The baby whale

The saddest story has been playing itself out in Sydney, Australia.

A baby humpback whale was abandoned by it`s mother. The baby whale was to become known as Colin during the next week. He was first spotted when he tried to suckle on a yacht, just north of Sydney. He obviously mistook the yacht for his mom. Ok, how sad is that? Wildlife officials were called in and a week long effort to save little Colin was undertaken. They tried to lure it back to the open sea in the hope that he would attach himself to a pod of passing humpback whales but to no avail. Little Colin kept going back to the yachts. It also became apparent that Colin was not in good nick. He was obviously ill and might have also been attacked by a shark.

After a week of trying virtually everything, wildlife officials euthanized Colin on Friday morning. By then he was riddled with parasites, starving, injured and very ill. Veteranarians reckoned that he would not have survived until Friday evening. They decided to end his suffering in the most humane way possible.

Now, I hate stories like this. It always gets me very emotional cos I am but a softy at heart! But I think you can also learn a lot from a story like this. So this is what I have "learned" from this story. Please bare with me, I`m new at this!

We often lose sight of God and in doing so try to compensate by putting all our attention on other gods / objects. Just like Colin who was separated from his mom. When he couldn`t find his mom, he tried to let other objects take her place. None of this worked just like no other object will ever be able to take God`s place. They tried to lure Colin to safety by getting him to attach to a pod of humpback whales. Colin kept going back to the yachts. In the end it caused his death. I can see the Holy Spirit coaxing us in the right direction, only for us to keep falling back into the habits of the world.

Will we end up like little Colin, or will we be able to find our way back to our "Mom" before it`s too late?