GOOSE BRAINS

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                 GOOSE BRAINS
This morning (April 13, 1996) our neighbor was out in the yard looking
intently into the sky.  We went out, but were too late to see 110 Canadian
Honkers flying Northward in the characteristic V formation.
Still fresh in my mind, from an informal Chapel sharing time last night, was
an article which Winnie, our hostess, had read about the flights of the
Canadian Goose.
The "brains of a goose" has been a derogatory appellation since I was a boy
growing up in Southwestern Idaho close to the banks of the Snake and Boise
Rivers.
Winnie read that the Goose has a much better brain than a lot of us human
beings do.  God has built into them something that humans could do well to
learn.
The Honkers "honk" to each other while in flight, and for a very good reason.
 The drake in the lead, at the apex of the V, is "breaking the wind" for the
others which follow, and is having to expend a far greater amount of enery
than those which follow in his "wake".
The other drakes are constantly asking the leader, "Are you OK?"  "How's your
strength holding up?"  He is constantly giving a report to the others on his
energy level.  When it runs low, he will signal one of the others (and they
know which shall be next in turn to be the leader) to come to the front, and
the two trade places.
This is known as "teamwork."  Comparatively few humans know much about this.
Since the flock will have Geese of all ages in it, there is bound to be some
casualties in the flock before they get to their destination.  When one gets
weak, for any reason, and begins to lose altitude and speed-- two others will
fall out of formation to go with the ailing one to the ground, where they
wait with him until he is able to fly again, or he dies, whichever the case
may be.
We Christians are much smarter than the Geese.  We abandon our stragglers to
fight their spiritual battles alone.  Billy Schuetz wrote me one time to say
that when a Child of God is called upon to go through the fire, the hottest
part of the flame is the attitude of other Christians toward him while he is
in the trial.
There is a difference between "Rebellion toward God" and "Struggles in the
Faith", though they might, on the surface, look the same to other people.
The Christian Army is the only known army which Kills its wounded.
The Geese know instinctively the meaning of co-operation and working together
for the good of all concerned.
"The Brains God Gave a Goose"