This past year, a love for birdwatching has captivated both of our sons, and when we visited some friends who run an Eco-tourism project, the boys started formulating ideas on how to see more birds around our house. At the Eco-tourism project, there were feeding stations along some of the trails, and the boys loved to see all the birds that came to eat. Enoch decided he wanted to make feeding stations like that by our house. Each morning at 6:00, he would go to the street behind our house and spread unhulled rice in several places along the side of the road. Josiah would often join him, and they would get as many pictures of different birds as they could. Then they would return to the house and look in the bird books to identify them. But one morning turned out a bit different than usual.
The morning air was refreshing as Enoch set out to feed the birds. Josiah was still sleeping this morning, so Enoch was on his own. After spreading the rice at the feeding stations, Enoch watched for birds to capture on camera. He spotted a small bird of prey in a tree a little way off the side of the road. Wanting a closer look, he started on a little path into the edge of a wooded lot. The path was not frequently used and was overgrown with vines and fallen leaves. Suddenly, the path gave way under his feet, and he fell 28 feet down into a dry, abandoned well shaft. He landed on both feet and slowly assessed his situation. His foot and back were hurting, but he wanted to get out of the well as soon as possible. He felt around in the dark and found some handholds dug into the shaft’s walls and started climbing, each arm and leg pushing against the opposing sides of the shaft. As he got close to the mouth of the hole, the shaft widened, and he grabbed at some vines to pull himself over the edge, hoping that the vines would hold. It worked.
Soon he was back at the house, covered in dirt and debris and suffering from a sore foot and back. As he told us about his morning experience, Psalm 91:11-12 came to mind. “For he shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways. They shall bear thee up in their hands, lest thou dash thy foot against a stone.” Surely the angels kept Enoch from serious injury! As we thought of what could have so easily been a devastating outcome, our hearts overflowed with gratitude for God’s protective care. Enoch wore a back brace for a few weeks as a reminder to give his back proper healing time, but now both his sprained foot and sore back are fully recovered. Thank you to everyone who prays for our protection!
