Lessons From An Eagle

 Last week our team was fortunate to have Lane Widick spend a few minutes with our team in a devotional before our game.  I wanted to share my notes from his message to our team.

"Adversity"--we can learn a lot from it.

Lane said he's always been fascinated with nature and how God puts certain instincts in certain animals.
For example, the eagle.  In Israel, there is a mountain range at 10,000 feet elevation where eagles nest.
Eagles do not build small nest (3"-4" branches).  There was once a 2 ton eagles nest found in Florida.

They then line the nest with soft leaves and the mother plucks her down from her own body to make sure it's soft.

The mother never helps the bird through the egg process.

After 6-7 months she teaches the young eagle how to survive.  Flaps her wings around the nest....Tears up the nest, so that it's not as comfortable.  Baby then learns to balance itself, etc.

God does similar things to us.  We often get too comfortable with people and things.  Moves us towards something at some point.

"Have to leave the comfort of the shallow for the depths..."

How does God stir our nest?
1.  Someone who's a tormentor in our life.
2.  Burden on us, that we don't know how to handle.
3.  Emotions to be overwhelmed.
4.  Hope of renewal.

God puts a relentlessness in us.
A spiritual hunger takes over our physical desires.  God puts this in us to find.
Stirred up and it's not about us.
Complacency yields to compassion.
Have to be broken before you can be fixed.

There is a day when the mother eagle pushes the baby out o the nest at 10,000 feet..As the baby free falls flapping and right before it hits the ground the father eagle (who has been circling and watching) swoops below to catch it.

God always catches us.

The lesson of flight comes without warning.

There is value in adversity.

Take away the struggle and you take away the strength.  Without the struggle there is no strength.

Great men of the Bible had struggles--Abraham, Moses, David, Solomon

Struggles can be helpful.

Renewal through adversity...

Psalm 103

How an eagle faces true adversity--
Storms in his life.  Many animals have a "6th sense" when they sense storms approaching and they try to run from the storm...However, an eagle has the best "vision" and sees the storm coming, waits until the storm comes and simply flies high above the storm, while other animals try to run and hide..

So we have two choices---Run away or Rise above

2 Cor 4:17-18--fix our eyes on the unseen
2 Tim 4--fight the good fight

How will you help your teammates going through struggles on the court, in academics, relationships, etc.
Rise above? or Run Away?

Eagles are solitary creatures, God created us to be with others.

Think of how Christ rose above adversity....