Big Daddy Ibex

Please forgive my gap between blogs. I've been meaning to get this one down for a while, but I think it's worth the wait. Last week I actually took a day off - it was wierd - I admit - and took my family to the zoo. Jacob had been talking about it for a week, and it was part of his reward for his continued progress in peepeeing in the potty. Anyway, it's been a while since I've been to the zoo, and we had a great time. Like all zoos, the smell was atrocious, but it didn't prevent us from standing in awe and wonder of the detail and majesty our creator put on display in each and every animal. Every one unique, specifically adapted, colorful, inspiring, scary ... it's all there. So, we walked around, saw everything, and were about to leave when we stumbled on to something amazing ... the IBEX exhibit. At first glance an Ibex looks like a cross between a goat and a deer - crazy looking little things. As we were approaching them, a zookeeper said if you look closely, one has just given birth. Sure enough, less than 5 minutes before we got there a baby Ibex had been born. You can see him there in the picture. Momma was still down from the birthing experience, and when we got there there was no Daddy in sight. Within a few minutes, Momma had licked the baby clean. Within another few minutes he was trying to stand up. He's not even ten minutes old, and he's standing up - amazing. I was impressed. Then I was scared. I was scared because Momma decided she wanted to give birth up on a cliff. As this baby Ibex was stumbling around for the first time, he was making his way very close to the edge of the cliff. There was no way his tiny body would survive a fall of that magnitude. I found myself getting mad. I couldn't believe that this precious Ibex 10 minutes old was going to come crashing down to a horrible death. Worse than that, Momma was unable to help because she was unable to move yet. I couldn't watch anymore. I'm serious. I turned my head because I didn't want to watch. Then out of nowhere, Daddy Ibex lept up the cliff and nudged the Baby up to safety. What I didn't see, that I see in this picture is that it looks like Momma was crying out, and then Daddy came through. After he saved the baby, he never got far enough away that he couldn't quickly come through for the baby.

It just made me think about God coming through for me - saving the day, making a way for me to be safe - in Him. Sometimes I venture out too close to the edge, and He's always nudging me back to where He knows I need to be. It also inspired me as a Dad to give my son freedom to explore, but to always be there to keep him safe - to never be so far away that I can't come through for Him.

That's what I learned from the zoo.