Even through the closed car windows with the a/c blasting, I could smell the bloated carcass of the fox on the side of the highway. Briefly that annoying song about what the fox says morphed in my mind to “How does the fox smell?” Nauseating, if it’s been dead awhile in 80 degree heat!

As I quickly changed the air mode from “outside air” to “recirculate and filter,” I hoped the folks who pick up dead animals on the highway would be along soon.

My morphing mind then wondered when the buzzards would get wind, so to speak, of the fox, and come for their feast. I am always amazed when I see those grotesque vultures pecking clean the skeletons of their long-dead dinners. How can they eat rotting flesh as their regular diet when we humans can eat something out of the refrigerator, which may be only a few days past its prime, and be sick for days?

I stand in awe that God in His infinite wisdom created animals just to take care of the bodies of dead things lying around. God’s garbage crew. What a wondrously crafted system these birds have that can digest putrefying flesh.

In fact God thinks so much of these ugly old birds that they have their own Bible verses in Revelation and their explicit purpose after the Battle of Armageddon: to get rid of all the dead bodies. “Then I saw an angel standing in the sun, shouting to the vultures flying high in the sky: ’Come! Gather together for the great banquet God has prepared. Come and eat the flesh of kings, captains, and strong warriors; of horses and their riders; and of all humanity, both free and slave, small and great.’” (Rev. 19: 17-18 NLT) Not exactly cozy bedtime reading, but there you have it.

God has a purpose for everything and everybody – some things and some bodies fulfill their purposes better than others. The buzzards know exactly what they’re supposed to do – and they do it very well, although their appearance circling above is the stuff nightmares and Westerns are made of.

We humans, God’s very special creation, don’t always fulfill our Divine purposes. Although our Lord has made us only “a little lower than the angels,” (Psalm 8:5) we frequently act like we really are children of satan.

I’m glad I don’t have to worry about being among those “small and great” who are devoured by the buzzards at the end of time. My Savior Jesus will save me from that awful ending. I pray He will save you too.