A Special Home

"What are you doing, Mom?" Cami asked as she walked out to the barn. Her mother stood at the open door."Watching some birds," said Mom softly. She pointed toward the rafters. Cami stood beside her mother, and together they quietly watched a bird fly into the barn with a small feather in its mouth. Another bird soon joined it, and Cami and her mom watched as the two birds flew back and forth, busily building a nest.Suddenly Cami sneezed, and the birds flew away. "Oops! Sorry, little birds. I didn't mean to scare you off," said Cami."I'm sure they'll soon be back to finish their nest," said Mom."What kind of birds are those, Mom?" Cami asked as they turned to go back to the house."They're barn swallows," Mom replied."Cool! I should have recognized them. We learned about them at school. Our book said the birds gather mud and roll it into a pellet. They carry it back to the place they've picked out and use it to build a cup-shaped nest. Then they line it with grass and feathers.""That's interesting," said Mom. "I didn't realize they used mud to build their special little nest." "Special?" Cami made a face. "A mud nest doesn't sound very special to me!"Mom laughed. "I guess that's because you're not a barn swallow." She opened the screen door to the house. "Did you know someone has made a special home for you too, Cami?""What?" Cami asked in surprise. "Are we going to move?"Mom smiled and shook her head. "Jesus has prepared a very special place for you. The Bible says everyone who trusts Him as their Savior has a home with Him. He died and rose again to prepare that place for us--a special place in God's family. He is always with us, and one day, when He comes back, we'll live in a perfect world with Him forever. Isn't that a wonderful thing?"Cami nodded. "Pastor Roberts talked about that last week." She grinned. "But the new world he told us about sounds much better than a mud nest!""No doubt about that!" said Mom. "A mud nest is great for barn swallows, but the home we have with Jesus is so much better."-Sharon K. Regehr