a "wonderful" relationship. This was now Saturday, we had guests coming to the house tomorrow and I wasn't returning.

I broke the news gently. I just told her I had found this "bird" and it's wing was broken and somehow it had lived these past four days, and besides, I'll bring it home tomorrow and the kids (my niece and nephew) could help me build a cage for it. It'll give them something fun to do!

I set out early Sunday morning to go pick up the bird. Immediately upon arrival I saw one of my neighbors I asked him, "hey you want a bird?" "What kind of bird?" he asks. "A wounded crow" I replied. "You got to be kidding right!?! I hate crows! I farm corn and those #@)% things eat everything I put in the ground! I hate those things! I'll kill em when I see em!" 

"Alright, alright farmer Jim Bob (not his name)" I jokingly hollered back. And that became the crow's name, Jim Bob, just "Bob" for short.

Bob was with us for just under a year. We tried to get his wing fixed but no go. We went to an "Animal Hospital" that specialized in wild animals. When we told the vet the situation, he paused, held up his hand as if to silence us, motioned us outside and then proceeded to tell us every law and regulation we were breaking by keeping him, how much we could be fined on 'n on 'n on. I finally said, "So what do I do, let him go to the cats and coyotes?" He just shrugged and marched back inside closing the door behind him. We wondered when the CIA would show up at the door.

There was a time Bob got out and my nephew and I went door to door asking the neighbors if we could go into their backyard to retrieve our bird. "Oh what kind?" they'd ask brightly, "a crow" we'd say. By the responses we got you'd think we were asking if we could eat their pets. It seems most people aren't fond of crows.

Strangely, over time, I began to really like this bird. It took months but even my wife became slightly attached. She even saved him from a hawk early one morning. But Bob, Bob hated us. He cawed, He clawed. He bit. He'd call all his friends to sit on the wires and pester us. When Bob was out of the cage roaming around, his friends would come to dive bomb us. Bob hated us. Bob's friends hated us. Neighbors thought us weird. But my duty and responsibility had turned to a unique kind of love. More than a respect for all that is living, a desire to help those that can't help themselves. Bob was so stupid he couldn't see his own pathetic situation. He died gorging himself with food.

It had been exactly a year since I found Bob and again the restaurant was closed, and I was free at last or so I thought. One day as we made our way out from the indoor Sunday service our eyes, adjusting to the bright morning sun , spied a small group of people standing in a circle up ahead. Odd it seemed. For one, we always sat in the back and not that we raced to get out but we were usually some of the first to arrive into the huge sea of cars. But why were they standing in a wide circle like that? As we came a little closer I noticed someone braking off a piece of his a muffin and tossing it in to the center of the ring. Then, I saw it. In the middle stood a big black thing, no a motley splotched pink and black thing and I thought oh no, not another wounded crow. Bob had been dead only a matter of weeks now and we were headed on vacation, tomorrow. I had no time for another crow. My wife spied it right after me and she quickly said, "Don't you even think about it!" And I just as quickly said "don't worrrr....." and cut myself short.

It wasn't a crow, although obviously by it's pink and black blend it was still young, it was already larger than a crow. In fact, it was huge, the size of a hawk..."Wait, Diana, it's a" my tone softened, "...it's a baby raven!" 

I didn't bother to glance her way cause I was well aware of the look she was giving me, "This is different, this is a raven I repeated, I've got to do something!" I quickly stepped into the crowd and could immediately tell nobody understood the nobility which stood before them. After all they were throwing bran muffin at this poor baby thing standing there starving for something far more delectable. I asked if anyone knew what to do with such a prize and everyone went blank. I went to our car a few paces away, took out a pristine white tablecloth and gently wrapped our willing and desperately needing attention guest and placed him in the back of the car.

"What are you going to do with him?" someone yelled. "I'll take him to the wild bird hospital in Laguna Hills." My wife gave me another "look."

In the car it started, you know, the reasoning. "What are you going to do with him?" Diana asked with the sound of despair in her voice. "Diana, you don't understand, this is a raven, you gotta trust me on this one. You came to enjoy "Bob" even though he hated us. This is entirely different. This fledgling has the potential to be one of the most exciting of God's creatures we could be entrusted to. Trust me."

Chapter 4

"Huey And The News"

So it is with parent and child. In the beginning it's a little lopsided because the entire relationship really falls entirely on the parent. But as any parent that ever wanted a child can tell you, just "a look", a sound, a small grip of the finger, the waving of the arms and kicking of the feet, and probably highest on the list, a good appetite sends any parent into soul felt ecstasy and excitement. Now understand, in the bird world, things go from pure dependency to full fledged mating adult very quickly. And comparing human growth and maturing to "raven time" you've approximately 20 years to 1. In other words Huey was going to go from just walking (when we got him) which is about 1 to 1 1/2 years old human time, to 21 and out of the house in less than a year. That's a lot of growing, that's a lot of lessons to learn, what's more, even with an animal it's a lot of responsibility.

We had decided right away we wanted to raise this bird to be wild so it could go back to the wild where he belonged. This was the hardest task for me cause, well cause frankly I would have loved nothing better than to have a pet raven for life. (Remember Uncle Bill's pet raven in "It's a Wonderful Life?) But ravens are known to live about 25 years as pets and, written to the full letter of the "law" this, what I'm doing here, can be consider illegal in the State of California. Also, ravens can be very destructive.

In the beginning Huey was with us most all the time (you can't leave a baby alone!) and he did what science calls "imprinting" where the bird thinks you are his parent. This meant he wanted to be where, everywhere, we were. I had a cat transfer cage that we used to transport him from home to work (we moved the old cage the kids and I had built for Bob up to the back of the restaurant.) Huey loved to eat and Huey loved to play. I had to beat the sunrise every morning for both feeding and playtime cause if I didn't he'd wake the entire neighborhood with his very loud squawking. But during normal daylight hours, everybody was Huey's friend. If you came within sight (a couple miles I think) he'd dance around in circles and squawk until you came to see him. If you had food all the better but just a finger through the cage would do. Many people would be a little apprehensive at first, and their look to me was one of what kind of nut is this to keep a mangy (still pink and blotchy black) "crow" in a cage at his house, or worse restaurant! 'Till I told 'em, "it's not a crow it's a RAVEN, two entirely different birds!" And then I'd tell 'em go pet him and that was it. They fell for him too. In fact it wasn't 'till Huey was out of the cage and could fly freely that Huey created any enemies.

The real lessons in life hurt. But it hurts the loving parent far more than the child for who wants to watch their loved one in pain. A skinned knee, tears, "ouwies", young ones are unable to understand. This strikes the very heart of anyone who cares. We knew we had a very special responsibility because in order to get Huey ready for the wild we had to do exactly what we didn't want to do. We had to begin by letting him begin to feed on more of what he'd find in the wild. This was impossible for "the Grandma" who liked nothing better than throwing the birds stinking white bread, Rice Krispies and such (more on her later.) Diana even got very brave and brought Huey presents from the pet store, live mice! She watched the "ritual" of one and that was it for her. But far more difficult in our teachings was that we had to teach Huey to fear. We knew we had to somehow teach Huey to fend and fear for his life otherwise he'd lose it. How the heck do you do that? How do you teach a creature to fear and hate all that would harm it when all you want to do is love and care for it. Huey truly thought he was everybody's and everything's friend. We knew the local dogs, cats, owls, merlins, kites, and other hawks (not to mention that one mean little boy every neighborhood harbors) were counting on just that. So, I went to the creator, God, what do I do? I got the usual answer ... wait ... wait and be patient.

Flying lessons

Up to this point Huey was pretty much free to leave his cage and wander about the yard. He'd be content to walk and hop most of the time. Every once in a while we'd see him stretching and flapping his wings especially if he was close to your ankles and if by using his wings he could catch up to them quicker. Yeh, then he'd be sure to use them. (We ended up buying those Aussie Sheep Boots for the whole family to protect our ankles. But being leather, we also found he loved to play with them! He especially loved to chase and tease "Grandma" in hers.)  We'd also spy him spreading his wings when he was sitting out in the hot sandy bocce court sunning himself. A couple times he flap to "crawl" up a tree and then sit and perch himself for a while. How were we going to get him to use them?

One day I decided it was time to "teach" him to fly. We took him out to the back of the Church (which then was all open land) were we had found him so at least if he got away he'd be "home." So, in all my wisdom I got together a fishing pole and rigged a line so he could go quite a distance and not get "lost." We climbed up a hill, threw him high into the air, and set him "free." With the very first "cast" he glided beautifully, effortlessly, and very majestically, but a lot farther than I had figured and then I noticed he was headed right for a barbed wire fence! He gave a single graceful thrust of both wings and cleared the fence and continued to glide as I marveled watching the different wing and tail feathers working the air through almost magically, seemingly independent of any thought, yet in perfect harmony to the task. I was mesmerized by this engineering splendor until the stupid line I had attached to his leg ran out. Thoooiiiuuuuunnnggg! He crashed to the ground and my wife's face said lesson over. We went home and played with him instead.

Growing Pains II

Two days later it was early in the morning, he was out, I had fed him, we were playing and then all of a sudden he just took off all on his own. Not very far but he was airborne. Then ... o my ... he's over the gate! He's across the street! He's flying!!! He went over across the street the other way. Now up onto a rooftop! And then I about died because a merlin came swooping out of nowhere and attacked Huey. Now Huey was about twice his size but he was still "a baby" and the merlin knew it. And here I was and there was nothing I could do but watch. The merlin was fearless and ferocious coming at Huey again and again with claw and beak but to my amazement Huey ducked and moved just in time and stuck in there and stood his ground. I was both proud and relieved when the merlin finally gave up and took off. But, so did Huey. And being on the roof gave Huey an incredible height advantage he'd never had before and next thing I knew Huey was way over my head, clearing all the trees and clear off our block into the next! I ran. 

I ran around the corner and down the street until I reached the house behind us. He saw me and took off the opposite direction as if to say, "Can't catch me!" and in the breeze he got the most incredible lift off and again he was gone. Last I saw he was even higher this time. Already pretty much out of breath I made it back to the house and waited. Maybe ... maybe he'll come back.

Across the street I began to hear muffled grunts and the raspy voices of two dogs that had obviously had their voice boxes removed. Huey? I walked over to the fence. The noise increased greatly. HUEY??? The fence was smooth and too high to just hop (and the neighbors were already suspicious) so I went to the front door and knocked anxiously. Nothing ... I knocked harder and the lady answered and I panted, "Can I get my bird from your back yard?" She looked at me very puzzled. "YOUR DOGS ARE KILLING MY BIRD MAY I GET IT FROM YOUR BACKYARD PLEASE?" I said half stepping into her house. She backed away an let me through whereby I ran to the back to see these two small mutts whomping the badoogies out of my Huey. I wrestled my baby from the murdering pathetic little pieces of "poor excuse for a dog" wanting nothing more than to kick 'em both across the yard. I then carried my shivering, saliva dripping ball of limp black mass past my horror stricken neighbor.

Huey shook and shivered as he sat quietly on his belly in his cage. He didn't come out for 2 days.

Every Parent's Nightmares
(Teenagers, Parties, Drinking and Driving)

Because our goal was to let the bird go wild we really had no choice but to let him be free and let him learn to be what God created him to be, and that's wild. So the very first day Huey finally came out of his cage after the mauling, we left him flitting and flying about the backyard, slowly venturing further and further. He had woken up that morning more active than ever and was already feisty and raring to go. It got to be 10am and it was time for Diana and I to head off to work. As we were closing the back gate I said to her, "Flying, for a raven is kind of like a teenager getting his driver's license. That's enough right there but mix it with your "Gumma" who looks for trouble, well, we've got something to fear. We don't know; a) if the bird's coming home  b) what condition it will be in if it does and c) what Gumma's going to do with the bird out and flying like this." We laughed and left.

Fortunately a very busy day kept me from thinking anymore about it but I did think about it all the way driving home. 12 Midnight we arrive to a very quiet and peaceful neighborhood. I watched Diana as we opened the back gate. We both stopped dead in our tracks as our eyes began to survey the massive damage we could see just from the limited view we had at the gate. Most all the pots were tipped over (Diana has dozens in the backyard). The bigger ones that weren't over or on their side had the dirt spread all around them and many of the plants were ripped out. There were obvious beak holes in the skin of the shed, bird poop everywhere, anything and everything that could be moved, spilled, wrinkled or torn was. It looked as if someone had released 12 golden retriever puppies in our back yard. I thought dear God, if this is what he's going to do to our place we got to take him out to a canyon or something before he does this to the neighbors. What if he already did? I sent Diana up to bed and went in search of "Mr. Destroyer."

Didn't have to go far, as my eyes adjusted to the soft moonlight and I spied him in the shed with a death grip on a large bucket handle that contained a large (easily over 5lbs !) citronella candle. I picked him up and that heavy bucket came up also. I touched the bucket back down to the ground and he loosened his grip enough so that I could get him off and I put him in his cage. He blinked a couple times and then quietly sat down. On the way back to the door I heard the wonderful crunching of glass beneath my feet and looked up to see a few of our hanging hurricane lamps weren't. Some were missing altogether, others were just framed skeletons with no glass. This will not be Diana's favorite bit of news.

Before sunrise the next morning he didn't seem to want to eat much and was unusually quiet. He didn't come out of his cage. I began to straighten and clean and just couldn't believe the amount of damaged that was everywhere. As the daylight brought forth more light the full extent became more and more apparent. Planters cracked, broken or chipped, the plants themselves had been disemboweled and beheaded, twigs, sticks, and leaves everywhere, stuff pulled and half pulled out of the shed. Tools fallen off the wall. There was broken glass here and there and the hot tub top had tears and holes with Styrofoam particles chewed up so small that the piles looked like little patches of white snow. The lower sections of some of the doors had holes and were splintered. Even the screens on the windows had nicely rounded holes in them. What was Huey trying to do, get inside the house? Scenes from Alfred Hitchcock's "The Birds" came to mind.  

As I finished the first half of the backyard it was now lighter and I went to start on the "other half". Gumma's half. That's when I noticed the Rice Krispies everywhere. Hummm ... Gumma's involved too. This oughta be good. Understand Gumma's over 90, has dementia or Alzheimer's, and enjoys her afternoon wine, yet she has no concept of what time of day it actually is. At this time she was still sleeping. When I had gotten the place to where it was at least safe enough for Gumma to walk around without tripping over something I set off to my early morning errands.

I returned to see Diana up and about watering. Huey was still very quiet in his cage. We recounted the massive devastation and actually kind of giggled about it (except for the news about the lamps).  I had spied some of the neighbors yards and reported that all seemed untouched elsewhere. Thank God. Diana left to shower and as I heard the water start I also heard the back screen door open and close. Gumma's up and out.

"Good Morning Gumma" I said very cheerfully.

"Good morning."

"Beautiful day huh?"

"Oh yes, I love the sunshine" and she moved towards a chair.

"Gumma ... you didn't happen to feed Huey yesterday did you." 

"Oh no" was the quick reply. 

"OK" I said, knowing her extremely selective and discerning memory! I set out to start hosing down.

A short time later, I noticed Gumma had gotten up and just kind of stood with her shoulders slumped and her head down. She looked like she was in deep thought, perhaps somewhat troubled ... or pouting.

I turned off the hose, set it down and said, "Gumma? ... You alright?"

"Yeeeesss" she said but very soft and very slowly.

I went over and stood next to her and said, "you sure?"

Her head was still bowed, yet I could see her eyes darted across the ground back and forth in very rapid movements (even though she's almost blind) and she shuffled her feet a bit, and then clasping her hands together like a small child she said very softly and slowly, "I've been a baaaad girl." 

I put my arm around her and using every ounce of strength I had not to laugh I said, "Do you want to tell me about it?"

"Weeellll" she began, "Do you know how I like to have my wine in the afternoon?"

"Yes", I said on the outside, inside I was thinking OH NO!

"Weeellll," she continued, "I know you told me not to, but I was out here feeding Huey but just a little bit..." [I purposely stepped on and crunched some of the Rice Krispies beneath my feet] "... and I went in to get a glass of wine for myself and when I sat down Huey came up onto the table here and he tasted the wine and he liked it and so I let him drink it." 

... Now her voice began to change dramatically (she always wanted to be an actress). It became stronger, more confident, it was as if her youthfulness was surfacing again. At the same time a mischievous  smile came to her face and you could tell by her tempo and tone, that a combination of playfulness and childlike joy was emerging as she looked up at me and continued ...

"and so I went back into the house and got another one, and he drank that one too .... so I went back in [and I'm thinking what? no way?] and got another one and he drank that one also. Rick, you know [shaking and pointing her finger at no one in particular and stamping her foot] I think he really enjoyed it!" 

I looked over at Huey and he was still sitting very quietly in his cage. Well, that explains everything. And I recalled stories from my own youth where something similar happened to one of the neighbor kids. You know, the teenager with the brand new license takes the car, goes over to see grandma, grandma "just toasting the occasion" proceeds to get him drunk and she then merrily sends him on his way. The kid then manages to crash the car, numerous times into most everything and yet since no one was really "hurt" no harm done. I can hear her now, "Huey isn't this fun?" Typical born in the sticks, Oklahomian redneck liberal, I thought ... Then I wondered, how could that bird still be alive?

"Diana...your not going to believe this" I shouted from the bottom of the stairs.

We figured that must have been the reason for the level of destruction for it never happened again. All we can assume is that she must of got the bird blasted and it being his first "real" day of flying he must have just run into everything. Had I known the story in advance I would have taken pictures cause no amount of words could describe it properly nor do proper justice to the amount and extent of the damage. I used the picture of 12 puppies before but even 12 puppies stacked on top of one another can't reach as high as a flying raven. We ended up having a hat embroidered for Gumma. It was a beige baseball cap (she loves hats for the sun) that had a black raven with a red eye and it's caption says, "Partys with Ravens".  Even today when we take her out and she's wearing it someone might ask what's that all about. It's funny cause as we are relating the story sometimes she'll be very proud of the whole affair, other times we can tell she's perhaps a bit embarrassed by it, that is until she realizes that the person being told is laughing and really enjoying it, then she radiates in her own glory.

Seems from that day forward things got both more fun and easier (how could it get worse?). I think we got it through to Gumma, no more wine (or beer)! Huey became very independent. I'd feed him and we'd play for about half an hour, then he'd run off with his crow buddies (rotten teenage influences) and then come back about 9am and Diana would bath and or play with him. Birds like routine and it seemed as long as I beat the morning's first light things were pretty quiet. So I thought. That's when I learned that when it comes to kids, it's the quiet times that they can get into the most trouble. Here's where I could tell far more fun and interesting stories than there's room for this little tale. So I'll keep it to a few favorites.

Same ol' Dogs, Huey's New Tricks

Huey became the bane of the dog world. Remember the two that mauled him across the street? I'd constantly catch him dive bombing them to get their attention, then he'd perch and preen just out of their reach and they'd literally wear themselves out trying to reach him, at the same time going hoarse by constantly "barking" (as best dogs without vocal cords can do) at him. 

Another set of neighbors asked us if we knew how their dogs were getting out ... I said no ... and then ...

Early one evening I was getting ready for a formal dinner party which meant vest, tie and the extras. Huey and I had just finished playing so he was fed and as the sun was going down he was still in the yard. I was finishing up straightening my tie in the reflection at an upstairs window watching and waiting, expecting him to retire into the shed where he would roost for the night. He seemed unusually restless and I could tell something was amiss so I kept coming back to the window to spy. He flew from the ground up to the top of the wall between the houses. I watched as he walked along the length of the wall getting the attention of the two full grown adult Goldies next door. The dogs slowly followed as he walked to and then along the back gate and started playing with the latch. Silly bird I thought as the dogs just sat by the back gate continuing to contently watch him. All of a sudden he stopped and walked along the length of the gate, and to my surprise the gate slowly swung open. "Diana come see this" and we both watched as the dogs walked out the gate. Huey again walked along the top towards the latch and the gate closed? Huey then watched the dogs continue around the back of the house then turned, spread his wings and glided down to the dog's food dish. Diana and I stood smiling in amazement as we watched the dogs come out from the far side of the house to their much appreciated freedom of the entire neighborhood. Huey filled his throat, flew over to our side, "cached" (some birds find places to hide their food for later) and then went back and continued caching again and again. We wondered how he could have learned such a thing?

Favorite Foods

We found out very quickly Huey loved french fries and chocolate (chocolate and alcohol are two things you should never feed a bird.) The chocolate he'd steal. And it was funny it was only chocolate that he would steal. Let me explain what I mean. Whenever Diana and I would have coffee and breakfast outside if something had chocolate (a muffin, cookie or?) Huey would draw our attention to something else and then he'd move in and literally steal the chocolate. It took no time to figure this out because it was so obvious. We even tested it with different muffins. He didn't do it with bran (almost the color of chocolate), nor with blueberry or anything else. But always the chocolate and he really work himself into a frenzy and wouldn't let up 'till he got it. Even if we took it in the house he'd squawk and tap on the window. Like a kid you'd have to eat it and show him it was all gone. Crazy!

I have lots of french fries stories (he hid tons around the yard) but here's my favorite. At first light I had a bunch of fries we had gotten just for him. I usually gave him one at a time and he eat them one at a time. Once in a while he'd take three to five and then fly off and hide them and then come back for more. On this day I started giving them to him and he just kept packing them straight into his throat. Ten, eleven, twelve, thirteen, what? more? fourteen? This was very unusual. His mouth was so full and only one was hanging out the side so it looked as if he was a snake that had a large rat in his mouth. Finally he had enough and he flew about 30 feet to the neighbors roof where he proceeded to spit them all out.?. I watched very curiously as he then proceeded to pick them all up one by one but this time he made sure they were all sticking out both sides of his mouth. He now looked like he was carrying a small bundle of sticks! Then he crouched himself down on the roof as if hiding or something. I was beginning to chuckle to my self cause I had no idea what he was up to. "Huey? Whacha doing?" And moments later a single crow flew right over him and he didn't move. A second one went by and he spread his wings about half way, still crouched very low and his tail began to beat up and down almost like a dog wagging his tail. About five seconds later I witnessed a group of six or seven was about to pass low and right as they got directly over him he jumped up and flew right smack into the center of them and now they were all headed directly at me. They passed only about five feet over my head with the obviously larger Huey doing the most amazing aerial acrobatics, twirls and spins, cuts and dives and all the time the smaller crows were trying to dive at him in a desperate attempt to get at the fries. I watched them as long as I could, even running out into the street. As they got into the distance it looked like a large bomber was in a dog fight with half a dozen little attack planes all in fast forward.  As far as I could tell Huey just kept teasing them and they never got any of the fries. I was baffled and it was hard to fathom what I had just witnessed.

"Diana...?"

Gardening Class

All through Summer and Fall and into early Winter Diana planted and replanted the flowers (hundreds of them) in the many  pots she has in the backyard. Every time we got new plants with buds or flowers on them, they'd last a day, two max and then every bud and flower would be ripped off!  We did everything from hiding small ones under big ones, making sure the buds were next to the wall of the pot, anything and everything to try to conceal our little treasures from him. He'd find them. He'd rip their little heads right off. At first it was annoying. Then we thought well he won't be around forever. So we waited and guess what. Where there was one bud now there were three. Where there were two flowers, now there were six. The bird taught us how to pinch to get a better flowering plant. I've heard of learning from nature but this is ridiculous.

One of my favorite flowering plants is the nasturtium. I love to eat both the flowers, buds and seeds. They have a spicy horseradish-ish or white pepper characteristic. When kids come over I love to feed them the flowers and the buds and watch the adults squirm. Unbeknownst to us Huey had cached these things everywhere in both the front and back yard and still to this day we always have wild nasturtiums all year long. I thought they naturally grew like weeds 'till I found out my next door neighbor has been trying for years to get some to grow in his yard. I suggested getting a Raven.

Feeding and Playtime

As I've said before birds like routine so I did everything I could to beat the morning's first light so I could play with him. In fact, he was so much fun to play with I only missed a couple of days the entire time he was with us. (Remember I said first light, which is an hour or so before sunrise, that's pretty early in late Spring early Summer!) I'd feed him and we'd play for about half an hour to an hour, then he'd run off with his crow buddies and then come back about 8:30-9am and Diana would bath and or play with him. His favorite game was attack the snake. We had this five foot long purple floaty stick (the ones the kids use in a pool) and you'd grab one end and move it like a snake and he'd spend close to an hour attacking that thing. Sometimes he'd get real low to the ground, spread his wings, and "wag" his tail feathers like a dog, and then he'd jump high in the air and come pouncing down using his claws like a cat, stabbing and tearing at it with his beak all the while wildly screaming at this menacing purple snake, and you'd of thought it was a real life and death battle. He also enjoyed playing tug of war, hide n seek (he'd take the thing and hide it, if you wanted it back you had to find it), which was similar to catch me if you can (you couldn't), fetch, he'd roll over and play dead complete with feet in the air, completely motionless until you were right on top of him then he'd get up and scream. As he got older it was the pull the hair, nip the ankles, and pinch whatever skin was exposed. But contrary to popular belief the face, and especially the eyes were out of bounds. He never touched them. And believe me with the size and weight of that beak, with what he could do to a live mouse, it was a concern in the back of one's mind.

As far as playtime was concerned, Huey was without a doubt the most fun I've ever had from the entire animal/creature kingdom. He played just about every game your generally play with a dog (he'd even chase the saucer or ball but usually to search and destroy, he had no interest to bring what was left back). He used his beak like a dog and his claws like a cat. Huey could dance. He also ran and hopped, he scooted and shuffled, he crouched he barked, whistled, screamed, grunted but more than that he flew.  And I'm telling you, those wings, all 52 inches of them, could really push some wind, whooosh  whooosh and he was gone, or right back on top of you, his choice. 

Huey's advancement in aeronautical aerobatics was astounding. He went from mostly gliding with a couple of flaps here and there to swoops and dives, cut-n-rolls, upside down twirls, complete with numerous variations of stops and change in direction very quickly. He could fly tip to tip with anything in the air. And his abilities to be able to defend himself against crows, hawks, merlins etc. with claws out and swinging while in any position was quite entertaining. With some of the birds, sometimes I'd wonder if he was actually trying to defend himself our if he was actually amusing himself by teasing them! Yet with all these death defying maneuvers, it took him a while to be able to balance himself on a wire. In the air, he quickly became pure majesty and grace where on the ground, for a while anyway, he could be a bit of a klutz. 

One of the things that amazed me most was the fact that this bird came to us as soon as he saw us. Sometimes we'd see him following our car for blocks to meet or beat us home. And when we were home and came outside, even though he might be many hundreds of yards off, as soon as he saw us, he'd come diving down, sometimes to a spot close; the corner of the roof, a post that was near, even the ground would do. But then there were those times he just had to land right on you. You'd just have to put your arm out if you were paying attention. If you weren't, or you were trying to unload and carry something into the house, he'd land on your shoulder or back if you were lucky, the head if you weren't (I'm wondering now if that's what gave some of the neighbors concern?)

Bathing

This was Diana's department. Not cause I didn't want to but because she was the one watering the flowers everyday, and Huey taught her how he wanted to be bathed. It started with Huey following her around and constantly getting in her way. She realized Huey was doing everything he could to get under the stream of water from her large watering can. Soon she was filling a large deep stainless steel "hotel" pan and he'd get inside and Diana would literally "pour his bath" for him. He'd splash and play like a toddler at times, other times he was all business. It became a ritual for those two and was was quite amusing to watch. After the bath Huey would then move to higher ground and preen for 20 to 60 minutes. Then it was either playtime for those two (Diana was able to do the "attack the snake" game better and longer with Huey than anybody) or he'd take off to chase something else.

Contentment

Right, if it's light out a young raven is always on the go. If it sees something or wants something it goes for it which means it's either always moving or looking for something that is. If there's others around, Huey was apart of it, human, bird or animal, didn't matter he was in the middle. I found only three things calmed him. First and fortunately, Ravens are "day birds" and are naturally calmed by dark. And thank God for if these energetic pranksters were out and about at night, believe me the night would certainly be far more frightening. I also found that if it was just him and I, I could play my guitar softly and he would sit still, actually sit still for about 20 to 30 minutes. It appeared he was fascinated by the shiny vibrating strings.

Learning to Talk

This was Gumma's favorite thing about Huey and he would entertain her for one to two hours a day. After he learned to fly he began "talking." Everyday about 2o'clock in the afternoon he'd come home from where ever he was, sit in one of Gumma's bonsai pine trees and just talk. He had a repertoire that contained what seemed like a hundred ruffs, gruffs, smerkis, groowaars, arrs, rocs, caawlks, whistles, barks, grunts, snorts and other calls of innumerable count. Some sounded like water running through a tube, sometimes he seemed to mimicking a dog, cat or some other animal or bird. He made other sounds I cannot begin to describe cause I've never heard anything else like it. It was really wild and I've heard crows go through a similar stage but I've never heard of any taking it to the duration Huey took his recitals to. Perhaps because he had nothing to fear he felt safe staying in one spot so long.

You Got The Look

Here's another thing that fascinated me, ravens (and to a lesser degree, crows also) have personality. Incredible personalities! I was aware of this before. When I was growing up I lived down the street from a family that had about 200 what we would call "wild animals" in their huge "back yard." All kinds of birds, reptiles, mammals, and some really large and ugly insects. Some in large cages, some were out and about, "wild." They had a family of ravens so I knew of them and hence the reason I was so excited when I first saw Huey and realized he was a raven. But I had never had one of my own, or one that belonged to me so I wasn't fully aware of the full range of their personalities. To simplify I'd say they are kind of a wonderful combination of what one might perceive as the "wise old owl" who patiently sits and watches and listens, the bouncy always ready to play happy go lucky Golden Retriever, and the cat that thinks it's a dog, all rolled into one. Sound like fun? More fun still was the fact that many times you could easily tell what they were "thinking" cause their emotions could be displayed in their appearance. First, their eyes are very expressive. Hard to tell in the wild cause you are usually so far away from them and their eyes are so dark. But being inches to feet away and you saw what they saw. In addition to this was their feathery displays. And they have quite a range from frightfully fierce to very comical. A raised full feathery crown could mean I'm going to dominate or destroy you. The same full feather head display with extended neck meant I'm curious about this thing I'm want to destroy. Partial feathered tufts (called "ear tufts" cause they can look like ears) was a I'm not sure about this thing I want to play with or destroy. A low crouch with wings half opened could mean don't bother me I'm sunning myself or the next step you take closer I'm going to pounce on you or completely destroy that thing you are carrying.  A cocked head was "what?" Both eyes forward almost cross eyed, meant move that finger any closer and I nip it. A small raised feathered triangle on the top of the head meant I'm listening or alert. Feathers completely flat over his entire head and body meant, "Look out, I'm up to something."

Pre-Programmed Bird Brains

Having been trained to think "scientifically" all through much of my schooling, I couldn't help but make "observations" concerning all aspects of Huey's development and life the entire time Huey was with us. The first easily to record, demonstrate and repeatable observation: Ravens have A.D.D. to the max. Huey was obviously from Southern California and he was the ultimate, "I want to be here, there and I want everything now" type of personality. I'd have a good chuckle when I would tell people I was taking care of a raven because many times the first thing out of their mouth would be, "Oh, ravens are really smart." My experience leads me to believe that although God obviously gave them some very special software to be one animal that actually learns and "plays" most of their dealings with certain situations in the wild, has more to do with their instinct not their intelligence. As far as real intelligence goes they are and always will be limited. They are still "bird brains" and can and do very stupid things. (Bob, the crow, played this "out of sight out of mind" game where as soon as he see me, he starts to twitch, then he'd pull his head back behind a thin pole and because he couldn't see me, I wasn't there, so he'd stop twitching. But as soon as he'd move his head, there I would magically appear again and the twitching would start all over!)

Ravens are also very cautious.  My experience with these and other birds leads me to believe that what makes Ravens appear so smart is the fact that they are incredibly persistent. Once they set their mind to get something they will work at it until they either get it or get chased off by what they perceive to be a threat. Even then that "threat" might only force them to retreat to just outside the immediate striking distance. Ravens watch, and they certainly have the capacity for limited learning but like monkeys they are more copycats than inventors. I'm also convinced through months of observing and testing Huey in all kinds of situations, ravens are pre-programmed. 

Evolution?  -  Not the way it's presented!

Have you ever gotten a new computer? Perhaps you're like me and you buy it with all the stuff you think you'll need, which if you're like me that means everything and then some. When I get home and boot this new computer I'm amazed at all of the extra stuff that came with it. Stuff I'll probably never use but there it is just in case I ever do. For me, this is a simple illustration as to how I believe God programs his creations in nature. From day one I was amazed at how, in many situations, Huey recognized friend from foe, edible and not worth a second look, destroyable and not worth the time and so much more. And with the exception of one vital lesson, I didn't teach him, no parent taught him, experience could not have taught him because much of it was first contact, so the only option I'm left to believe is, that a great part of what a raven is and does comes by pure instinct. We know instinct is not magic, and I don't believe for a second it's "learned behavior over millions of years" as I was taught in biology.  It's far too complex and there's no way the passing it from generation to generation can be explained. Neither can both the extent of it or the limitations of it. I'd say yes to evolution but I think the current regime (Darwin's no God needed) of "science" has it backwards. It seems far more likely that dogs came from a more highly intelligent and adaptable wolves, and stupid crows more likely came from the more intelligent and far more sophisticated raven. Evolution goes sideways at best but more likely down as creatures may get more specialized but the information in the DNA gets lost and eventually you get your blind and or colorless fish in caves, or the "high bred" dog that eats up your savings in vet bills cause it's too weak from specialized breeding.

Ravens Take Over The World!

Yes, if evolution was true, I have little doubt ravens would have taken over the world, or at least the entire avian world long ago. And if "evolution" was true you have to ask your self why then over these "millions of years" didn't the midnight black raven (and crow for that matter) learn to live and hunt at night where they would have an immense hunting advantage over a life in the bright sunshine? Even their favorite foods such as the small rodents are far more plentiful at night. These types of questions and answers lead me to believe overwhelmingly that instinct is information that has be pre-programmed or written into the very DNA to be passed on to the brain of each and every creature God Himself created. In fact I'm convinced God tells us this is so. In the amazing book of Job, God asks Job 60 straightforward questions. In Chapter 38 vs 36 God asks, "Who put wisdom in the hidden parts? Who gave understanding to the mind?"  (I came to be even further fascinated by my whole encounter with these birds when I noticed God also asks Job specifically in verse 41, "Who provides food for the raven when his young cry out to God and wander about without food?" One thing I've learned for certain, when it comes to my dealings with God, their are no coincidences. It's my privilege to figure out what is the reason and purpose of each of these lessons He presents before me.)

Right after Huey learned to fly, we we're playing on the roof, and all of a sudden he stopped and crouched down low. I looked around and saw nothing. Then 5 seconds later a hawk went speeding by and off Huey went to chase it out of "his" neighborhood. Instinctively he knew foe, instinctively he knew territory, instinctively he knew chase it out of here, it doesn't belong here. And for those that believe it could be passed on, I ask, "If man is the highest, why don't you automatically know the life lessons your grandfather and grandmother learned before they had the kids that had you? Why wasn't that information passed on? This is but one of many examples I could give that demonstrates to me there is no doubt it is God that has pre-written their hard drive to recognize specifics that they would encounter throughout their life. Sad, but after almost 200 years of evolutionary indoctrination of the "civilized" world and yet no one can explain or account for these simple, blatant and scientifically documented observations that each and everyone us can repeat and see for ourselves with just about anything and everything in the natural world. There is no doubt in my mind Ravens are the gift of a loving God, not the product of the random and mindless evolution our kids are being taught today. My scientific dealings with nature leads me to believe that animals are sort of God's "living computers."  Just as man is now attempting to create machines to do his work for him, God, who knew where the world would go (from fall to flood, then eventually freedom!) right from the very beginning, pre-programmed His "machines" to take care of His earth for Him. He made man to manage these little machines but He also gave us many incredible gifts through these machines. Color, variation, entertainment, mind boggling innovations (realize, everything man makes is a poor copy of what already exists in nature!) but He went beyond that. He even gave some a "soul!" These are special animals that are aware of something besides themselves and can actually have a relationship with man! A raven is one such creature. Huey reminded me of the importance of getting off the couch and why we need to get back into the natural world and live life how God intended us to live. Huey taught me in a very special way, the key to the full appreciation of life is a Loving Relationship!

Bye Huey ... ?

I could tell it wouldn't be long before Huey would finally leave us. We wanted this yet we knew we would miss him greatly. Come to think of it he became like the freeloading twenty something and you can't wait for him to leave the house. Oh yah, you love him but hey, it's time to go ... Huey was now off with his bad influence snotty little crow gang on the "bad side of town" most the time. His feeding sessions were getting shorter and he wasn't eating nearly as much, which in a way was good because it meant he was foraging for his own food. Playtimes were getting quite rough and he drew blood or bruised his playmates (us) regularly. We had to keep him and Gumma separated. I worried what he might be doing with the neighbors who had known him all this time. Worse what about the ones that didn't know him? He still wasn't entirely afraid of humans. (Over the years I have heard many stories and encounters concerning "your bird" and just a short time ago during this writing, that's 5 years later, I heard another new one from someone who lived a few blocks away! More recent still - with the release of our movie about Huey, even more have come forward!)

On Christmas Day, I got Diana up at 5 am (way before first light in December) and then I got "Mr. Grumpy" up (he much preferred waking up all by himself) and the three of us celebrated Christmas morning in the dark with a mini tree, colored glass ornaments (which he had more fun breaking) and wrapped packages of canned tuna, shiny pennies, dimes, nasturtium seeds etc. Our morning feeding and play routine continued everyday 'till New Years. When we got home from work late New Years Eve he was roosting in the shed as always and I woke him and scratched his head and he gave me the usual late night leave me alone nip peck-n-scratch grumble grumble. Early New years Day, as I was up on the roof adjusting the TV antennae to appease the guests coming for the days games Huey came screaming by with four other ravens in tow. He circled around and leading the pack they went in and out the trees (of which we have many) diving, circling and "talking" to each other like kids playing follow the leader at high speed. Huey lit on a tree very close to me, looked straight at me then took off again like the wind keeping ahead of his pursuers. He did not roost in the shed that night nor have we ever seen him do so since although every once in a while when we get home late I'll tease my wife and look in the shed and say "Huey" just for fun.

A couple of weeks later I was back out at "the cliffs" were I do my morning commune with God and a raven flew close by with a crow in tow. This is highly unusual because they were obviously flying and hunting over the cliffs together, whereas normally the crow would be attempting to chase the raven off. "Huey" I shouted pulling my car keys out and shaking them in the air as I did cause the shiny keys always got his attention (at the same time, in the back of my mind, I was wondering if any of the neighbors were looking.) The raven then turned around and looked, made a long and graceful soaring turn and landed in a large tree about 40 feet from me. I walked slowly towards the tree, keys held aloft, shaking them gently, trying to reflect the sun's light at him, and calling "Huey" as I went. I got about 6 feet from him and stopped. It looked like Huey, he didn't seem scared, and wild ravens would rarely let a human this close shaking something at them and calling them stupid names. It had to be Huey. I watched as he watched me, then he acted like I wasn't here (a definite Huey trait) by scratching himself, rubbing his beak against the bough, looking at everything else but me until I took one more step closer, then he was in the air gliding towards another tree, a gorgeous coral tree about 60 feet away. As I made my way to that tree he waited till I was almost directly below him as he bit off three perfectly shaped reddish orange petals and let them fall at my feet. Then he called out "roc  roc  roc" and took off. I picked up the flowers he dropped and took them home to Diana and said these were from Huey. "Huey's Petals" we called them.

The running joke between us since those days is that every raven is Huey. No matter where we are. The West end of Catalina Island (a great place to watch ravens, and I've never seen a crow on that side of the island), the desert, the mountains, in fact just about anywhere where there is large open land. However, still to this day, every once in a while we awake to a "roc  roc  roc" and even if my wife still appears to be asleep, I'll look over at her and she'll be smiling. When we are working out in the yard, once in a while we'll hear a "roc  roc  roc" in the distance and one of us will say, "Huey?" And then they'll be times when one will come by, call, circle a few times for no apparent reason, sometimes calling as he circles, and then head off again. What really makes me wonder if we are seeing him is when I see a raven diving in amongst the many crows not to far from our house, but seemingly playing and not being driven off as would be more normal. For this was his daily routine while he was with us. No way of knowing though for we did not band or mark him in any way. And although ravens look quite similar, it's the pitch of the call we think we can recognize. But really it's hard to tell.

A Lesson in "Real" relationship begins

In the weeks and months since Huey flew the coup, the "good times" kept coming back and especially as I continued to study my Bible. Looking through past renderings in a journal brought memories of forgotten questions. Then one day something in the 2700 year old writings of Isaiah peaked my curiosity. In Chapter 11 it says, 

"The wolf shall dwell with the lamb and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them...." What? Let's look at that;

Wow!!! Now I knew of this before, I had studied this entire section a couple of times before, but now I saw it in an entirely new way. This section speaks of a special event that is both recent history and is continuing to this day, for "the Lord setting his hand - again - the second time - to recover the remnant of his people, and bring them into the new Israel." Israel became a nation in 1948, people are still coming from all over to live there! Then there are events that are future, for is says, they will "not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain: for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea." That is certainly not happening now nor has it happened in the past.  Then there's the bit about "The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them." This is clearly speaking in the future tense and obviously hasn't happened yet either. The hunt was on!  Something also prompted me to review my questions to God concerning the animals;

What were the animals like before the Flood?

     What changed it?

           What will it be like in the future?

And then the answers came, and they seemed so simple! And at first I thought how foolish of me not to have seen it before! But then again, God knows I'm the hands on type of person and things sink in and stick better when I get involved.  

What were the animals like before the Flood?  

I looked back to what we are told about the creation:

Notice it says man, animals, birds and everything that creeps on the earth is to feed solely on herbs and fruits the bear seed! That would mean none of these creatures are a food source. Then it hit me, after spending 2 years with Bob and Huey, I knew the answer! What were animals like before the flood? They were like Huey!!! Huey, who had no fear and was curious about me, wanted to play with me, wanted to be loved and cared for by me. Huey wanted to entertain me, tease me, Huey wanted nothing more than to be with me. That's what it was like! And as I delve further it gets better.

As Jackie Gleason used to say, "Now that explains everything!" And no wonder the animals quickly learned to despise us. It's obvious that animals had to learn fear just to survive. And that's the important word here, FEAR. This is what I had to teach Huey to get him to be able to survive in the wild. But Bob had already learned to fear long before we got him.  His fear was clearly demonstrated by his loathing and hatred toward all people.  But Huey, Huey had to learn it. And we saw as time went on how Huey's fear slowly  began to manifest and grow, even towards us. That was the overwhelming difference between the two. FEAR ! 

In the beginning all creation was there to please and entertain man. And even today there are a good many "special" animals that were created specifically to commune with man and were intended to be an enjoyable part of our everyday life here. There are the obvious; dogs, horses, some whales and dolphins, some birds and even a couple of cats (? though debatable) and others. 

So we can overcome some of it. And that brings us to our 3rd question.

What will it be like in the future?

Perhaps we should look Isaiah 11 again;

It's pretty clear to me God is telling us all animals, even the predators we know today, will be vegetarian again!  Kids will lead them and breast feeding babies will be able to play with poisonous snakes! It seems fear itself is defeated and overcome! And that my friends is the good news and I believe the answer to my questions.  

But how does this happen? Ah, this I believe is one of those rare occasions where the answer in the very same text. Cause if you read on, the answer is there.  The "root of Jesse", is also known as the "son of David" who is The Messiah (in Hebrew), The Christ (in Greek). He's called "the ensign of the people" as the text states He has come and is recognized by all.  

Who is the "the root" of Jesse?
There's only one man in history that I know of who could possibly fit that distinction. Matthew's records (Chap. 1) in the first century show us a man who came down from Jesse to David and then through David's son Solomon all the way to Joseph, who married gal named Mary and had son by the name of Jesus.  Luke's account (Chap. 3) takes it from Jesse to David and then to Nathan, another one of David's sons all the way to what many believe may be Mary's line. If this is true, then both mother and "father" are descended from David. I say "father" because it is recorded Mary's baby Jesus was conceived miraculously by God's Holy Spirit. I've looked and I've never been able to locate anything that could demonstrate any other human being since the first century could claim to be a descendent of Jesse's. To complicate matters, the Temple records were destroyed with the (Second) Temple in 70 AD. Besides the Jewish Scribes and Pharisees where convinced by their own writings in Torah, Nevi'im and Kethuvim (what many refer to as the Old Testament) that their Messiah would come before the destruction of the Second Temple. That was God's promise.

The entire New Testament is about Jesus, a man who did unbelievable things. He made wild claims about himself, being the son of God and equal with God.  This is the blasphemy he was put to death for.  But if the records are true about him, he also did many incredible things, from feeding large groups of people with little to start with to words of wit and wisdom never heard before. He also healed people, cast out demons, raised the dead and made the blind to see. It's this last one that interests me most. Why? Cause I believe He is still doing that today. How do I know? same way I know Huey was my friend and that silly bird wanted to have a relationship with me. Cause I had one with him. And as you saw above it was a real ongoing, day to day, give and take relationship. Now I see.

It was brought to my attention years ago that I could have one of these very same relationships with the Creator of the universe.  Right. Maybe a pastor or minister could but me?  I knew it was simple faith and the belief in all Christ Jesus said and did that gets one into the everlasting dwelling place of God when I died, but a relationship? Here, now, on earth? How? I took the challenge of a friend to find out (see http://www.mastersprogram.org ).  In time I got to know much more about this "Being" we call God through doing the same thing with Him as I did with Huey.  The same thing you do with any relationship, first open your heart and believe, then just spend time.  I learn to "talk," read and listen.  I try to make it a part of my everyday.  And I got to tell you it is through my relationship with Him that my relationships with everybody and everything else in the world have all changed. My entire attitude is different.  The cares and worries of this temporary life are becoming weaker and of less importance.  It's the things that are eternal that have become important to me now.  And relationships are tops on the list. 

Jesus said this, "Love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and all thy soul, love your neighbor as yourself, do this and you will have kept all the commandments."  Who can argue with that? 

He wants to get to know you also. Paul tells us the "whole of creation groans, waiting for the sons of God to be revealed" but it's a choice you make for yourself.  I hope you chose to be one of them. It starts and ends with your heart.  By giving the entirety of your heart (the real you!) to Christ Jesus, Savior and Lord of the universe, the One who came and died and rose again specifically for you, you'll soon realize you get the whole universe, and everything in it, for all eternity! I've never heard of a better offer, anywhere, have you? It all comes down to a simple, loving relationship. 

I hope you enjoyed my little story, it could have been much longer but I restrained myself. There's a lot of literature on and about God out there and many people make many claims about God. Sometimes it's difficult to discern the real experiences from the emotional highs. My purpose for this story was simply to demonstrate some of the amazing ways God really does communicate with us. This is just one way in which God has extended to little hard headed me an immeasurable amount of love, He's shown me He does care and I'm convinced He grants answers and wisdom to those who ask and then take the time to listen. It took two years for me to "listen" and to hear but I think I've learned a lesson far beyond compare. From this lesson, I have a hope and promise for the future that God has demonstrated to me is real. It is a "very good" future, one that is promised to be void of death and suffering. It also impresses upon me God's Word is true, all of it. I'd highly recommend that you read God's Word, the Bible, for yourself. Then spend some quiet time listening for God to speak. He still speaks through His Word, He can speak through those around you, and through nature but you've got to take the time to listen. I encourage you to take the time to develop a loving relationship with the Creator of the universe. He died for me and you, and as I said before, I believe I got a little hands on taste of how God feels about us. That is the most important message I can share. 

Rick

Postscript - Consider the Ravens! Luke 12:25 to 32

"Consider the ravens: for they neither sow nor reap; which neither have storehouse nor barn; and God feedeth them: how much more are ye better than the fowls? And which of you with taking thought can add to his stature one cubit? If ye then be not able to do that thing which is least, why take ye thought for the rest? Consider the lilies how they grow: they toil not, they spin not; and yet I say unto you, that Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. If then God so clothe the grass, which is to day in the field, and to morrow is cast into the oven; how much more [will he clothe] you, O ye of little faith? And seek not ye what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink, neither be ye of doubtful mind. For all these things do the nations of the world seek after: and your Father knoweth that ye have need of these things. But rather seek ye the kingdom of God; and all these things shall be added unto you. Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom."

And the Raven says, with Jesus, you live;

FOREVERMORE !

(With God's Kingdom, there is no end!)