SPECKLE AND HER CHICKS.         One of Gwenda’s much-loved stories.

Tommy loved his little chook with its speckled grey blue feathers.   So, he called her ‘Speckle’, and she followed him wherever he went.   For days he missed her, eventually finding Speckle hatching eggs,   making her the proud mother of eight little chickens.   He was glad for her chicks but sad, because she could no longer with her little brood wander with him on the farm.  

 One scorching day, the bush fire swept the farm, and he could not find his beloved Speckle.   Where is she?  Is she safe?  How are her little chicks? Could they survive?   He cried for she was special to him.   He looked everywhere without finding his treasured Speckle.   ‘Tommy’, called his mother, ‘We must pray the Lord Jesus to help you find your dear chickie. Do you remember that Jesus said, ‘Seek and you shall find?‘ ’Let’s speak to our dear Friend Jesus.’

They kept looking until Tommy’s father found a little mound on the river bank .   Leaving his horse, he carefully examined the heap.   Burnt feathers flew from the pile as he handled it.   To his great surprise as he lifted the charred body of a hen, he found eight little chickens under her folded wings.   It was really Speckle, who instead of running away, had covered her chicks as the fire approached.    Speckle died in the fire, but had saved her little chicks.  

 Tommy buried his dear Speckle, put a cross of sticks alongside, and gathering the chicks, cared for them at home. Speckle had been a brave hen,   dying for her chicks that they might be preserved from the raging fierce fire.

His daddy took Tommy on his knee, ‘Tommy, this tells what the Lord Jesus did for you and every boy and girl.    God’s pure fire judged all our wrong, ( the Bible calls it sin) and it scorched to death the Lord Jesus.   He died for us exactly as Speckle had died for her dear chicks.   The Lord Jesus died for boys and girls of every color to rescue them, when God’s anger at sin fell on HIS dear Son. He spread out His hands on the cross,   as Speckle had done with her wings.  And when God’s fierce fire came, He died and all under His arms (or wings) are now secure in HIM.   

King David wrote.’ ‘Under His wings you shall trust. ’ Psalm 91 When you trust in the Lord Jesus Who died for you, you are truly safe.   You also have Jesus’ gift of eternal life‘.

Gwenda told this gripping story in many country churches: which her children joyfully recalled at her recent   87th birthday dinner when we spoke of Speckle: and of course, our dear Lord Jesus.      I recounted it from memory.

                                            Harrold