A few months ago a man from church asked if we would like some chickens? It was a huge answer to prayer. I was so excited. Chickens and roosters are just my favorite pet in the world – no kidding!! There is something about they way they walk, and how they cocka-doodle-doo that just makes my day. My whole heart smiles when I hear them. I wonder if I am the only lady out there who has a love for roosters? Horses used to be up near the top of “favorite pets” but they have now, sadly, moved to the bottom of the list.
In 1992 we moved to our first pastorate in Virginia. Our first home there was a single wide trailer on 21 acres. My first morning in our new home I was awoke to a rooster somewhere in the distance cock-a-doodle-doing. I lay there smiling from ear to ear. I was ecstatic. I had longed to live in the country and have a rooster my entire life and here I was FINALLY living on 21 acres and THEE very first morning getting to hear a rooster. What a special treat from the Lord!!
Later on, while living in VA we eventually had chickens and two roosters. Abigail had bought me them for Christmas one year. I probably would be hard pressed to think of a present I liked better in those days. She had searched to find two beautiful roosters, totally unbeknownst to me, and I was absolutely tickled to pieces when she brought a huge box into the family room that Christmas morning with my very own roosters – my own two little buddies!
A couple of years passed and one Sunday morning as I was getting ready for church (Dw was long gone, as he is always gone super early on Sunday mornings) I heard a horrible sound outside. I ran to the window to see what in the world was going on. I was horrified to find that the neighbors dog was in our backyard ripping one of our roosters to shreds. By the time I could get outside it was too late.
My heart was so sad as these two little guys had brought me such joy It was equally not fun when the neighbor heard that her dog had attacked and killed our rooster and merely said, “Oh, really?” (Not exactly a candidate for “Compassionate Neighbor of the Year” award. I had named them after prophets of old because I reminded myself that every morning they proclaimed the favorable year of the Lord. The one rooster that survived I had named Ezra. When we moved, Ezra stayed behind and that is another story of God’s miraculous provision for another time. 
This is “Ping” Isaiah’s tur-ken….
But here we are in Colorado living on our little teeny, tiny farmette and I am praying for chickens and a rooster. Dw had told me that he didn’t want a rooster, so I prayed some more. He never really appreciated Ezra. Probably didn’t help that those boys were time-challenged. They started their cock-a-doodle-doing at 2:15 AM. We used to joke that they probably had ancestors in England. And, kid you not, every day at 2:15am in the pitch dark I would smile and think, “Ahhh, yes, the favorable year of the Lord.” Dw on the other hand would awake and say, “I hate those stupid things!” Which of course would make me laugh. Actually come to think of it, maybe he paid the neighbor to sig their dog on the rooster who was killed? Hmmmmm. When he comes home from Africa I will have to ask him.
Well when the man from church told Dw to come get the chickens I was so happy! He and Isaiah took off with Dw’s truck as I had kids to pick up from youth group, which was in a different direction. When I got home they took me to the chicken coop and Dw proudly pointed – there in the cage was the most beautiful rooster in the whole world. I was in shock!! He said he knew how much I loved them and he wanted to show me how much he loved me!! Woot! Woot! I’m serious I was thrilled beyond words!
I prayed that night that this new rooster had ancestors on Pacific Standard time so maybe, just maybe, we didn’t have to deal with the middle of the night stuff! Well at 5:15am he started. Dw stirred and said, “I don’t think this is going to work.” (improvement from “I hate those stupid things!”) I merely smiled and said, “Isn’t it the most beautiful sound you have ever heard?” Yeah, not so much! He preferred the “Songs of Silence” at 5:15am.
The next day I told him that we could give the little guy back. He said, “I think I am going to paint the coop black inside and out and caulk and cover in black every possible opening to see if that helps”. A few weeks passed and every morning he wakes me up I smile and Dw hasn’t said anything more, so I decided it was safe to name him.
Introducing my new best bud – Ezekial!! 
Ezekiel and his girls…. The book of Ezekiel has a common thread….All the things that would happen and God would say, “You will know that I am Lord.” So every morning, besides Ezekiel declaring the favorable year of the Lord, he also reminds me with his cocka-doodle-doo of a love gift from the Lord saying, “Linn – no matter what in life – the fun and the not-so-fun – you will know, sweet daughter, that I am Lord!”