Homing Pigeons

Homing pigeons have been used for hundreds of years to carry messages back to their home base. During wartime, they would be kept at the battle front and when it was necessary to send a message to headquarters, which was the pigeon’s home, a note would be attached to the bird’s leg and it would be released.

People have been guessing for centuries about how a pigeon knows where to go. Some speculated that they used the sun, some said they use landmarks, and some even said that pigeons had built in magnets that were sensitive to the earth’s magnetism. As it turns out, all three theories are correct. Experiments have shown that homing pigeons can tell where they are, and thus fly to where they are going, by looking at the sun. They also recognize familiar landmarks when they get to an area where they have been before. And it has been shown that homing pigeons actually are sensitive to the earth’s magnetic field. The earth is a giant magnet. That is why the compass always points north. Evidently the pigeon (and other migrating birds) has a sensing system which, like a compass, tells it which direction is north.

With this information, plus its ability to judge locations or directions from the sun, and a sense of time – yes, birds have built in clocks also – the homing pigeon is able to travel more accurately than the sea captains who used to sail the seven seas using only the sun, compass, and a watch.

The pigeon does it automatically. No one has to teach it to tell the time or read a compass.

It is possible for us to have the same keen sense of direction as to where we are going and what is right or wrong. This ‘sense’ is an enlightened conscience directed by the Holy Spirit as one seeks that direction from the word of God and follows it. Isaiah mentioned this voice of conscience when he said,  “Your own ears will hear him. Right behind you a voice will say, “This is the way you should go,” whether to the right or to the left.” Isaiah 30:21 (NLT.) Psalm 119:105 (NLT) says “Your word is a lamp to guide my feet and a light for my path.” You are on an eternal, heavenly migration, and you need to know the way. Jesus said “I am the way.” And “No person comes to the Father but by me.” Before Christians were called Christians they were known as “people of the way.” (e.g. Acts 9:2, 18:25).

When Thomas asked Jesus about the way ahead that seemed confusing, Jesus said, “I am the way.” (John 14:5-6). We do not need a way to the way! Finding the way is not about our works, but His. The way the truth and the life is to walk in his footsteps (1Peter 2:21).