Lessons From a Fair Warning and a Dead Chicken

A few months ago a neighbor had staked down a rather peculiar sign in her always pristine front yard, it read:

‘Any chicken found in my yard will be dead meat’

Y’all I wish I had a picture of this but I guess I was too “chicken” to take one, nevertheless you get the idea.

The sign only stayed up a very short while and then it was replaced by warmer days, green grass, and this woman’s crazy mowing obsession.

These houses out where we live are part of a subdivision located outside of town. My husband explains it like we live in a pasture which I would concur. Quite a few people own chickens, some have goats, and there’s even a family with a cow or two at times.

At the beginning of this month, early on a Sunday morning, Nathan and I woke up to gun shots and sprung out of bed to see what the ruckus was. Farm animals out here are normal but gun shots right out in the residential area aren’t at all.

So we’re peering out our windows and much to our surprise we spot a group of chickens on the loose splashing around in the sprinklers of one neighbor’s yard and we’re oohing and ahhing for a second because it was cute and comical but still trying to figure out the gun shots.

I look over to the next neighbor’s property (the one who had a chicken slayer sign up a few months before) and wouldn’t you know there was a large cluster of what appeared to be white feathers on the far south end of her yard. Nathan ran and grabbed a scope from out of his gun safe and like a creep he’s spying out our front window, zeroing in on the lump of white and confirms…a fresh poultry kill…

Chicken dinner anyone?

The red is the chicken, the blue is the trap… Sorry I couldn’t resist adding a picture.

Come to find out, apparently this woman with the insanely well kept yard had an issue with a nearby neighbor (who owns free range chickens minus a white one now) and was not impressed when those chickens would show up at her place and this day she took vengeance.

She actually ended up leaving the dead chicken on her yard for the next two days before chucking it onto its original owner’s driveway. On top of that, immediately after the kill, she created a trap system in the middle of her yard which consisted of a plastic dome container that was propped up and then had a rope connected to it and that rope lead right into the front door of her house. I guess if another chicken was brave enough to step foot into her lawn and happened to make it’s way under the trap she’d pull the rope and the chicken would be trapped inside the dome. More humane than meeting it’s uneven match with a gun I suppose.

Although I don’t agree with how she handled the situation, I’ve gotta give her a little credit because she did after all give a forewarning with the sign..

And here’s where I want to point us to Jesus.

When we read God’s word, all throughout we find truth, promises, hope, grace, mercy, and even forewarnings. The Bible represents all these things.

Pieces of scripture warn us of the consequences and fate of not following Jesus and when we choose to believe and follow then we experience the blessings and joy of a relationship with Him, plus an eternity spent in Heaven.

The deal with my neighbor has brought about some laughs. I joked with my son one day, “hey I dare you to run over and set off the trap unless you’re too chicken.” He didn’t go for it but we did “crack” up over it.

The thing is when it comes to the warnings we read in God’s word that’s one thing my family always takes seriously. There’s no jokes to go along with it.

We all are given the opportunity to read scripture and accept every word of it or reject it.

That chicken trap has now long been taken down from my neighbor’s yard just like the warning sign was removed before the slaughtering ever happened. She followed through just like her sign warned:

‘Any chicken found in my yard will be dead meat’

When we compare this to the way God operates we’ve been given the chance to study scripture and make what we want of the warnings. God will one day judge the world and by our choice we’re either walking toward Him or headed for destruction as the end will inevitably come.

As long as we’re living it’s never too late to turn to Him and take His warning for the benefit it longs to bring and the glory it provides for His purpose.

Have a blessed Memorial weekend y’all. I’m fixing to take my kids tent camping by myself as Nate is out of town. It should be interesting…and no worries my chickens are always locked safely away!

Author: alimw2013

About For His Purpose~ My name is Alicia and I'm a thirty-something year old who loves Jesus. Only through God’s amazing grace and mercy I have been redeemed from past regret and shame. Reading His word has allowed me to look past Satan’s forceful lies, to see myself for who Christ says I am in Him. Through writing I have learned why I made the choices I made in my younger years and I now have a better understanding of why I desire to love God like crazy these days. Despite my daily failures, God remains faithful always. I am reassured of His unconditional love for me by every ink-drop spilled out on paper, each committed prayer as I cry out to Him, and deep understanding reflected through reading His word as truth. Yes keeping a blog will make me vulnerable to others’ opinions- there will be some who don’t understand, some who may criticize or judge, but on the other hand if just one piece expressed through my writing grabs someone’s attention and directs them to God, then pouring out my heart in a blog for the world to read is worth it. I choose to glorify Him alone through words streaming across a glowing screen. And it wouldn’t be fair if I didn’t reveal the fact that I’m incredibly quirky; I’m my loving husband’s best friend, my vivacious kids’ craziest cheerleader and spiritual trainer (3 John 1:4). I love anything farmhouse and rustic style. I think cupping a warm coffee mug in the palm of my hands is more satisfying than the contents within. I share a common obsession with my husband for the mountains, but I would (without a doubt) settle for waves crashing against my legs at the Atlantic Ocean just as well, and I almost always have a Yorkie curled up on my lap while writing. *All photos are photographed by forhispurpose.blog and therefore may not be stored or photocopied in any manner.

44 thoughts on “Lessons From a Fair Warning and a Dead Chicken”

  1. Oh my goodness, Alicia!!!! This has just about made me have an accident! 😂🤣 Poor chicken! He was too chicken, (literally) and it cost him dearly! 🤦‍♀️ I hope the neighbor puts their chickens in a pen like yours from now on, or there will be more dead meat! A little humor with God’s Word. Love it! (Not the chicken slaying lol) This made my day!

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    1. Thanks Renee!!
      So to follow up (shortly after that all happened) the woman who owned the chicken ended up getting rid of all of her chickens…Her house has been for sale and finally sold so she’s moving anyway and won’t have to worry about finicky anti-chicken neighbors anymore hopefully!😅

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  2. A fun neighbor Alicia. I would like some chickens in our yard just to clean up all the deer and wood tics. I’m afraid the owls hawks, eagles, fox, mink, coyotes, wolves, bear, fisher, and pine martin would beat me to any harvest of meat (I missed skunks…they are the worst).

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  3. It is no doubt my age but I think this free-range thing is a silly way of increasing the price of eggs. I buy regular eggs at normal prices. I have no problem with chicken like yours inside a fence. It is where they belong! 🐤 Cluck, cluck.
    Have a wonderful time camping with your kids!

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  4. We really don’t get it and he gives us so many warnings and so many outs- just for us to flip him the bird – pun intended.

    What your neighbor did totally reminds me of something that would happen where I live. No joke. A couple of months ago I pulled along our street to tell the neighbor I had his wife’s magazine – the mail lady had dropped it off at the wrong house. I said I would bring it down. The man thanked me and then launched into some bizarre story about the other neighbor stealing checks from his mailbox so he was a post office box downtown now.

    The moral of the story is that people can be crazy and we just have to watch out! Ha!

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  5. 🤣🤣🤣🤣 Funniest Friday post ever! I think I would like to live next to some action type neighborhood.
    I love this: “We all are given the opportunity to read scripture and accept every word of it or reject it.” Sometimes, we forget that the scriptures is for correction and through Biblical examples, we receive warnings. Yes, God’s grace is available. Yet, obedience is better. It is a proof of our love for the one who loved us first.
    Humorous and powerful post! Thank you for sharing ❤

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    1. Thank you for reading Temi! We’ve laughed a lot over hat deal.

      I’m thankful I’ve taken God for His word, there are many who aren’t doing so…I pray for the lives of those who don’t take an interest in God’s warnings.

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  6. Oh my! That story made me laugh. But wow! So sad about your other neighbor moving. Of course I don’t know all the details, but it is sad that they were so upset with each other…
    But I do love how you made a moral out of this story. You are absolutely right. We have all the answers at our finger tips. But how many of us will miss it? I am so thankful The Lord has given us His Word and the Holy Spirit as gifts to guide us. I pray we can learn to embrace every word and nudge He offers us. 🌺💕🌸

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    1. Not sure how I missed responding to your comment!
      But ya the ‘chicken killer’ had it out for this other woman, it is sad…and yet even then we are called to love our neighbors so maybe I’ll have to pray, get clever, and figure out a way to crack this woman’s hard shell..apparently she’s a tough one to get along with, chickens or not.

      Thanks for reading Bridget and thankful we’re staying in tune with the most important Warning Maker!😉

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  7. Great story! We have chickens in our ‘burbs, too! My dog actually ran out the front door one day and caught one. 😬😬. So sad people get so caught up in things like this. Keep ‘cracking’ jokes… and keep the gospel coming. 🤣🥰🥰🥰

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    1. You’re dog!😅😉

      It is crazy for sure how people get bent out of shape so easy, this story serves as a good reminder to keep in check with grace as well!! Thanks for reading, have a blessed Saturday!!❤️

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  8. If anyone should ask what kind of chickens you have in the area, just say, “They’re wild, wild, west chickens.”. Lol. I guess those kind of chickens can’t read. Be safe out there. – Alan

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  11. I’m guessing we’ll be seeing your neighbor on an episode of Fear Thy Neighbor soon. 😂 How crazy!
    I love how you tied that story to the Bible. What an amazing lesson!

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    1. Haha I hadn’t heard of that show BUT I’m assuming it must be pretty interesting judging by the name!!
      Thank you for reading Michelle!!

      Been thinking of you a lot, we’ve been getting a lot of rain in Nebraska and I can’t imagine if we were in your situation with the roof damage…how’s everything holding up, are you guys doing alright?

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      1. We’ve been pretty dry here but yesterday it rained almost all day so I was worried. Luckily they tarped the roof really well and there wasn’t any leaks that we could see or hear. It still worries me that there’s a leak we just can’t see. I hope I’m wrong, though. I’ll be so glad when the roof is fixed!

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    1. LOL it takes all kinds of people to make this world so interestingly bazaar and somewhat entertaining—not sure if that’s a good thing or a bad thing lol
      Thank you, I’m pretty fond of my chickens!😉

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