Visitors

We had some visitors at Christ Church this past Sunday. The Focus Quartet, a local Christian singing group, was here for our combined worship service - but they're not the visitors to which I'm referring. There were those who came to listen to the Focus Quartet who do not usually attend Christ Church - but they're not the visitors to which I'm referring, either.

We had visitors of another sort - the four-legged, furry, odiferous sort of visitors. When I arrived to the church on Sunday morning, our janitor Adam said, "We have bees." I wasn't surprised because we're having the flat roofs of the education, youth and office wings of the church replaced with peaked roofs and knew that the roofers had discovered some bees or wasps in the eaves. They'd been flushed down into the building. "And" Adam said, "we have skunks." Now, I'd seen a skunk in the back yard of the parsonage a few times at night, so again, I wasn't surprised and I told Adam this. Adam responded, "No, I mean we have skunks right now - in the window well.

So, we walked down the hallway and out the door that faces the parsonage, peeked around the back of the church building and there they were. Two, maybe three, black and white furry, musky-smelling skunks huddled in a sleeping pile in the corner of the window well. They didn't seem disturbed by us and we certainly were NOT going to disturb them. So, we came in and we talked a bit about whether they'd be able to get out or not but we weren't going to fuss with it right then.

When I walked home from church, I peeked around the corner and they were still there. One of the skunks looked up at me and seemed a bit curious, but since I was more aware of the consequences of getting too close to a skunk than I was curious, I ducked back around the building and walked home.

But I've got to admit I was curious. Could they get out? I can't say I like skunks, but I don't like to think that any living creature would die because they couldn't get out of a window well. And we had just heard someone from the Game Commission at their booth at Discover Presque Isle Days talking about how misunderstood the skunk is. They're curious and quite helpful since they eat grubs and insect larvae. And he had a stuffed and mounted skunk -- it was kind of cute.

So, I got on the Internet and did a Google search with these words: "skunk window wells." Guess what - seems like this thing happens quite frequently. The websites I found said skunks fall in window wells all the time because they're near-sighted. Since they're not good climbers, they're trapped until someone helps them out.

Okay, I'm game how do you help them out? Three ways: 1. If the window well is 2-feet deep or less, place a flat, wide board at a 45 degree angle and they'll climb out by night-fall, 2. If the window well is more than 2-feet deep, put a piece of stinky cheese in a pet carrier, carefully lower it into the window well, when the skunk is busy gnawing on the stinky cheese, carefully raise the carrier like an elevator, being careful the skunk can't reach through and bite you, place it on the ground and when the skunk is done with the cheese, she'll leave, AND 3. If you know what you're doing, put on heavy, thick gloves, grab the skunk around the middle firmly, and lift it out of the window well.

Since I do NOT know what I'm doing (and even if I did) the third option was out. I was not about to measure the window well, plus I just saw the 2nd method ending badly for me. So, let's try the first option. I'm the type that if I can make do with something that's close enough, I'll usually try that first. We didn't have any flat planks, but we have a wood pile for the fireplace (which by the way, I've since found out probably attracts the skunks for a hiding place during the day!). I find the longest, widest branch I can find and proceed to the window well.

I get down low, place the branch very quietly in the window well. When the skunks back up and raise their tails I'm gone! It took 4 or 5 tries, but I got the branch down in the window well at an angle. My family and I went to Presque Isle for the evening to watch the sunset on the beach. We stop for ice cream on our way back. By the time we get home, it's dark.

I gingerly proceed to the window well, hoping to find the skunks gone. I look into the window well and there they are - 3 skunks, a mom and her 2 babies, perfectly lined up in a row - staring at the branch. Like a skunk has never seen a branch before - don't these things live in the wild? I wonder if the branch isn't wide enough, so back the wood pile for another branch. I dig through the pile until I find another branch, which I lay alongside the other branch even MORE carefully than before because now the skunks are awake and none too happy about finding themselves still trapped in the window well and now I'm poking a big stick at them. I checked on them a few more times that night and found them anxiously wandering around in circles, probably pondering their situation. I finally found them huddled back in the corner. Now I'm concerned, because I don't want to see them die and if I call animal control, I'm not sure they're allowed to release them again or if they have to euthanize them. I go to bed that night and hope for the best. And when I got up in the morning, the window well was empty with no signs of foul play by the neighborhood cat.

It's made me think about our own journeys. How many times are we ambling along happy as can be and because we're "near-sighted" about things, we find ourselves trapped in a hole we can't get out on our own. Others may come along and try to help us out, but it seems as though they're just poking big sticks at us, and out of fear and lack of awareness of their intent, we posture ourselves ready to defend ourselves by spraying others so that they stay away. Finally we realize there may be a way out, but it seems scary - way too narrow, bumpy, and uncertain. Do we stay in the hole we've found ourselves in and face a certain demise or do we take the risky step of venturing on a path that seems unsteady, with no certainty of where it leads, but just might get us out of our predicament? How often does God's grace make itself known and we reject it out of fear of knowing what lays at the end of the path provided?

I'm glad the skunks are gone and I'd like to think safely on their way. I'd like to think that God's grace saw them safely home. And the next time I'm feel trapped, I hope I remember the skunks and how I made every effort to help them and wished I could make them understand I meant only to help them -- and recall to mind Jesus' words from the gospels, "If you then who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good things to those who ask him!" (Matthew 7.11)

By God's Grace,
Michelle