Messages of God's Love: 2002

When Jesus was here on earth, He instructed His followers to “lay up for yourselves treasure in heaven” (Matthew 6:20). He knew that was the only kind of treasure that will have lasting results. This story is about a woman who would have done well to follow those instructions.

Mrs. Snyder was a tireless worker. She worked hard to plant a big garden and tend it, and every summer and fall she would pick and preserve all the fruits and vegetables and store them all in her cold cellar. She did this year after year, rising early and working hard day after day. No doubt she enjoyed the success of her hard work and knew that she would have plenty of food no matter what happened. But while doing this she was also growing older, and eventually she died.

When Mrs. Snyder’s relatives came to clear her house of her belongings, they were astounded to find what she had in storage. They found that not only was the cold cellar completely filled with jars and bottles of fruits and vegetables, but she had also dug out another large area underground which was also filled with canned produce. Worst of all, none of it was usable! Because of its age and the danger of its being spoiled, these relatives had to haul to the dump about 8,000 pounds of once-fresh garden produce, all wasted. How sad that the life’s work of this hard-working woman was all a waste of time.

We too may be wasting our lives in different ways, and we would do well to think about the unwise focus of this woman. Yet not one of us can even begin to lay up treasure in heaven or please God until we accept the way of salvation He has provided in His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. When some people asked the Lord Jesus what they could do to work the work of God, He answered, “This is the work of God, that ye BELIEVE on Him whom He hath sent” (John 6:29). That was the first step they had to take; all their works were useless until they had taken that first step. When you have taken that step, believing that Jesus is YOUR Saviour because He died for YOUR sins and making the decision to follow Him, then you will be ready to lay up treasure in heaven, and your life will neither be lost nor wasted.

“Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also” (Matthew 6:21). “These are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through His name” (John 20:31).

ML-01/06/2002

"Where Are You Goin'?"

Grandpa Walt had a busy day planned. He had just stepped out of the door of the bank and was walking briskly down the street to take care of some other errands, when a tall, young man suddenly fell in step beside him.

“Well, you’re lookin’ good!” the young man remarked breezily to Grandpa Walt. “Where are you goin’?”

Grandpa Walt was a Christian, and he seemed to feel the Spirit of God inside of him giving a warning signal. This man was up to no good, Grandpa Walt was sure.

Turning to the stranger with a quiet smile, but with true certainty, Grandpa Walt replied happily, “I’m going to heaven! Christ died on the cross for my sins, and one of these days He’s going to take me to heaven . . . I can hardly wait!”

Like a flash, the young man began to walk faster and was soon lost in the crowd.

God’s Word, the Bible, says, “Surely He shall deliver thee from the snare of the fowler. . . . His truth shall be thy shield and buckler” (Psalm 91:34).

Have you learned the power of God’s Word in your life? It not only can save your soul for eternity, but it is able to protect you from harm during your lifetime. The Bible says, “Even to your old age . . . will I carry you . . . and will deliver you” (Isaiah 46:4).

ML-01/06/2002

"Come"

Don’t these Siberian husky puppies look cute? Ever since they were old enough to have their eyes open and to move around in their pen, they have been a lot of fun!

When they were really young, they all stayed very close to their mother. It seemed like they were always nursing to get as much milk as they could. Even when they weren’t nursing, they cuddled up very close to her body so they could keep warm in the cold winter.

As they grew, they started testing their legs. They soon learned how to get around in their pen. It wasn’t long until they found their mother’s food bowl and started helping themselves.

Then came the first time to go outside. There was snow on the ground, and none of them was very sure they liked this new experience! But it didn’t take them long to decide to do some exploring with short jumps away from the back door - that is, all but one. She was just too scared and sat shivering right where I had put her—waiting for me to put her back into that safe, warm pen in the garage.

Finally, after a few times of being put outside, she got brave enough to run around with her brothers and sisters. They had lots of fun running and jumping and romping around in the snow. They learned right from the start that their play area was close to the house.

Only when I took them on walks down the lane did they know that it was okay to leave their area. They would trot along following me, sometimes in single file. Along the way, I would stop so they could run up to the top of a snow bank and roll back down. They had so much fun! Often we’d walk over a mile, but they never stopped following me, their leader.

As they got older, I decided that I would have to sell all the puppies. Having two dogs—the parents of these puppies—was enough for me. One by one, the first pups went to good homes, and I was down to only two male puppies left. They were such good companions for each other, and I was glad that one puppy wasn’t left by himself.

Each day they played outdoors, sometimes from first thing in the morning till late afternoon. They even took naps on the snow in the sun. In all their frolicking in the fresh air, they never forgot their boundaries - at least, not till one day when they got the idea to do a little exploring down the lane.

They didn’t go charging down the lane at full speed all at once. They just started slowly sniffing their way along, one little step at a time. When I first noticed what they were doing, I thought that at any minute they would turn around and come back. But they didn’t. They seemed to be enjoying their newfound liberty and weren’t interested in coming back. Since I didn’t know how far they would wander, I knew I would have to go after them and bring them back.

While I was getting my coat and boots on, my dad opened a window and shouted after the pups. By then, they were a hundred yards or more away from the house. He called their names and then just one word: “Come!” Do you know what they did? They immediately stopped, turned around and came trotting back to the house. Isn’t that amazing that they obeyed so quickly? They responded instantly to the sound of their names and that one command - “Come!”

Even though they are puppies, their behavior reminded me of the Lord’s words about His sheep: “The sheep hear His voice: and He calleth His own sheep by name” (John 10:3). “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me” (vs. 27).

Who are the Lord’s sheep? I’m one, and maybe you are too. Everyone who can truthfully say, “He died for me; He shed His precious blood for me so that all of my sins could be washed away,” is one of His sheep. The Lord Jesus is the good shepherd; “the good shepherd giveth His life for the sheep” (vs. 11). And there’s something else He gives His sheep: “I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of My hand” (vs. 28). It’s wonderful to have such a loving Shepherd caring for me for the rest of my life.

Does that mean that I always stay close to my Shepherd and always do everything that pleases Him? Sad to say, that’s not always true. Just like my puppies, there are times when I want to do my own will, and I wander away from the good Shepherd - not into big sins right away, but slowly, one little step at a time, I try doing things that I know don’t make the Lord Jesus happy.

What happens then? Do I stop being saved? Thank the Lord, that can never happen! Remember what the verse said? “They shall never perish.” No, I can never lose my salvation, but I sure can lose the joy of it in my heart when I live to please myself and not the Lord Jesus.

Do you know what He does then? He calls with that simple word, “Come” - “Come unto Me” (Matthew 11:28). King David knew that the Lord was his Shepherd, and he said, “He restoreth my soul” (Psalm 23:3). The Lord Jesus gently calls us back to Himself and restores us to the enjoyment of His love and His salvation when we confess to Him that we did wrong. Then He helps us to live to please Him instead of ourselves.

Are we quick to come back to Him when we wander away? Do we obey His commands as quickly as my puppies did? Let’s learn while we’re still young to obey right away - it’s the only way to be truly happy. “Our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep . . . make you perfect in every good work to do His will, working in you that which is well-pleasing in His sight” (Hebrews 13:20-21).

ML-01/13/2002

Trapped in a Snow Storm

It had been snowing heavily all that Sunday morning. My family and I had been invited to my cousin Bob’s house for dinner. After the Sunday worship meeting, Bob took my two oldest children along with his two oldest in his car and started for his house. His family lived in a small town ten miles south of our city. We took Bob’s two youngest children and our youngest in our car but stopped off at home first to put a snow shovel in the car.

As soon as we drove out of the shelter of any buildings, I realized how serious conditions were. It was a whiteout! I couldn’t see beyond the car’s hood, and snowdrifts were forming across the road. I drove about two miles and then decided to turn the car around and go back home. I had to get out two or three times in the bitter cold to shovel the car out of drifts. We finally reached the safety of our home but little realized that we would not know where our loved ones were in the other car from noon until 6:00 the next morning. We simply had to pray to the Lord for their safety. Isaiah 32:2 was our comfort: “A man [the Lord Jesus] shall be as a hiding place from the wind, and a covert [shelter] from the tempest [storm].”

Bob’s wife, Mary, had to stay home that day, so you can imagine the worried phone calls between us all afternoon and evening. In small towns, people often go out of their way to help one another. Mary finally called a state trooper friend who rounded up a big front-end loader and two snowplows. They started at midnight, digging their way toward the city, through the sub-zero, howling blizzard. Finally, at 6:00 the next morning, they came upon a group of forty cars stuck in large drifts. Among them was Bob’s car, and all were safe and warm inside.

We were so grateful to Bob for his care of our children and to our Lord Jesus who watched over their safety. We were thankful that Bob also had a full tank of gas. This permitted him to run the car’s motor and heater from time to time to keep them all warm.

A few travelers stranded in the snow that night ran out of gas. Some perished in their cold cars, and some left their cars and perished in the snow. They remind us of the five foolish virgins in Matthew 25 who had no oil in their lamps. They were not true Christians, cleansed from their sins; they were pretending Christians. When the call came to meet the bridegroom, who is like Jesus, the door was shut, and they were left outside to perish in their sins. Do you believe the Lord Jesus Christ died on the cross to bear your sins? or will you be left behind to perish in your sins?

A rescue team was sent out to those lost in the storm, and God has sent His beloved Son to rescue sinners from perishing in their sins. “God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life” (John 3:16). When God’s Son was born into this world, the angel proclaimed: “Thou shalt call His name Jesus, for He shall save His people from their sins” (Matthew 1:21). In Luke 19:10, Jesus proclaims, “The Son of Man is come to seek and to save that which was lost.”

How thankful and happy we were to hold our dear rescued children in our arms again. I’ve often thought that when the Lord Jesus calls us away and all the saved are caught up to the Father’s house in heaven, safe from the awful storm of God’s judgment on this wicked world, how sad it will be if some of our loved ones are left behind to perish in their sins. “How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation?” (Hebrews 2:3). “The preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God” (1 Corinthians 1:18).

ML-01/20/2002

The Forbidden Book

Julian was not a little boy. He was an adult man with good muscular arms and strong legs. But he would never be as tall as a normal man, for Julian was a dwarf. However, he was a normal man in every other way.

There was a lot that little Julian did not know, but one thing he knew for sure - that the Lord Jesus loved him, had died for him and had satisfied his heart.

Perhaps some of you may know the song:

“Now none but Christ can satisfy,

None other name for me!

There’s love and life and lasting joy,

Lord Jesus, found in Thee!”

Julian did not know the words of that song, but he knew the fact that Christ can satisfy, and perhaps in this he was wiser than you are.

How could Julian spread this good news? It was a dangerous thing to do, because he lived in a country where the penalty for telling others about any other than the country’s religion was imprisonment and death. And Julian knew this well. He had good reason to stay at home and love his Saviour in secret. But inside his heart was the pressing power of God’s love.

Julian packed up some bright fabrics and set out as a traveling salesman. His secret was well hidden inside rolls of beautiful cloth and lace. These beautiful goods opened doors to Julian, even in homes which were specially built for people of a religious order. In these homes, he spread out his pretty things for sale and, among them, the forbidden book! Sometimes he showed them just a few pages, but they were looked at with gasps of delight and fear.

What book could this be? What book has caused more delight and more hatred than any other book on earth? Of course, it was the Bible - the written Word of God! But it was only talked about in whispers, for no one must believe any but the country’s religion. It was a deep religion with some truth in it, but never telling of God’s offer of the forgiveness of sins or the powerful knowledge of Christ Himself.

Julian’s customers admired his pretty things, and he made some sales. Some of them dared to buy his hidden book, but they wondered why he was risking his freedom and his life to bring this treasure to them.

“Why do you do it, Julian? Don’t you know that someday they will catch you and throw you into the dungeon? Why do you risk your life?”

And he answered, “For the joy of bringing bread to the hungry and water to the perishing!”

I wonder if you understand what Julian meant - that Christ Himself is bread for the hungry and that without Him you are perishing forever. Christ is most truly the bread of life and the living water, and no religion will ever supply this for you. No religion will ever take away one sin. It is only Jesus who can take away your sins. It is Jesus Himself who died for you and rose again and is coming back. It is our joy to tell you this truth from Julian’s hidden book - the Bible.

Little Julian was captured after all, and he was soon with Jesus. I think Julian might have said as Paul did, “That I may know Him, and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings” (Philippians 3:10). Yes, Julian is with Jesus now, and his body in the grave will be raised and made new, and he will spend eternity with Jesus forever. Will you?

“Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life: he that cometh to Me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on Me shall never thirst” (John 6:35).

ML-01/27/2002

Acorns in Concrete

“Get your trowel and check the new concrete at the bottom of the steps,” Grandpa called out to me from the house. It had been a busy day of pouring concrete. The steps had been one of the last things we had worked on.

When I looked at the steps, I saw that a patch of the new, wet concrete had been all dug up. As I smoothed out the spot again, my trowel uncovered an acorn. Digging around with the point of the trowel, I found four of them!

When I told Grandpa about it, he laughed and said that he had seen Mr. Squirrel digging in the new concrete. That is why he had asked me to check the steps. Mr. Squirrel had found the soft concrete, busily dug holes in it, and then buried his acorns.

As I smoothed out the concrete, I thought about what was probably going to happen. Mr. Squirrel would return during the winter and find the concrete as hard as rock. He thought he had found a good hiding place, but he had buried his acorn treasures in the wrong place. It was a place where he would never find them again, even if I had not dug them out.

There is a lesson for us to learn from Mr. Squirrel. The Lord Jesus said, “Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth . . . but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven” (Matthew 6:19-20). Many people are storing their treasures in the wrong place. They only worry about “treasures” for themselves in this life. They work hard for food, clothing, cars, houses and other things which are necessary, and it is right to work for those needs. But they become so concerned about these things that they do not think about God and the treasures that He wants us to have.

Where are your treasures? Are they in heaven because you have accepted the Lord Jesus Christ as your Saviour? Or are they only on earth because you are still a sinner lost in your sins? Think about it—Where are your treasures?

“Christ; in whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge” (Colossians 2:23).

ML-01/27/2002

Stuck in an Underwater Cave

The sparkling blue water of the Bermuda bay lay before me. I was here with other young Christians for a week of gospel outreach, and we had the afternoon off to swim. The water was warm and relaxing.

Suddenly, my friend’s head popped up in the waves. “Hey, Scott,” Steve called, “what are you doing over there?”

“Just snorkeling around,” I answered.

“You have to come check out what I just found by these rocks . . . an underwater cave!”

Now, I loved the water and I loved snorkeling, but an underwater cave didn’t sound too safe to me.

“Are you sure you can make it out?”

“Oh yeah, I’ve gone through twice now. Come on, check it out!”

Steve was pretty sure that it was safe, and so I started to consider it. He was a bigger guy than I was, so I knew that if he fit through all the passageways, I would too. But I had one more question.

“How long does the swim take if you go straight through it?” I asked.

“I don’t know; let me check for you.”

Steve waded down the beach and disappeared underwater. I stood in the sun and water and studied where he had disappeared. Checking out the cave did sound like fun. I had always wanted to explore some new place. As a runner, I could hold my breath for over three minutes, so I knew that it would take a pretty long underwater swim to make me say no.

Steve’s head broke the surface, and with a grin he called to me, “Two minutes and seventeen seconds to get down there and through it.”

Knowing that I had almost a minute of extra time if something unexpected happened, I ran over to join Steve. He pointed out the spot where we would go underwater and where we would come out on the other side. He said that he would lead, and all I would have to do was follow him through.

We plunged the ten feet down to the silence and dim light of the cave under the sea. For the first few turns, all I did was follow Steve’s flippers through the rocky maze. But then . . .

It wasn’t a very narrow passage that caused the problem; what caused it was my brushing too close to the wall and my shorts got snagged on an outcropping. Knowing that I couldn’t tell Steve to slow down, I reached back as quickly as I could and unsnagged myself. But I wasn’t fast enough. When I looked up, Steve was gone!

I tried to tell myself, Okay, this can’t be that bad. . . . The way out is probably just around that cor-ner. . . . After all, Steve did this alone.

I couldn’t turn around to go back the way I came in, so I glided into the next passage and turned in the direction that I thought I should go.

Back on the beach, I hadn’t thought about the disaster that awaited one wrong underwater turn. God’s Word, the Bible, tells us very plainly what is ahead for sinners. Because of our sins, each of us has already made that “wrong turn,” whether or not we want to face the truth. “There is a way which seemeth right unto a man; but the end thereof are the ways of death” (Proverbs 14:12). God has a path in life that we are to take if we want to live with Him in heaven. Each of us must admit that we are a sinner, repent of our sins, and let the Lord Jesus remove those sins. If we think that a path of sins won’t matter to God or that trying to be as good as we can will satisfy Him, our wrong turn of sin will end in disaster!

And there in that underwater cave, I was about to discover the frightening outcome of my wrong turn. The turn I took brought me into a large chamber with light filtering down through an opening at the top. That must be the way out up there, I thought.

I swam toward the surface, eager to get some fresh air and be done with this little adventure. But the opening that was letting light in was not big enough to be my exit! However, hoping I could squeeze through it, I put my head and arms through—and got stuck!

I was so close to safety . . . yet so far away. I knew I was in serious trouble, and I couldn’t hold my breath much longer. I thrashed around, trying to get free, trying not to panic, and began to pray in earnest. The coral that I was stuck in had slashed my rib cage and shoulders, and the pain was making the situation worse. All I could do was pray: Lord, I know that I’m saved from my sins. I know that if I die I will be in heaven with Thee. But, Lord, I don’t want to die right now. Please do with me whatever is best.

And that’s the last thing I remember before everything went black. Next thing I knew I was at the surface of the water next to Steve. He excitedly turned to me.

“How did you like it?”

“Steve,” I said, “I got stuck in there! How did I get out?”

Steve was puzzled. “Stuck? What happened? Hey man, you’re bleeding!”

“Yeah, I need these coral cuts taken care of. Let’s go in to shore.”

Steve hadn’t been aware that I had nearly died in that cave, but I knew full well what had happened. I had taken a wrong turn, called on the Lord, and the Lord had saved my life. Thank you, Lord, I prayed.

The Lord wants to save us from the wrong turn of our sins. He wants to show us the right way. He loves us and He cares. After all, He died on the cross so that He could save us from our sins!

Thirty years later, I still have coral scars all over my chest and shoulders, reminding me that taking a wrong turn can lead to death. But it also reminds me that the Lord can save not only physically, like He saved my life that day, but He first wants to save our souls.

“Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners” (1 Timothy 1:15). “Who His own self bare our sins in His own body on the tree” (1 Peter 2:24).

ML-02/03/2002

A Valid Passport

My neighbor Mrs. Anderson was excited. Her son had just bought her a ticket to fly to Guyana, a country in South America. She had a sister living there who was ill. She would be leaving in a week, with very little time to prepare. I helped her get some gifts for the relatives and children down there whom she would be visiting. When the day came, she was all ready with gifts for everyone.

The next evening I had a phone call from Mrs. Anderson. “Where are you?” I asked excitedly, thinking she must be calling from Guyana. “I’m at home,” she said rather sadly. And then I heard the story.

Mrs. Anderson’s son had picked her up around 6:00 in the morning and taken her to the airport where they got in line to check in. When her turn came, the attendant took her ticket and passport.

“This passport has expired,” he said.

Mrs. Anderson and her son looked at each other and then at the passport. “I didn’t know it had expired,” Mrs. Anderson said. “And I never thought to check it,” her son added.

“Well, I am sorry, but you cannot leave the country without a valid passport” was the short answer.

And so, for all her hopes, plans and efforts, Mrs. Anderson was turned away because the most important document, her passport, was no longer good. What a disappointment!

However, a disappointment like that will be small compared to what will happen when many people stand before God after this life on earth is over. These people might plan to tell God of all their hard work and how they have done the best they could, but all of it will be worthless if they do not have a valid “passport” to heaven. Jesus said, “No man cometh unto the Father, but by Me” (John 14:6). Peter told the religious leaders, “Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved” (Acts 4:12).

God has made the passport to heaven easy to receive. In fact, He offers it to everyone as a gift: “By grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God: not of works, lest any man should boast” (Ephesians 2:89). Have you received this gift?

My neighbor took the earliest opportunity to try to renew her passport. She made her way into the busy city and went to the Passport Office. There, to her dismay, were people out front, holding signs announcing that the Passport Office was on strike. This meant she could not get a valid passport. Again, she returned home disappointed. She would have to go back in a few weeks to try again.

But there will be no second chance for those who stand unprepared before God. All excuses will be worthless. Only the passport of faith in the Lord Jesus opens the way to heaven.

Thank God there is a passport waiting for you if you will accept His offer of forgiveness of sins. And that offer still stands today, for God does not go on strike. Hear what the Bible says: “Seek ye the Lord while He may be found, call ye upon Him while He is near: let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the Lord, and He will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon” (Isaiah 55:67).

Be sure you have a valid passport to heaven, for the Bible also tells us, “Now is the accepted time. . . . Now is the day of salvation” (2 Corinthians 6:2). Once you have received it, you will not be turned away at heaven’s door.

ML-02/10/2002

Strange Tracks

Have you ever seen animal tracks in the snow? Maybe your cat or dog has made tracks all over the yard, and you recognized that they were your pet’s tracks. Tracks certainly do reveal that an animal has been walking around. Recognizing your pet’s tracks is one thing, but not recognizing the tracks can be a little scary and can be a warning to “beware”!

Lots of cats had been missing in one part of our city. Everyone was told not to leave their cats outside, because there were bobcats roaming around. Since there was deep snow in the woodlands, animals such as bobcats were forced to hunt for food in populated areas.

One morning we saw strange tracks in the snow in our back yard. The tracks came right to our back step! We phoned the animal control number and explained what the tracks looked like. The officer there knew immediately that they were the tracks of a bobcat. This meant that a bobcat had been lurking in our backyard, looking for a victim to catch!

The Bible warns us about Satan, our enemy, doing the same thing. First Peter 5:8 warns us to “be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour.” But those of us who have accepted the Lord Jesus as our Saviour can ask Him for protection from our enemy. “Whoso putteth his trust in the Lord shall be safe” (Proverbs 29:25).

In the spring when the snow started to melt, do you know what melted last in our yard? It was those tracks made by the bobcat! Sin leaves its mark, and the result of sin lasts a long time, just like those bobcat tracks. But if we will come to the Lord Jesus and tell Him what we’ve done, He gives us a promise in Hebrews 8:12: “[Your] sins and [your] iniquities will I remember no more.” God does not remember them, if we are one of His children and they are confessed to Him.

ML-02/10/2002

A Letter From Gramma and Grampa: The Duck and Her Babies

Dear Children,

Just a short note from Gramma and Grampa! Sorry we haven’t written to you for a while, but it has been a real busy time for both of us.

This year we had many wild ducks and geese in the creek behind our house. We made sure that we fed them each day, and the parents always brought their families to the feeding area for Gramma and me to see. Then when the right time came in the fall, they all flew south, just as God has said in His Word!

I want to tell you a story about a mother duck who brought her eight babies into the city and almost lost all of them.

Mr. Petersen was walking along the sidewalk in Vancouver. On his left side was a creek, and on his right side was the road. He was rather surprised to see a duck come waddling up beside him, quacking away, and more surprised when it grabbed his pant leg. He shook the duck off and continued walking, but he kept his eye on the duck to see what it would do next.

The duck waddled away just a short distance and sat down on the grate of a storm sewer. Then, to Mr. Petersen’s surprise, the duck came back and grabbed him by the pant leg again! Quacking, the duck then waddled off and sat down on the same sewer grate.

Mr. Petersen thought to himself, I better have a look at this. He walked over to where the duck was sitting. The duck moved over so that he could see down through the grate into the sewer. Sure enough, in the water below, eight pairs of eyes from eight baby ducklings were looking up at him! Momma duck, not understanding the ways of city life, had led her babies right over the grate of the storm sewer. Being so tiny, they fell right through, with no way to get out.

Mr. Petersen decided he would just have to rescue those babies! He immediately called the police, and three of them came and removed the grate and very gently picked up the eight baby ducks, one at a time.

When Momma duck had her eight babies safely out of danger, she turned and, with her family behind her, waddled off down the grassy bank into the creek and swam away.

Mr. Petersen and the three policemen must have been very kind people to show such interest in this duck. Gramma and I got to thinking how kind our God and Father in heaven was to give His only Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, to die for our sins on a cross at Calvary. That mother duck couldn’t say thanks to the kind men who rescued her babies, but we can sure say thanks to God for giving His Son to die for us!

We sometimes sing together in Sunday school:

Thank you, Lord, for saving my soul;

Thank you, Lord, for making me whole;

Thank you, Lord, for giving to me

Thy great salvation so full and free!

Gramma and I hope that everyone who reads this letter will “believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved” (Acts 16:31).

We love you all,

Gramma & Grampa

ML-02/17/2002

The New Minibike

When Christopher was 14, he saved up enough money to buy himself a new minibike. He liked to ride it and he often asked me, his mother, if I would like to try it out. I wasn’t very eager, but one summer day there were about a dozen young people at our place, and they were taking turns riding the minibike. Christopher insisted, “Come on, Mom. You take a turn too.”

Now I was used to riding my pedal bike. The brake on my bike was a hand lever right up by the handle grip, so when I squeezed tightly on this brake lever, the bike would stop quickly. But the minibike was altogether different-it was just the opposite. Right beside the handle grip was the lever that controlled the gas, so when you squeezed that lever you went faster instead of stopping.

Becoming a Christian is just the opposite of our old way of life too. First Corinthians 15:22 tells us, “As in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.” In Colossians 3:910, it tells us that when we have become a Christian by accepting the Lord Jesus as our Saviour, we “have put off the old man [old nature] with his deeds; and have put on the new man [new nature], which is renewed in knowledge after the image of Him that created him.”

I hopped on the minibike. As long as I stayed on the driveway things went pretty smoothly, but when I started to ride out across the field, the going got a lot rougher. I got scared, so I automatically squeezed what would have been the brake lever on my bike. The minibike speeded up and started flying over boulders, mowing down saplings, shooting down little hills and over potholes. The faster I went - the tighter I squeezed; the tighter I squeezed - the faster I went!

The young people watching me were having a good laugh at my expense. I was beginning to think things over. You can’t ride a minibike the same way you ride a bicycle, and that’s the way it is in life too. When we become a Christian, our whole way of life is changed. Romans 6:13-14 tells us, “Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God. For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace.”

As I realized the change I needed to make in the handling of the minibike, I let go of my grip on the gas lever . . . and gradually came to a stop.

We need to let go of our hold on our lives too and let God control them. “Our conversation [way of life] is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ: who . . . is able even to subdue all things unto Himself ” (Philippians 3:20-21).

“If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new” (2 Corinthians 5:17).

ML-02/17/2002

Packy, the Donkey

“Dad, can I have a donkey?”

my daughter Sue asked.

“What did you say?” I asked.

“A donkey. A friend I have done some work for has this old jenny who just gave birth to a colt, and he said I could have it.”

I knew Sue had always wanted a horse, but we couldn’t afford one. However, a free donkey was another thing. “Where will you keep it?” I asked.

She was ready for this question. “I talked to the chief of police, and he told me that I could keep a donkey in town if I keep its place clean and no one complains. We found some plywood and two-by-fours left over from a construction job, so we can build a little barn for it . . . please Dad?”

So we built a small barn and a fence, and Sue brought the donkey colt home. We were introduced to a cute, funny-looking animal. He looked like a stuffed toy - all legs and ears with light gray fuzz and not much bigger than a large dog. She named him Packy. As he adapted to his new surroundings, he became quite a character. His bray sounded like a bagpipe stuck on two notes, and he could be heard two blocks away - in Sue’s classroom at school. This brought giggles from her classmates.

When Packy grew old enough, Sue started to train him to be ridden. She started by putting her arms across his back and gradually increasing her body’s weight on him. But when she finally got up on his back, she found him stubborn, kicking and bucking -until he bucked her off.

Take a moment to think of the contrast. The Lord Jesus, as the king of Israel, rode a wild donkey colt which was completely submissive to Him - the Creator. Nobody had ever ridden on this donkey before, and it probably didn’t have even the amount of training that Packy had been given. You can read about this donkey in Mark 11:1-10.

By continued patience, Sue finally was able to ride Packy. She also had a small, pet monkey which she would place on Packy’s neck. It would ride on Packy’s head, holding onto his ears, much to the amusement of those passing by.

When Sue moved out to a farm, Packy was given a large pasture to graze in. But he wasn’t satisfied and became too smart for his own good. He learned to lift the latch on the gate and sneak out into the cornfield. Sue fixed the latch so he couldn’t get out again. At least she thought she had . . .

One night, past midnight, Sue was awakened by a banging on her door. It was a truck driver who told her he had just hit her donkey. Packy had been trotting down the middle of the road, and the driver had not seen him until it was too late.

Sue found Packy lying on his side, suffering. She held his head in her lap until an animal doctor arrived. Packy’s life could not be saved, he told Sue.

A Bible verse says, “Vain man would be wise, though man be born like a wild ass’s colt” (Job 11:12). This verse tells us how God sees us, born in sin, stubborn and going our own willful way. “All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on Him the iniquity [sins] of us all” (Isaiah 53:6).

Sue’s little donkey was safe in his pasture, with food and shelter and the love of his owner, but he paid the price of his willful ways. It cost him his life. The same will happen to any of us who overlook God’s love and the shelter He has provided in the Lord Jesus. God sent His only Son, the Lord Jesus, to die on Calvary’s cross. He took the punishment for sin so that you and I could be sheltered from the punishment we deserve. But for any who continue to ignore God’s love and shelter and choose to go their own willful way, the end result will be everlasting punishment in the awful place God calls hell. “He that believeth on Him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God” (John 3:18).

Don’t be a Packy. Accept God’s love and the shelter He has provided in the Lord Jesus. “God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have everlasting life” (John 3:16).

ML-02/24/2002

The Best Umbrella

The story is told of Queen Elizabeth who, tiring of the hustle and bustle of Buckingham Palace, asked her chauffeur one day to drive her out to the country. She would take a walk and he would come pick her up later. The Queen dressed like an ordinary person so no one would know who she was.

As she walked alone and enjoyed the peace and quietness of the countryside, the wind picked up and it started to rain. Knocking on a humble cottage door, the Queen asked if she could borrow an umbrella.

The woman who answered the door had two umbrellas, an old one and a very nice new one. She gave the stranger her old umbrella. After all, who knew if the woman would ever return it?

The next day the woman who owned the cottage was surprised to see a limousine drive up and stop outside her home. She peered out between the curtains, greatly puzzled as to why the chauffeur would be coming up the walk to her front door. When the man handed her the old umbrella he said, “The Queen wishes me to return your umbrella.” The woman cried out in dismay, “Oh, if only I had known who she was, I would have given her my best!”

This woman had a chance to do her Queen a service, to lend her an umbrella when she needed one. But she had given the Queen her old, tattered umbrella instead of her best one! She hadn’t realized who she was! And do we do the same to our Saviour, the King of kings and Lord of lords? Do we give him only five quick minutes of our time each day when we could make more time for Him? Or do we give Him no time at all? Do we stop to think who He is? “His name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace” (Isaiah 9:6).

Do we love possessions or time-consuming interests more than we love Him? These modern-day idols can get a hold on us, and we let them take His place in our lives.

Psalm 69:20 tells us about the Lord Jesus in His time of greatest trial: “I looked for some to take pity, but there was none; and for comforters, but I found none.” Also Psalm 102:7 says, “I watch, and am as a sparrow alone upon the housetop.” The Lord took Peter, James and John with Him to the Garden of Gethsemane, but they fell asleep while He was agonizing in prayer over what He was about to go through for them and for us - bearing the punishment for our sins.

Let’s make Him happy by giving Him our best. He deserves our love and devotion, our time and energy. After all, every good thing that we have comes from Him. “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights” (James 1:17). “God, who giveth us richly all things to enjoy” (1 Timothy 6:17).

Have you given Him your best today?

ML-03/03/2002

Scissors, Hair, and Glue

“Benjamin, what is happening to your hair?” his concerned mother asked one day at lunch. Though his hair seemed to look okay, tufts were falling out and landing on the table and on the floor.

Benjamin is a very active five-year-old who wants to be a surgeon someday and finds scissors to be a most interesting tool. He cut off lots of his sister’s pretty hair awhile ago, much to his parents’ displeasure. This time he had used the scissors on his own head. Perhaps he was a bit surprised to find such a large clump of hair in his hand, which he had cut off right from the top of his head where it was very noticeable. So he set to work, and by the time he sat down for lunch, he had fixed the problem . . . or so he thought.

Being a smart little boy, Benjamin had glued the hair he had cut off right back in place on his head, and it was so very well placed that it didn’t look like anything had happened. But either he hadn’t used enough glue or some of the hair had missed being glued, because little tufts of hair were coming loose and falling down onto the table and floor.

I suppose his parents were thankful that it was a problem a trip to the barber could take care of, and Benjamin was taken to the barber that very day. His head was completely shaved.

We may laugh at Benjamin for trying to cover up what he had done. But are you perhaps doing the same thing, only with something far more serious than hair? The Bible says, “He that covereth his sin shall not prosper” (Proverbs 28:13). Each person able to understand this story has sinned, because the Bible tells us that “all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). Because God is righteous and holy, He cannot permit even one sin to enter that wonderful place where He lives. Wouldn’t you like to live in heaven someday where you can see the glory of God? Of course you would. But what about all those sins on your record? They will keep you out!

Because God loves you so much, He has provided the answer for you. He sent the Lord Jesus to Calvary’s cross to take the full punishment for every one of your sins, if you will accept Him as your Saviour. The Lord Jesus died on that cross so that the way is open for each one of us to be accepted into heaven without our sins. The Bible says Jesus came to “put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself ” (Hebrews 9:26). That was a big price for Him to pay, wasn’t it? And do you know why He did it? Because He loves sinners!

Benjamin tried, but he couldn’t hide from his mother what he had done to his hair. And you can’t hide your sins from God. The rest of Proverbs 28:13 says, “Whoso confesseth and forsaketh them [sins] shall have mercy.” God offers you mercy if you will confess to Him that you are a sinner and believe that His Son, the Lord Jesus, took the punishment for your sins on Calvary’s cross. When you accept God’s mercy, He wipes your record clean, and the way into heaven is then opened for you!

Have you accepted His mercy?

ML-03/10/2002

Gorilla on the Loose

At night, Evelyn the gorilla was locked up in her cage. During the day she was allowed to go outside into the gorilla yard which was surrounded by a brick wall on three sides and steel bars in the front.

Each day hundreds of visitors came to the zoo. Evelyn would watch them as they passed by. They could walk away, but because of the bars and walls she could not. Maybe it was boredom that made her want to walk down that sidewalk and see what was around the corner.

One day, Evelyn saw Leonel, her gorilla friend, standing by the wall. She walked over to him, climbed up his back, stood on his shoulders, grabbed the top of the 12foot wall, and pulled herself over. She was free! Now it was her turn to stroll down the sidewalk.

She saw people running away from her in every direction. She didn’t know why. She was just wandering around, investigating whatever she came across.

But news of a 200pound gorilla loose in the zoo grounds travels pretty fast. Evelyn had been free only about 45 minutes when a zookeeper shot her with a tranquilizer dart. Seconds later she fell asleep. Then they could put her back in her cage unharmed.

The brick wall was built several inches higher on the side where she had escaped before Evelyn was allowed to return to the yard. But the day she was allowed back outside, it happened all over again. Leonel, as if he had been asked, stood beside the other brick wall while Evelyn climbed to his shoulders and scrambled over that wall. She had a second little trip of freedom which ended just like the first one had.

After her second breakout, Evelyn was kept in her night cage until workers could raise the entire wall several more inches. Now it is doubtful that she will be able to escape again.

Freedom is very precious, and no one should take it for granted. True freedom comes from knowing Jesus Christ, God’s Son: “If the Son therefore shall make you free, [you] shall be free indeed” (John 8:36).

So that we might enjoy true freedom, “the Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world” (1 John 4:14). Because the Lord Jesus went to the cross and died in the sinner’s place, God can give eternal life to every person who believes on His Son.

Will you believe on the Lord Jesus today? Because of your sins, you will never be truly free and happy in this life without Him. Don’t let pride become high walls and steel bars between you and the Lord Jesus Christ. He will give you not only freedom, but peace and happiness, if you’ll only come to Him. “Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free” (John 8:32).

ML-03/10/2002

Akia

Akia is the new bloodhound dog that was purchased by the county sheriff’s department to help in searching for people. When the dog arrived, it had no name, so the sheriff asked for help in naming the dog. Fifty-five people gave suggestions before the dog’s handler picked the name “Akia.”

When police are searching for a person who is lost or has committed a crime, the amazing bloodhound is their best friend. A bloodhound’s sense of smell is far stronger than the average dog’s and is many, many times stronger than a human being’s. A bloodhound can follow a foot scent, even shortly after a rain, or, in a crowd of people, it can follow the body scent of one individual person. And once a bloodhound is given a scent, the dog is unshakable in tracking that scent.

A bloodhound’s nose is equipped with nearly two feet of a special, sensory membrane. The wrinkled, velvety skin on its face and ears also helps collect the scent of skin cells people leave behind. So we can understand why the sheriff was happy to have Akia as a helper.

As outstanding as the bloodhound is in finding people, this dog does not even compare with how unshakable and loving God is in seeking people who are lost in their sins. God’s love for lost souls is deeper than ours ever will be or can be. In Luke 15:45, we read of the loving Shepherd, the Lord Jesus, seeking for one lost sheep. The lost sheep in this parable is a sinner who is lost in sin and needs a Saviour to find him. Can lost sheep help themselves? No, they can’t. So the Shepherd must go out to find them.

The good Shepherd cares for the sheep and loves them, so He searches everywhere, until the last one is found. Then He carries it home on His shoulders.

The Lord Jesus is looking for you, a lost sheep. Has He found you? “The Son of Man is come to seek and to save that which was lost” (Luke 19:10). Do you know the Lord Jesus as your Saviour? If you do, Jesus says, “I say unto you, that likewise joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that [repents]” (Luke 15:7).

ML-03/17/2002

What's a Sinner?

Rob and his sister Mary were trying to memorize 1 Timothy 1:15 - “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.” They were stumbling over the word “sinners,” so their Sunday school teacher asked if they knew what a sinner is. They didn’t know, so she asked them some questions to help them understand.

“See if you can answer these questions honestly,” she said to them. “Have you ever told a lie?”

They both said “no.”

“Have you ever said ‘no’ to your mother?”

They both said “no.”

“Have you ever hit your brother or sister?”

“Yes!” said Rob. “She said she would give me the prettiest piece of candy, and then she gave me the ugliest!”

Then Mary also answered, “Yes. I hit him because he hit me!”

Their teacher tried to explain that getting angry and hitting were sins, because they are wrong. And people who do these wrong things are sinners. Our sins need to be washed away with the blood of Jesus so we can live in heaven with Jesus someday. “Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow” (Psalm 51:7). “The blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin” (1 John 1:7).

A week later Rob and Mary were sitting in Sunday school again when the teacher asked, “What is a sinner?” Right away Mary looked at Rob and Rob poked Mary instead of pointing at themselves! Mary knew Rob was a sinner and Rob knew Mary was a sinner, but neither of them wanted to admit their own guilt.

You might smile at this story, but are you doing the same thing? Do you think that just because you haven’t killed or stolen or done something really, really seriously wrong that you’re not a sinner? Are you pointing at someone who you think is worse than you are and forgetting that the Bible says, “All have sinned, and come short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23)?

Please be very honest with yourself. Admit that you are a sinner, and let Jesus be your Lord and Saviour today. He will give you a heart washed clean from sin that wants to please Him. “Who His own self bare our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed” (1 Peter 2:24).

ML-03/17/2002

Sarge's Trip to the Vet

Sergeant Tibbs took up his position by the window and watched as Danny, his little master, walked down the long driveway to the school bus. He would be sitting there again when Danny walked back up the driveway after school. He liked Danny because he often petted him or scratched his ears.

Sarge, as he was called, led a good life for a cat. When he wasn’t sitting on somebody’s lap getting his ears scratched or his back petted, he was out hunting chipmunks or birds in the fields and woods all around his home. One day, however, his easy cat life had a sudden interruption! That was the day he had to go to the veterinarian.

Danny was assigned the job of holding Sarge in the car while they drove to the vet’s office. When the car door closed, Sarge became uneasy and wanted to get down, but Danny held onto him. Then when the car started to move, Sarge suddenly clawed his way off Danny’s lap and dove under the seat. He stayed there for the whole ten-mile ride. The poor cat was terrified! When they pulled into the parking lot and one of the car doors was opened, Sarge shot out and ran away before anyone could catch him.

The cat had never been to the vet’s office before, so the whole neighborhood was new to him. All the houses and streets were different, and there were dogs around that he certainly would not want to meet. Poor Sarge only wanted to go home, and poor Danny loved his cat and wanted him back.

You and I are like Sarge. Our sins have separated us from God, and so we are lost from God. But the Bible also tells us that God loves you and me and wants us back. He sent His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, purposely to find and save us. “The Son of Man is come to seek and to save that which was lost” (Luke 19:10).

Danny was so sad. His parents drove around and asked people if they had seen a black and white cat, but no one had. Danny finally gave up hope of ever seeing his cat again.

One night three or four days later when the family got home from shopping and got out of the car, Danny heard a cat meowing. He was sure it couldn’t be his cat, but out of the bushes came a much thinner Sergeant Tibbs! How he found his way back home is hard to say. We know that God has given some animals the ability to find their way, and some have traveled even greater distances than ten miles. You may be sure that both Danny and his cat were delighted to be together again.

The Lord Jesus wants to take you home to heaven where He is. He says in John 14:2, “In My Father’s house are many mansions. . . . I go to prepare a place for you.” How can we be sure we are going to heaven to be with Him? We certainly can’t go there with our sins, and we can’t get rid of them by ourselves. The answer is in John 14:6: “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by Me.” Each of us needs to come to the Lord Jesus and let Him wash our sins away. It isn’t hard to come to Him, even though we can’t see Him. Just bow your head and tell Him you are a sinner and want to be saved from your sins and the punishment you deserve. He promises to cleanse you from every sin, and He will be so glad to have you back! “There is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth” (Luke 15:10).

ML-03/24/2002

What Do You Have That You Can't Lose?

That is a hard question, isn’t it? Perhaps you are thinking about money in the bank, or maybe about your strength and energy, or maybe some medals you have won. These are good things to have, but they are not for keeps!

The captain had a very shiny brass teapot, but it was not shiny enough to suit him. The cabin boy was told to polish it, which he did most carefully, resting it on the ship’s rail to give it the final shine. That was the moment when the ship gave a sudden lurch.

“Captain,” he cried, “your brass teapot is at the bottom of the sea!”

You have probably lost some treasures too, and some of them hurt a lot, more than the loss of a brass teapot. Maybe you have lost someone you loved dearly. Maybe you have lost your strength and energy. Or maybe the medals you have won are just an empty memory.

A very gifted scientist spent about two years writing down his discoveries for publication. The day he finished was the day his little dog made a false move, and his whole studio went up in flames! The dog was rescued. “Oh, Diamond, Diamond,” cried the scientist. “You have no idea what damage you have done!”

What do you have that you can’t lose?

Is there any treasure that cannot be lost? Paul had one. He tells us about it in a letter which is 2000 years old, and he has not lost his treasure yet. He says that he has “the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.” Then he adds, “We have this treasure in earthen vessels [here on earth], that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us” (2 Corinthians 4:67).

Paul’s body has now returned to dust, but God knows exactly where that dust is, and He will raise it up again. Right now, Paul is absent from his body of dust and present with the Lord, and he still has his treasure. His treasure is for keeps!

And this treasure can be yours too. It is the wonderful good news of Christ who is the image of God—not an image for your hands to touch, but Christ Himself-the Son of God who shows you all that God really is and what He will be forever!

Will you claim the Lord Jesus Christ as your very own Saviour and treasure right now—for keeps - forever?

ML-03/24/2002

The Salvation Train

We have just returned from a five-thousand-mile, round-trip train ride to visit friends and relatives. Our return arrival was twenty hours late. This was due to an accident of a westbound passenger train that passed our eastbound train in the night. The westbound train had gone about a hundred miles past us when it sideswiped the back of a freight train that was pulling into a siding. A few people were hurt in that accident, but even though it didn’t involve our train, we were held up several hours for security reasons. Then later that afternoon, we passed several freight cars that had derailed as the result of a track washout four days earlier.

All this brought me back to my boyhood days, remembering the railroad track behind our house. Those were the days of the big, bellowing steam locomotives. They were fueled by coal, shoveled into the boiler by a “fireman,” and smoke would belch from the stack as the engineer pulled on the throttle to pick up speed. The locomotive’s large drive wheels were turned by long piston rods that clanked as they moved back and forth.

Modern trains have sealed wheel bearings, but the freight cars in those days had journal boxes filled with grease next to each wheel. If the journal box ran dry, then what was called a “hot box” developed, and the wheel would burn off of its axle! This was the cause of two train wrecks in five years and within three blocks of our house. In each case, a “hot box” caused a wheel to fall off, and the crippled car caused the cars behind it to pile up on top of it.

When my father went on a business trip back then, he traveled by car or train. On one particular train trip, I went to the station to pick him up, but the train didn’t show up. The ticket agent said that the train had been wrecked about forty miles away, but he had no details. I drove home, praying to the Lord for my father’s safety. Soon a taxi drove up, and my father got out, safe and sound. He told us that his train was made up of the locomotive, two baggage cars and the passenger car he was in at the end. He said, “I felt a hard jolt, and the car stopped. I got up and walked to the front of the car, and I could see all the way down the tracks! There was that big locomotive and the baggage cars, lying on their sides alongside the track.” He learned that a pickup truck had pulled in front of the engine and had gotten caught under the cow catcher and wheels, derailing the front part of the train.

Each of us is on one of two trains that travel in opposite directions. One is called “The Salvation Train,” and its destination is heaven. It can never derail, for the Lord Jesus said, “My sheep . . . shall never perish” (John 10:2728). The fare for this train has already been paid! It is a gift from God, because He sent His only Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, who paid the price when He died on the cross. “Who His own self bare our sins in His own body on the tree” (1 Peter 2:24). All that is required for you to come aboard this train is to admit that you are a sinner and believe in your heart that Jesus died for your sins.

The other train is called “The Destruction Train,” and its destination is in the wreckage of hell fire. It is a long train, filled with those people who have ignored God’s love and rejected Jesus’ death on the cross as their fare to heaven. Satan is the conductor on this train, and he is attracting men, women and children by offering them the “riches and pleasures of this life” (Luke 8:14).

Won’t you accept the Lord Jesus as your Saviour now and come aboard “The Salvation Train” while there is still time? This train will be leaving soon, for the Lord Jesus is coming anytime to take home to heaven all who are on “The Salvation Train.” The “all aboard” announcement has already been given. Are you on board?

ML-03/31/2002

One Little Match

One little match can start a big fire, but Mike wasn’t worried about that. He just wanted to start a little fire, one he could sit by and enjoy in the pine forest near his house. He had used up at least a couple of packs of matches trying to start the fire before his mother caught him. He was reaching up into the little blue jar on the fireplace mantle to get another pack when she walked into the living room.

Deciding to find out what he had been doing with the matches, she discovered a large pile of pine needles that he was trying to burn. Thankfully, in gathering the pine needles, he had also gathered some wet pine needles and dirt. That was why the pile wouldn’t burn, which probably prevented the whole pine forest from going up in flames.

Matches are like sin. One little match could have started a fire that might have burned down the whole pine forest, and one little sin can start a bad habit that could ruin your whole life. The Lord Jesus not only wants to save you from your sins and the punishment you deserve in hell, but also from the terribly destructive power of sin in your life right now. If you have already trusted Jesus as your Saviour but have allowed some sin in your life, tell Him about it. He promises that “if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9).

ML-03/31/2002

My Advocate

Do you know what an advocate is? It is a person who defends you or speaks up for you. A lawyer is an advocate. This story will help you understand the meaning.

I had to walk past a house in our area very often where the people owned a large red setter dog. They loved their dog and often boasted about how gentle and kind he was. However, that dog showed a different side when I or others passed by and the owners were not present. The dog came forward, snarling viciously, and he would bite my heels when he could sneak behind me. I complained to the owners about this dog and suggested that he really should be tied up. Of course, this was news to them, and as they looked at their lovely dog, they refused to believe what I had told them.

One evening, these people held a party, and a friend who knew me well was invited. During the evening, the dog owners began to talk about what I had said concerning their dog. They criticized and accused me of making up this story when everyone could see that their dog was such a gentle creature.

But I had an advocate in that house, someone to take my side and speak up for me. This was my friend. She told everyone there that I would never make up a story like that. She said that I had often looked after her dog and had no fear of dogs. If I said their dog was acting viciously, they should look into it and check it out. The dog owners listened and followed her advice, and so my friend cleared my name before the other guests.

When my friend told me about this incident, I thought about Christ, who is the advocate for those who belong to Him. The Bible tells us that “we have an advocate with the Father [God], Jesus Christ the righteous” (1 John 2:1). When we accept Him as our Saviour, we become part of the family of God, and Jesus will speak on our behalf even if we sin, because we belong to Him. In Him we are righteous before God. He sees us in Jesus, pure and clean from sin. Only those who belong to Jesus have Him as their Advocate with the Father. Jesus was the only perfect man who ever lived and the only One who could become “the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.” A children’s hymn says:

There was no other good enough

To pay the price of sin;

He only could unlock the gate

Of heaven and let us in.

If you know you need a Saviour and accept the Lord Jesus as the One whom God has provided to save you, then you too will belong to the family of God. Jesus Christ will be your Advocate with the Father.

ML-04/07/2002

A Letter From Gramma and Grampa: The Wolf

Dear Children,

I thought I had better write a short letter to you and let you know what happened to Gramma and me a few nights ago.

This was 9:30 at night. It was very cold, and the moon and stars were shining on a brand new blanket of beautiful white snow. The trees were casting their shadows on the snow from the bright moon. Gramma and I put on our warm clothes and went out for a walk. Even the dog was excited to go with us. She always enjoys chasing any rabbits that are close by.

We were walking down the driveway when I spotted something about sixty feet ahead of us. I thought it was a shadow, but then I realized there were no trees in this area. So we just stopped and looked. Gramma couldn’t quite make out what this object was, but I could see a perfect outline of it against the snow. It was a wolf! It was just sitting very still and quiet, and it was watching us!

Afterwards, I got to thinking about what Hagar said to God in Genesis 16:13. She said, “Thou God seest me.” How very true! And this wolf probably saw us from the time we left the house!

Children, do you ever get the feeling that someone is watching you? especially when you are doing something wrong or have told a lie? Sure you do, and so do I. Do you know who that Someone is? It is God! We sing in Sunday school,

He sees what we do,

And He hears what we say;

My Lord is watching all the time.

And God isn’t just watching; He is writing too. I wonder how big a book God has written about you and all your sins.

Want to know something? There is only one way you can get rid of what’s written in that book, and that is through what 1 John 1:7 tells us: “The blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin.” The moment we trust the Lord Jesus Christ as our Saviour, our sins are gone forever! He blots them out of His book: “I have blotted out, as a thick cloud, thy transgressions, and, as a cloud, thy sins” (Isaiah 44:22).

I trusted the Lord Jesus Christ as my Saviour in 1945, and I have been ready for heaven ever since, because my sins are blotted out!

Are you asking, “What about the wolf, Grampa? What about the wolf?”

Gramma whispered to me, “What is it?”

I replied quietly, “It’s a wolf.”

Wow! I wasn’t ready for what happened next. She screamed ever so loud! And that wolf took off like an arrow across the snow. Boy, did it run! It just melted away in the moonlight. And the dog? She didn’t even see it. She was busy chasing rabbits.

Bye bye for now, children.

We love you all,

Gramma & Grampa

ML-04/07/2002

Runaway Kangaroo

One night in Rome, Italy, a runaway kangaroo caused quite a commotion. People parked their cars along the streets to watch the animal. It was an unusual sight in Rome, and they didn’t know where it had come from.

If they were attracted by the kangaroo, he was even more attracted by the headlights of the cars. He would hop along, pause in front of a car with his nose close to the headlights and cock his head to one side. He almost seemed to be trying to figure out the invention of the light bulb for a few seconds. Then he would hop along to inspect the next car’s headlights.

The people in the cars found it quite amusing as they watched the comical figure of the kangaroo peering into the bright beams of the car lights. They didn’t know that thousands of kangaroos die every year in Australia as they leap into oncoming traffic, attracted by the headlights.

Their laughing came to a sudden end as a sports car came speeding around the corner. Just that quickly, the kangaroo hopped out in front of the car, attracted by the headlights. The sports car could not stop in time.

The poor kangaroo was rushed to the animal doctor at the Rome Zoo. Sad to say, the animal doctor could not save its life. One more kangaroo’s attraction to headlights had proved fatal.

It was the kangaroo’s attraction to car headlights that caused him to be hit by a car. We all know children and grown-ups who are so attracted to the pastimes of this life—sports, amusements, hobbies and other things—that they never take time to think about death and where they will spend eternity.

Have you ever thought seriously about death and eternity? The Bible teaches the truth, that those who are truly sorry about their sins and accept the Lord Jesus Christ as their own Saviour will spend eternity with Him in heaven. But those who find no time for Him and refuse His offer of forgiveness will be sent into everlasting punishment.

Don’t let the attractions of this world keep you from coming to the Lord Jesus, the Saviour of sinners. He loves you very much and wants to save you from your sins. The Bible says, “Him that cometh to Me [Jesus] I will in no wise cast out” (John 6:37), and, “He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him” (John 3:36).

ML-04/14/2002

Word Pictures

Larry is six years old, and he is learning to read. When I was visiting him not long ago, I saw a grocery ad on his table and picked it up. “Here, Larry, I think you can learn some of these words,” I told him. I pointed to a word that had a picture beside it and he told me the word was “bananas.” He was right! The picture helped him understand what the letters said. He also learned “tomatoes” and “grapefruit” when I pointed to them. Then I saw another word that he could learn, and I told him that word was “Texas,” but there was no picture with it.

This short reading lesson reminded me that God has filled His Word, the Bible, with word pictures. The Lord Jesus used many of them when He was here to help us understand who He is. The Lord Jesus Christ is the eternal Son of God. This means that He has always been the Son of God and He always will be. When He came down from heaven to live on the earth, He became a man, even though He was still God. He knew this would be very hard for us to understand, so He gave us lots of word pictures to help us. He loves boys and girls and grown-ups too, so He wants us to know Him.

Do you know what bread is and what it is for? Of course you do! It’s something to eat when we are hungry. The Lord Jesus tells us in the sixth chapter of John, “I am the living bread which came down from heaven” that “a man may eat thereof, and not die.”

Do you know what light does? I know that you do. It helps us to see. In John 8:12, Jesus says, “I am the light of the world: he that followeth Me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.”

Do you know what a door is? Jesus says in John 10:9, “I am the door: by Me if any man enter in, he shall be saved.”

The Lord Jesus uses these everyday things which we all understand to help us learn about Him. He loves us and wants us to love Him, so He tells us these things about Himself.

The pictures helped Larry understand what the letters said. But when it came to the word “Texas” that didn’t have a picture, Larry had to trust me when I told him that “texas” spelled Texas. You and I can understand more about the Lord Jesus by the word pictures He has given us. And this helps us to also trust and believe Him when He tells us that He wants to save us from our sins and then live with Him in heaven once our life here on earth is over.

“What must I do to be saved? . . . Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved” (Acts 16:30-31).

ML-04/21/2002

Close Calls

I was invited by a Christian trucker to ride along with him in his truck from Ontario, Canada, to Atlanta, Georgia, and back. Imagine driving a truck that is so long it needs 18 tires and a 450-horsepower engine to make it run and powerful air brakes to make it stop! Sid has to be a very careful and alert driver, and this is why: On the way home we saw three close calls with 4wheelers (cars).

The first close call was in Atlanta when a slow-moving car pulled onto the freeway directly in front of us! A little later as we drove down a hill, two cars tried to pass our truck at the same time and very nearly collided right beside the truck! The third close call happened closer to home when a foolish driver was swerving dangerously and almost hit the truck in front of us! Sid told me he often sees drivers taking chances like these as he travels around the country - close calls!

I thought of the many close calls that each of us has in life. Are you taking chances with the Lord Jesus Christ? Have you only thought about believing that the Lord Jesus died on the cross for you? Have you only thought about accepting Him as your own Saviour? If you have heard the wondrous story of His love for you and have only thought about accepting His free offer of salvation, you are taking a terrible chance. If you die before accepting Him as your Saviour, you will spend eternity without Christ in that awful place called hell. You don’t have to take that chance, because the Lord Jesus Christ has provided a safe road to heaven for you. But to get onto that safe road, you have to pass a checkpoint, the cross of Christ. If you will accept the Lord Jesus Christ as your Saviour and believe in your heart that He shed His blood on that cross to wash away your sins, you will be on the safe road to heaven. No more chances; no more close calls!

Don’t neglect the free offer of salvation. “How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation?” (Hebrews 2:3). Don’t allow a close call to become a tragedy!

“God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life” (John 3:16).

ML-04/21/2002

The City of Safety

In the Mediterranean Sea off the east coast of Spain is an island called Mallorca. It is the largest of a group of islands owned by Spain and has an interesting history, as well as a delightful climate and beautiful scenery.

One of the many interesting things about the island is a series of stone towers which look like smoke stacks all along the shoreline. They are close enough together that each tower can be seen by the next one in line. In this way every bend of the shoreline can be watched from one of the towers.

These tall structures were built hundreds of years ago when pirates cruised the Mediterranean, looking for easy victims. Before the towers were built, the pirates would come ashore, often killing, robbing and kidnapping whenever they caught the islanders off guard.

Along with the towers, the people built a city on the north side of the island with a wall around it. This was called the “city of refuge.” This provided a safe place for the islanders to escape from the pirates.

When an unfriendly ship came into sight, its course was closely watched from tower to tower, using lanterns. If it came into shore, an alarm was sounded. Everyone who heard the alarm ran for safety with their loved ones and all they could carry to the “city of refuge” with the wall around it.

Boys and girls, Satan, just like those pirates, is looking for easy victims. But God has sent His watchmen, gospel preachers, to warn you to escape to a place of safety. “The name of the Lord is a strong tower: the righteous [wise] runneth into it, and is safe” (Proverbs 18:10). The alarm has been sounded! Have you escaped to the only safe place? Are you safe in Christ?

Those who waited too long to run to the city of safety on Mallorca were killed or carried away captive, never to be heard from again. And those who wait too long to run to the Lord Jesus for safety will be lost forever. The Bible says, “Now is the day of salvation” (2 Corinthians 6:2), and, “There is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved” (Acts 4:12).

Won’t you run to Jesus right now?

ML-04/28/2002

The "Phantom" Squirrel

The phone rang, and when I picked it up an urgent, young voice on the other end said, “Grampa, there’s a squirrel in our house, and Janie and I are here alone! Mother and Dad are out shopping.”

“Are you sure it’s in the house?” I asked.

“Yes! We saw it coming down the stairs, and when it saw us, it ran back up the stairs!” explained Ellen.

“Well, shut yourselves in a room, and I’ll come right out,” I reassured her.

I drove the eight miles out to my son’s house, and when I got there I was greeted by two wide-eyed girls - Ellen and her younger sister Janie. So we three began our search, going from room to room. We started in the bedrooms and ended in the basement, but there was no squirrel to be found. If there really was a squirrel in the house, it was well hidden.

You know, boys and girls, we have a hidden enemy whose name is Satan. He is a liar and tempter, and he never stops trying to lead us into sin. Jesus, the Son of God, came down from His Father’s side in heaven and became a man to conquer Satan. Jesus had to die and then rise from the dead in order to conquer him. Hebrews 2:14 tell us “that through death He [Jesus] might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil.” Jesus was willing to come to earth for this purpose, because He loves you and wants to free you from being Satan’s captive.

And because I loved my granddaughters and they were frightened, I stayed with them until their parents came home. We told them about the “phantom” squirrel.

Later that evening, relatives, including young cousins, arrived for a birthday party. When someone closed the drapes in one of the bedrooms, the “phantom” squirrel suddenly jumped down from its hiding place behind the drapes. What a wild commotion erupted! The children screamed, the parents shouted, and the squirrel fled down the stairs! Around and around the living room, dining room and kitchen the squirrel raced, with the men right behind it. It even ran across the table, just missing the birthday cake.

Finally, my son dropped a laundry basket upside down over the squirrel and scooted the basket out the door and set the squirrel free. How frightened that little animal must have been as it frantically ran away from those who were trying to capture it. The squirrel did not know that those chasing it only wanted to give it freedom.

God is a God of love, and He sent His Son down here into this world to go to Calvary’s cross where He suffered and died for us. He rose from the grave, conquering Satan, which opens the way for each one who will trust Jesus to be set free from being Satan’s captive. Jesus said in John 8:32, “[You] shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”

Just as that squirrel ran away from all efforts to save him, many of us don’t realize we are captives to sin and Satan and on the road to a lost eternity. “All have sinned, and come short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). Many of us are still running away from God’s efforts to save us from sin and Satan.

Today, Jesus Christ is holding open His arms of love and saying, “Come unto Me, all ye that labor [captive in your sins] and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28). Won’t you receive Jesus as your Saviour today and be forever free from your sins?

“If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed” (John 8:36).

ML-04/28/2002

The Name of Jesus

Back in the days when horse-drawn wagons were the only way to travel, horses were as valuable as cars are today. Because they were valuable, robbers made a practice of stealing horses.

Big John was the leader of a band of robbers who roamed the roads and stole not only the horses, but also the goods of farmers going to town. Everyone was afraid of Big John and his cruel band of robbers.

One afternoon, Big John ambushed a logger on his way to market to sell his logs. Big John was pleased with the large load of logs he was about to steal along with the man’s horses. He was very rough in removing the logger from his wagon, and the poor logger was terribly upset.

“Please, please, have mercy!” the man begged. “Please leave me just one of my horses!”

Big John refused. “Silence!” he ordered.

“Please, mister, just one horse. In the name of Jesus, let me keep one horse!”

The name of Jesus! This grabbed Big John’s attention, and he stood still for a moment . . . but what do I care about that name! he quickly decided. And without looking back, he jumped onto the wagon, snapped the reins and took off - taking every last horse with him.

That night Big John could not sleep. The name of Jesus . . . the name of Jesus . . . the name . . . who is Jesus? He must be very powerful if His name was used to stop me! These thoughts ran through Big John’s head all that night until he dropped into a restless sleep.

In the morning, Big John felt no better. He knew that the occupation of stealing horses and wagons was a bad thing. And his thoughts were right, that it was Jesus who was trying to talk to him about it. He did not know how to find out about Jesus, but he did know what he should do about his stealing.

It was a very surprised sheriff who greeted Big John that morning. Big John was a known and feared robber, and no one ever expected to catch him.

“I’m coming to turn myself in,” Big John announced gruffly. “I’ve been stealing, and I’m sorry.”

Even though he turned himself in, that did not change the law that Big John had to pay the penalty for his wrongdoing. After his trial, he was sentenced to die and was taken back to his cell.

In that jail, it was usual for a preacher to visit each prisoner who was sentenced to die. Big John had never spoken to a preacher before, but now he was anxious to see one.

“Can you tell me who Jesus is?” Big John asked the visiting preacher.

The preacher was only too happy to tell Big John all he wanted to know about Jesus.

“All men are sinners,” the preacher began, “and they face eternal punishment for their sins. But God, who loves every sinner, provided a way for sinners to escape that punishment in hell. He sent His Son Jesus into the world as a man, and He lived a perfect, sinless life. But the people hated Jesus, and in their hatred they nailed Him to a cross to die. While on the cross, God punished His sinless Son for the sins of those who will come to Him for forgiveness. He was punished for every one of my sins, because I came to Him for the forgiveness He offers to anyone who will accept it.” The preacher paused and then asked the prisoner, “Would you like to come to Jesus and have Him forgive your sins, Big John?”

Big John decided to do just that. Right there in his prison cell he prayed, believing that Jesus had died on the cross to save him from his sins. No sin was too great to be forgiven.

Shortly after, Big John was put to death for his crimes. But he is now in heaven with Jesus, the One who promises forgiveness of sins to any sinner, big or small, who will come to Him.

“At the name of Jesus every knee should bow . . . and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord” (Philippians 2:10-11). “Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved” (Acts 4:12).

The name of Jesus is the greatest name on earth. Does it mean anything to you?

ML-05/05/2002

The Unsinkable Ship

Violet Jessop escaped death just by minutes as she got into one of the last lifeboats sent out from the sinking Titanic. When she was interviewed years later, she recalled the total indifference of everyone aboard the sinking ship. Known as “the unsinkable ship,” passengers and crew of the Titanic could not think otherwise, and even Violet herself hardly saw the need of getting into the lifeboat.

Violet, a stewardess, was urged for the second time by a male steward named Stanley to get into the lifeboat. She was straightening up her room and fulfilling her duties when Stanley, his face white with fear, urged her for the second time to go quickly. She remembers the band was playing a waltz to keep the passengers from panic. As she looked at the Titanic from the lifeboat, she relates how she counted the rows of lights on the boat. First there were six, then five, a short time later four, then three and finally two. She was horrified as she finally realized the boat was actually sinking!

And time for this world is also running out. “The coming of the Lord [draws] nigh” (James 5:8).

As Violet intently watched the Titanic with so many people still on board, she saw the big ship give a lurch forward and then it went down with a thundering roar of underwater explosions!

The good news of God’s grace is still being announced all over the world. But people are the same today as those who were on board the Titanic. They feel the world will go on and on just as it always has, and there will be plenty of time to prepare for their life after death. But this world is a “sinking ship,” and we have the warning: “It is time to seek the Lord” (Hosea 10:12).

People around us are so preoccupied with the fast pace of life, the entertainments, the newest technology and the economy that they have become indifferent to the Biblical warnings that they are on a “sinking ship.” How horrible to forget and neglect this important matter. “God speaketh once, yea twice, yet man perceiveth it not” (Job 33:14).

This world is sinking fast. Time is running out. “Prepare to meet thy God” (Amos 4:12).

“If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved” (Romans 10:9).

ML-05/12/2002

Will You Come?

Do you know how to say the word “zoo” in Spanish? Tommy didn’t, but he learned the word quickly one day.

“Let’s go to the zoo this afternoon,” we said to Tommy.

“Oh boy!” he exclaimed.

Our family lived in a small town in South America for a number of years, and once in a while for a special treat we drove to the big city to take our small children to the zoo.

“Mommy, how do you say ‘zoo’ in Spanish?” Tommy asked.

“Zoológico,” we said.

Tommy smiled and ran out the door as we got ready to go.

Just as we were ready to get into the jeep, three neighbor children, Yenny, Betania and José appeared. Their hair was combed. Their faces were washed. They had clean clothes on and big smiles on their faces. They looked like they were ready to go somewhere.

We hadn’t planned to invite anyone to go with us that day, but here were these three little friends all expecting to go somewhere. Suddenly we remembered that Tommy had asked us how to say the word “zoo” in Spanish! He must have run over to their house to invite them to go with us!

“Well,” we said, “would you like to go to the ‘zoológico’ with us?”

“Sí!” they all said together.

“You had better go ask your mother if you can go,” we said.

“We already have,” they answered quickly.

So we all climbed into the jeep, and instead of taking three children that day, we took six.

Tommy had been eager to invite his friends to go with us that day, but God is even more eagerly inviting you somewhere! God is inviting you to His wonderful home in heaven. He wants you there so much that He sent His Son, the Lord Jesus, into this world to die on the cross and pay for our sins so that we could go there. “God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life” (John 3:16).

Yenny, Betania and José were just as eager to go as Tommy was to invite them. All it took was one invitation, and they got ready fast! And this was just to go to a zoo. But God has invited you many, many times to go all the way to heaven! There is a street of gold up there, and we will have a wonderful supper with harps and singing. Wouldn’t you like to go? God says to you, “Come; for all things are now ready . . . and yet there is room” (Luke 14:17-22). God wants to have His house filled with boys and girls like you. Have you accepted His invitation? Are you ready to go? You can be. The Bible says, “Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved” (Romans 10:13).

Tommy only had to learn how to say “zoo” in Spanish in order to invite his friends that day, but the Lord Jesus had to suffer and die for our sins in order to invite us to heaven. Yenny, Betania and José only had to come that day -and that’s all you have to do too. Jesus said, “Come unto Me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28).

Will you come?

ML-05/12/2002

Cinder Wouldn't Heel

Cinder was a Dalmatian puppy with a spot on her nose that was in the shape of a heart. True to the heart-shaped spot, she turned out to be a loving companion.

After we picked out the puppy we wanted from the litter of squirming, spotted pups, the owner ran a little test for us. She put Cinder in a separate room, walked out of the room, and then called to her. The reason she did this is because some Dalmatian puppies are born deaf, and she wanted to be sure Cinder could hear. Cinder heard her call and came running.

How is your hearing? Have you heard and answered Christ’s call, “Come unto Me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden [with your sins], and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28)? Or are you deaf to His call?

While Cinder was still young, my wife took on the time-consuming job of boundary training her. If Cinder strayed beyond the boundary of our large yard, she would be scolded and told to “stay home.” Eventually Cinder learned her boundaries and didn’t have to be tied up. She could then wander about the yard in safety.

My wife then took her to obedience school and was discouraged that Cinder wouldn’t “heel” for her. The trainer said that possibly Cinder was too young. But one day we were walking in the grass beside a road when Cinder got too far ahead of us. I called in a loud voice, “Cinder, heel!” She wheeled around and came back and fell in place at my left side. She knew what “heel” meant all right, but she needed a stern voice to make her obey.

Those of us who belong to the Lord Jesus often want to go our own way, even when we know His Word tells us not to. Then He sometimes has to get our attention by using a stern voice to keep us walking in His way.

When I kissed my wife good-bye before going to work, Cinder would come stand on her hind legs and place her front paws gently on my chest, wanting her good-bye too. Every morning she would sniff my trousers, and if I had on my yard jeans, she would wag her tail. She knew I would be home with her that day.

When I rode my bicycle on our country roads, Cinder liked to run beside me. One warm afternoon we went about two miles, and on the way home I noticed she was running in the grass and limping badly. I stopped the bike and got down to examine her feet. To my dismay, I found the center pad on the bottom of each foot had a split in it. We went home slowly with her limping slowly and painfully. I thought I should bandage the wounds, but the animal doctor said to keep her quiet and leave the wounds open. This way Cinder could keep them clean by licking them. She limped around for several weeks, and the pads eventually healed up.

As I think about Cinder’s painful injury, I think of one who suffered far more terribly than this. Our Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ, said in Psalm 22:16, “They pierced My hands and My feet.” At His crucifixion, soldiers stretched Him out on a cross of wood and pounded big iron nails through His hands and feet. Then they lifted up that cross and dropped it into a hole. But it was in the three hours of darkness that He suffered the most, when God placed upon His perfect, sinless Son the sins of all who would accept Him as their Saviour. At the end of those three hours He cried out, “It is finished,” and He gave up His life. What love was told out on that cross—God’s love to us and Christ’s love to His Father and to us.

But the grave could not hold Him. He rose from the dead, and His disciples saw Him alive, and they saw the wounds from those nails in His hands and feet. All those who believe in Him will see those nail wounds in our blessed Lord when He takes us to heaven.

Will you be there to see them?

ML-05/19/2002

Destroyed With Fire

A few years ago we had the privilege of visiting the Hawaiian Islands. One of the things I think we shall always remember is the destruction caused by the volcanic eruptions of Mt. Kiluea not long before we arrived.

It is difficult to imagine rock heated so hot that it melts and flows like a raging flood, flowing as fast as 30 miles per hour, with fountains of lava spurting 1700 feet into the air. That’s as high as tall skyscrapers. But such can be the force of an eruption.

Among the ruins we saw places where houses once stood, the burned out tops of cars, and twisted steel gates. We could still feel the heat of the lava as we walked on top of it.

It reminded us of the Bible verses found in 2 Peter 3:9-12 which tell us of God’s final destruction of this earth. “The heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up,” and “all these things shall be dissolved.”

Yes, God is going to destroy the whole earth with fire because of the wickedness of sin. But God also tells us that He is “not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.”

What a loving God He is. He is grieved by sin and all the sorrow that it has caused and does cause. God is holy and cannot let it continue. He must punish sin and every person who will not accept the Lord Jesus as his or her substitute. Have you confessed to God that you are a sinner? He wants to save you from fiery judgment, so He sent His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, into the world to die for sinners. Yes, through Him is “the forgiveness of sins: and by Him all that believe are justified from all things” (Acts 13:38-39). But to those who will not repent and receive the Lord Jesus, God says, “Behold, ye despisers . . . and perish” (vs. 41).

What a wonderful God. Though He must punish sin, He loves the sinner and wants to save him. He can take away all your sins and save you from that terrible punishment. Won’t you believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and be saved?

“What must I do to be saved?” “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved” (Acts 16:30-31).

ML-05/19/2002

The Rich Man's Funeral

He was a very rich man, and he lived in an English village long ago. He was also a very selfish man. What did he care if the children were cold and hungry? His home was well-supplied and cozy, so why worry?

We have a Saviour whose home in heaven was more wonderful than words can tell, but He came to live among the poorest of us. He was born in a stable and often had no place to lay His head on a chilly night. “Though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor” (2 Corinthians 8:9).

Of course, the rich man in that village died, for he was a sinner, and “the wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23). The departure rate from this world is 100%. The poor people may have died early, and the rich man may have died late, but in that case he had more years and more sins. And “it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God” (Hebrews 10:31).

The men of the village gathered together to read the rich man’s will before planning the funeral. The whole thing left them shaking their puzzled heads and wondering what to do. The rich man’s will required that all his piled-up wealth must be spent on his funeral!

My Saviour died, not for His own sins, for He had none, but for mine. He gave up His life, and His spirit returned at once to the heavenly home of His Father. His body was lovingly wrapped and buried in a donated grave. We never could have planned this, but God did, because He loves us.

The men of that village came up with various plans, but each seemed impossible, until one man said, “I know! Let’s buy a set of warm clothes and a good dinner for everyone in the village, including a ride to the funeral.”

“Agreed!” they all cried.

And there was never such a joyous funeral in the history of the village. The ground was frozen hard, but there were no barefoot children, no frost-bitten fingers and no empty plates at dinnertime. Their warm clothes lasted for years, and the story of the rich man’s funeral was retold in every household. But there was no love given and none returned. The rich man’s bones are still buried, without a tombstone.

Our loving Saviour has no tombstone either. The stone which was sealed and guarded at His grave was rolled back by the angel’s hand. Why should He need a tombstone to mark the grave when He rose from the dead and He lives forever? He did not give us things that will wear out or rust, but rather He has blessed us with wonderful riches which can never decay and a home forever in His Father’s house in heaven. There was love in His death, and there is love in the hearts of us who know Him.

Is there love in your heart for Him too? If not, you do not know Him. “We love Him because He first loved us” (1 John 4:19).

ML-05/26/2002

Caught!

The little fish was so pretty as it dangled in the sunlight on the end of John’s fishing line. Its white underside was so very white, and its back glistened with a silvery sparkle. But that sparkle did not shine as brightly as the sparkle in John’s eyes! This was the second fish he had ever caught and the first one that Dad had said was big enough to keep and eat. He took it around to show everyone at the campsite.

The only thing spoiling the beauty of the little fish was the silvery hook through its mouth and coming out of its gill. The little fish was caught in such a way that there was no getting away. It was captured, just as each of us has been captured by sin. The end of this little fish appeared to be the campfire come suppertime. The end of you and me would be eternal punishment, except that a Deliverer has come and offered to free us from our sins. The little fish had no power to free itself from the hook, and we don’t have the power to free ourselves from sin.

Shortly after the delight of showing off his newly caught fish, a more quiet little boy than he had been earlier crept by my side to tell me that the little fish was free. It was fun to have caught the fish, and it may have been good to eat, but it was no fun for this tenderhearted boy to keep one of God’s creatures on a fishing line. John had let him go. The little fish was free to swim again. But maybe it was free only to be caught by another fisherman.

It was not so easy for the Lord Jesus Christ to set us free. “Our Lord Jesus Christ . . . gave Himself for our sins that He might deliver us” (Galatians 1:3-4). It was the hardest work that was ever done or will ever be done. His holy, spotless life was given, and His blood was spilt to free us from our sins. His work on Calvary’s cross will last forever. But what about John’s fish? John had no power to see to it that no other fisherman would catch his little prize. But when the Lord Jesus Christ took our place and broke the bonds that held us, the work was so wonderfully complete that we are forever His own prize. No one can take us from Him. He will never let us go. We are His forever. “He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life” (John 3:36).

Maybe you have never come to the Lord Jesus as a sinner, admitting you need to be freed from your sins. If not, why are you waiting? He never will turn away a boy or girl or man or woman who comes to Him. In the quietness of your heart, just tell Him that you are a sinner and want Him to be your Saviour.

If you have already let Him save you, just thank Him for the wonderful freedom He has given you and the gift of everlasting life. “If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed” (John 8:36).

ML-05/26/2002

The Snapping Turtle

One day last spring, an object lesson walked right into my yard. Do you know what an object lesson is? It’s something in nature or something that happens in this world that can teach all of us - boys and girls, and dads and moms too - an important lesson for our hearts.

So what was my object lesson? It was a turtle. It wasn’t the one- or two-inch type that you might buy at a store to take home for a pet. It wasn’t a larger box turtle or painted turtle either. This was a big female snapping turtle! Her shell was about fifteen inches across - bigger than the plates you use on your dinner table. She had crawled out of a nearby pond to find a spot where she could dig a hole to lay her eggs.

A snapping turtle is not very friendly; in fact, it’s not friendly at all. If you poke a stick at its head, it will snap at the stick with such speed and force that it can break the stick in two pieces. A snapping turtle is not the kind of a creature you want in your backyard. I was afraid that it might harm one of my dogs, so I decided that I should do away with the turtle. Once it was dead, I carried it on a shovel and laid it upside down on a pile of ashes where I had burned some brush a few days earlier.

Now I’d better tell you how this turtle is an object lesson. It is an object lesson of a very important, three-letter word - SIN.

First of all, snapping turtles are very, very ugly. And so is sin. The devil would like you to think that sin is pretty and fun and exciting. He is a liar, but the Bible speaks the truth all the time. It tells us about the hurt and pain that come from even just one sin, and it declares the awful end of each one of us who have sinned: “The soul that sinneth, it shall die” (Ezekiel 18:4).

The Bible does speak about “the pleasures of sin” (Hebrews 11:25). But it also faithfully warns us that the enjoyment that we might think we are going to get from doing a sin is only “for a season”- for a very short time. Sin never satisfies. It only makes us want more, and that’s how we get caught in its trap.

Several weeks later I had more brush burning to do. Guess what I found this time when I went to the pile of ashes: The turtle’s shell was full of millions of tiny worms called maggots that were feasting on its dead flesh. And did it ever smell horrible!

You know, if you want to sin, you have plenty of company in this world. Every boy and every girl is born with a sinful nature. Sooner or later, that sinful nature shows itself when we sin. “There is no difference: for all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:22-23). And sinners not only like to sin themselves, but they enjoy seeing others sin too. “Knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them” (Romans 1:32).

I did my brush burning. Some of the maggots were destroyed. But when the fire had died down, there was that turtle shell looking almost unharmed by the blaze. Then I saw something else that really amazed me: Inside that turtle shell were dozens of eggs. I counted over thirty of them, each the size of a large marble. If I had left that mother turtle alone, she would have dug a big hole in the ground, placed all those eggs in that hole, and covered them over with dirt. Several months later, those eggs would have hatched into many more snapping turtles.

That’s just how it is with sin. We often do one sin and then have to do another sin - such as lying - to cover up the first one. It’s a miserable picture, isn’t it? We don’t like to think so much about such a terrible subject as sin, do we? But if we ignore it, will it go away? No; absolutely not! It will only get worse, and in the end it will land us in that awful place called hell. “It is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment” (Hebrews 9:27).

Is there then no good news? Thank God, there is. His own beloved Son, the sinless Man Christ Jesus, suffered, bled and died on the cross at Calvary so that He could offer you the forgiveness of all your sins as a free gift. “The wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Romans 6:23). “The blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin” (1 John 1:7). “Through this man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins” (Acts 13:38).

Now it’s up to you. All you have to do is “believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved” (Acts 16:31). Don’t say “no” to the Saviour of sinners. Trust Him today. It’s the only way to know that your sins are gone and that you are ready to go to heaven.

ML-06/02/2002

The Runaway Train

“Hey, Jon. This is your boss from the freight train company. We have a runaway train that needs to be stopped! Can you help?”

It was a sunny spring day in the American Midwest, and the sight of a train traveling past fields and through towns surprised no one. But this was no ordinary train trip - this train had no engineer in the cab of the locomotive!

After the engineer had stepped out of the train in the rail yard that morning, the locomotive started up and pulled out of the yard by itself and picked up speed. By the time it was finally brought to a stop, factories had been evacuated, intersections had been closed, and crews of men had taken great risks to stop the runaway train.

Your life may look normal on the outside. You might even think your life is on the right track. But are you the only one guiding your life? Life is God-given and cannot be controlled by only a human without ending in disaster. Are you trying to run your own life? If so, that’s like a train with no engineer. It won’t work!

At one point, the train reached the speed of fifty-five miles an hour. This was so fast and dangerous that they had made an effort to derail the train away from a populated area. But that effort had failed, and the train sped on.

Jon had worked for the train company a long time and had never heard of anything like this! By the time his crew met the train, it had traveled seventy miles. Jon had been told that the train was carrying hazardous materials. He knew that if the train crashed, a lot of people could be hurt or killed. Another train coming from behind had been able to couple onto the runaway train and slow it down, and so Jon volunteered to try to leap aboard.

As the train swept past, Jon took a few quick steps, leaped up to the step and grabbed the railing with both hands. He was safely aboard! Once he got into the cab, he knew how to stop it.

Jon became somewhat of a hero in the newspapers for being willing to stop the runaway train. He knew that it was risky for him to jump aboard the train, but he wanted the train brought under control before it crashed and hurt anyone.

How about your life? Did you know that the Lord Jesus willingly died on Calvary’s cross so that you could be saved from your sins and live your life on the only track that leads to heaven? He will not forcefully take over your life; He wants you to let Him take over so that your life doesn’t end in disaster. Life is too important to let it be a “runaway” with no controls. The Bible says, “Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding” (Proverbs 3:5).

The runaway train had minor damage from the attempts to derail it. But a runaway life can have permanent damage. A life lived without the Lord Jesus’ saving power and guidance will end with eternal judgment.

Are you willing to let the Lord Jesus be the Engineer of your life and guide you safely to heaven at the end of your journey?

“Come unto Me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28).

ML-06/09/2002

A Plea for Mercy

It was early morning when Daddy drove the car over the back roads between Bedford, New York, and Torrington, Connecticut. The family was looking forward to visiting friends who lived in Torrington. Most of the way the speed limit was 55 miles per hour. Daddy kept the car right at that speed since they did not have time to spare if they were going to get there on time.

Suddenly, just as they came into a little town in Connecticut, Daddy saw flashing red lights behind them. He pulled over to the side of the road to let the police car pass, but, instead, it stopped right behind them. “Looks like he’s after me,” said Daddy as a very stern policeman came up to the car window.

“Let’s see your driver’s license and registration card,” ordered the policeman.

Three-year-old Kip stared wide-eyed at the policeman’s bright badge and the revolver in his holster. He had never seen anything like this, and here it was happening to his Daddy! Lana, who was almost five, watched soberly as the officer took Daddy’s cards and looked them over. The policeman told Daddy that he had been traveling 50 miles an hour in a 35 mile-per-hour zone, and he reached into his pocket for his book of tickets and a pen.

This was too much for little Lana. A flood of tears ran down her face as she looked up into the face of the stern policeman and sobbed, “Please don’t put my daddy in jail!” The officer’s stern look melted immediately into a smile. He put away his ticket book and then warned Daddy to be more careful in the future.

Daddy did not have to pay the fine for driving too fast. Lana’s tearful plea brought mercy to Daddy from the policeman. Mercy means not getting what we deserve. Daddy was guilty of driving faster than the speed limit, and he deserved a ticket. The policeman showed mercy to him for Lana’s sake.

It made Daddy think of the wonderful mercy that God has shown us. Everyone of us is a sinner and deserves to be shut out of heaven and punished for our sins. But God in mercy sent His beloved Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, to take the punishment on the cross of Calvary that we deserve.

Have you admitted to God that you are a sinner and deserve everlasting punishment for your sins? Have you accepted the Lord Jesus as your Saviour and thanked Him for taking the punishment you deserve? “God, who is rich in mercy, for His great love wherewith He loved us, even when we were dead in sins” (Ephesians 2:45).

ML-06/09/2002

Come and See

When you hear someone say, “Come and see,” do you come? I guess it depends on who says it. If it’s the right person, you probably come. This is a story about the time Jesus said, “Come and see,” and we can be sure He is the right Person!

There were two men standing with John, and it was the same day John saw Jesus walking and exclaimed, “Behold the Lamb of God!” This was very wonderful, because long ago the words were written, “God will provide Himself a lamb” (Genesis 22:8), and Jesus was God’s Lamb. He didn’t look like it, but He was.

Those two men left John and followed Jesus. Jesus turned and saw them following Him and asked them what they were looking for. They answered and asked Jesus where He lived. And Jesus answered them with those wonderful words, “Come and see.”

We don’t know the names of both of those two men who followed Jesus, but you could pretend it was you and your best friend. Would you come? Remember, it’s Jesus who is inviting you. Let me ask again, Would you come?

The two men both came. We don’t know the street or the house, but it doesn’t matter. We know that Jesus was there, and they must have been delighted, for they stayed all the rest of the day.

After that, Jesus invited Philip to “follow Me.” Philip was so delighted that he was off to share the news with his friend Nathanael. He told Nathanael, “We have found Him,” and then he explained to Nathanael that this was the same person that God had told them about in the Old Testament. It is “Jesus of Nazareth”!

Nathanael wasn’t so sure. It didn’t seem possible to him that a man from the town of Nazareth could be the “Promised One.” He said to Philip, “Can . . . any good thing come out of Nazareth?”

How are you going to argue with a man like that? Would you tell him that Nazareth is not really so bad after all? What would you say?

Philip gave Nathanael the best answer. He said, “Come and see.” And Nathanael came and saw Jesus, and Nathanael’s heart was truly satisfied as to who this person really was. He exclaimed, “Thou art the Son of God; Thou art the King of Israel” (John 1:49).

Do you see what happens when you “come and see”? Maybe you have a friend who is inviting you now to “come and see” Jesus -not to see His face, not to see a picture, not to see a big church building, but to come and see Jesus as God shows Him to us in the Bible. If you “come and see,” you will find that He will not disappoint you, and you can learn more about Him and His love for you every day.

“Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life: he that [comes] to Me shall never hunger; and he that [believes] on Me shall never thirst” (John 6:35). “Come unto Me: hear, and your soul shall live” (Isaiah 55:3).

Will you “come and see”?

ML-06/16/2002

Completely Helpless

Little raindrops were pattering against our windowpane and sliding down the glass to make a big puddle under our window. We had had a wet spring, first with melting snow and then with spring rains. But every day or so there was more rain. Now it seemed as though there was water everywhere.

Our sins are like that, often just little things. They don’t seem like much. But we soon have so many of them that they begin to weigh us down.

For days those little drops of rain kept falling and falling, until the creeks overflowed their banks. The rushing water knocked down trees and even washed away houses that were close to the water’s edge.

One day when there was a lull in the rain, we went out to see how things looked. A large tree had been uprooted by the swift water and lay across the creek, so we used it as a bridge. Our dog was following us. When we started over on the tree bridge, he jumped into the water, intending to swim across as he had often done before. But the current was too strong, and it swept him against the tree. He clawed at a branch, trying to get out, but the fast-moving water sucked him under. He popped up again and clawed at another branch. But again, the force of the water dragged him under the tree and debris that was caught in its branches.

You and I are completely helpless when it comes to our sins. It only takes one to keep us out of heaven, and we can’t remove even one, let alone the flood of them that each one of us has. Ephesians 2:1 describes us as being “dead in trespasses and sins.” They are dragging us under! King David felt the weight of his sins and prayed to God, “Deliver me out of the mire, and let me not sink” (Psalm 69:14). He turned to the right person - the only One who could save him. And you and I can do the very same.

But there was nothing we could do to save our dog in that dangerous, rushing water. Four times the poor dog went under, and four times he finally popped up again. Then the water pulled him past the tree completely, and he went bobbing down the rushing creek. Finally the water slammed him against the bank, and he was able to scramble out.

You and I have the Saviour we can turn to to save us. “Our Saviour Jesus Christ; who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem [save] us from all iniquity [sin]” (Titus 2:1314). He loves us and willingly died on Calvary’s cross, bearing the punishment for the sins of every person who will come to Him to be saved. “Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many” (Hebrews 9:28). Do you want to be included in the “many”? There is nothing you can do except to come to Him with your load of sins and let Him save you. Have you done that?

ML-06/16/2002

They Destroyed Their Own Home

Anyone who has done much gardening will tell you that they dread seeing a groundhog around their area. This brown, furry rodent, sometimes called a woodchuck, is about sixteen inches long and can soon ruin a garden. They love to eat cabbage, beans, lettuce and just about any vegetable that people like to grow. Using their sharp claws, they dig underground burrows with several rooms, and, as we found out, they can do a lot of damage just in their digging.

One year, we had an invasion of these pests. There were burrows everywhere. One groundhog dug his burrow right in my zucchini patch. I put a live trap at the entrance of his burrow and baited it with their favorite food, salted cabbage. Within two hours I had caught the critter.

Isn’t this what Satan did to Adam and Eve? He baited his trap with the forbidden fruit, and then made them doubt God’s warning. Satan argued, “Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?” (Genesis 3:1), and then he lied to them and said, “Ye shall not surely die” (Genesis 3:4). They believed the lie and ate the forbidden fruit. That first disobedience brought sin and death into the world. Satan is still baiting his traps today with all the possessions and pleasures of this world to entice men and women and boys and girls to doubt God’s Word which states, “Ye must be born again” (John 3:7).

One night that summer, we had a heavy rainfall. So much rain fell that it raised the level of the small lake in back of our house. But the next morning I looked out to see that the level of the lake had dropped four feet! I ran along the top of the dam until I came to a washout that was six feet deep and twelve feet long. The groundhogs had burrowed through the dam until they had reached the lake side. The combination of their burrowing, the raised water level and rain-softened soil had started water rushing through the opening with increasing speed, until it had washed out part of the dam.

At some expense, a contractor was hired to drive in metal pilings and fill up the opening with soil. But this did not solve the groundhog problem. We found a man who would rent us live traps, bait them, and, when a groundhog was caught, carry it out into the country to release it. All told, we caught nine groundhogs that year! Since then, I continue to check the dam face and surrounding areas for burrows and have caught two more groundhogs.

The groundhogs were so busy enlarging their burrow that they were unaware of the danger that they were creating. They had weakened the dam, and in a few moments, they and their homes were washed away!

The days that we are living in are filled with violence and evil, much the same as the days before the flood. When the Lord was here, He warned of judgment yet to fall on this world: “As it was in the days of [Noah], so shall it be also in the days of the Son of Man. They did eat, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage, until the day that [Noah] entered into the ark, and the flood came, and destroyed them all” (Luke 17:26-27).

Today people are so busy striving for larger homes and more money and pleasure that they have no time for the gospel of the grace of God which proclaims, “Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures; and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures” (1 Corinthians 15:34). “The blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin” (1 John 1:7). Luke 3:7 warns, “Flee from the wrath to come.”

What about you? Have you taken refuge in the precious blood of Jesus? or will you be destroyed in the coming judgment?

ML-06/23/2002

A Sunbeam

Caleb’s grandparents were visiting, and Caleb and his brothers loved to have them come. They had such good times together when Grandpa and Grandma came. Grandpa heard the children singing, “Jesus wants me for a sunbeam.”

Do you know that song? It goes like this . . .

Jesus wants me for a sunbeam

To shine for Him each day;

In every way try to please Him,

At home, at school, at play.

And the chorus goes this way . . .

A sunbeam, a sunbeam,

Jesus wants me for a sunbeam;

A sunbeam, a sunbeam,

I’ll be a sunbeam for Him.

But one day Caleb was unhappy, and that day he was NOT a sunbeam. His Grandpa said, “Caleb, I promised you children a treat, but I can’t give a treat to you when I see you acting that way. I heard you singing, ‘I’ll be a sunbeam for Him.’ But you aren’t a sunbeam today.”

And, boys and girls, the Lord Jesus wants us to be sunbeams to shine for Him every day of our lives. How can we shine for Him? By being kind and loving in the things we do and say, just as He was kind and loving to everyone. That is just like a ray of sunshine on a dark, cloudy day. How glad we are to see the sunshine when it has been dark and gloomy. It cheers us up, doesn’t it? If you love the Lord Jesus and He has washed your sins away, you can be a sunbeam for Him because you love Him. Do you know why you love Him? The Bible tells us why: “We love Him, because He first loved us” (1 John 4:19). And when we think about how much He has done for us, we will want to do all we can for Him and shine for Him. Then the Lord Jesus will be pleased, we will be happy, and others around us may want to know about Him.

ML-06/23/2002

Worthless Gold

Do you think there is such a thing as worthless gold? We all know that gold is one of the most valuable metals on earth, so how could it possibly be worthless? This story is about an occasion when gold proved to have no value at all, and human lives being saved was the only thing that mattered.

In 1859, the steamship Central America was on her way from Panama to New York. The ship carried nearly six hundred passengers, all carrying gold that they had gotten during the California Gold Rush and were taking home to enjoy.

About two hundred miles off the North Carolina coast, a terrible storm came up, and a leak developed in the steamship. In spite of all hands bailing and pumping, the steamship began to fill with water. After several days, it eventually keeled over and sank 8000 feet to the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean. Over four hundred people’s lives were lost along with twenty-one tons of California gold.

In 1989, one hundred thirty years later, a group of very determined divers found the ship and recovered the gold. It was described as “the greatest treasure ever found; the ultimate rescue from the ultimate peril.”

However, at the time when the passengers’ lives were in terrible danger and the ship was about to sink, the gold was worthless to the passengers who owned it. Two women shook $11,000 in gold onto the floor, announcing that anyone could take as much as they wanted. One man ripped open a bag of gold dust worth about $20,000 and strewed it on the cabin floor like sand. Others flung the shining gold coins across the floor, telling everyone to help themselves. But no one did. Some, as in a daze, tossed gold coins to the wind. Purses filled with gold lay untouched. However, there were those unwilling to part with their hard-earned gold. They tied it in their clothing or stuffed it in coat pockets. But the gold became too heavy later when they were trying to keep afloat in the ocean, and they had to let it go. Hundreds of thousands of dollars in gold were thrown away and sank to the ocean bottom.

Can you guess what the people were fighting for among themselves instead? They were battling for the boards that were breaking up from the ship, the doors, boxes, life preservers -anything that might keep them afloat with the hope of being rescued. Passengers were crying to God and committing themselves to His will. As the steamship sank, they realized that eternity loomed before them, and they knew then that there was something far more important to them than gold - where they would spend eternity.

Because we are separated from God by our sins, our souls are in danger of being lost and separated from God for all eternity. The Lord Jesus died on the cross of Calvary more than two thousand years ago. He gave His life to die in our place, providing “the ultimate rescue from the ultimate peril.” His death opened the way for rescue, “that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life” (John 3:16). He was the “Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world” (John 1:29). Now our part is to come to Him, confessing that we cannot save ourselves and that we desperately need a Saviour. God will cleanse us from all our sins, because we have come to Him in the way He provided for us.

Without help from somewhere else, no one from that sinking ship could have survived the cold ocean water. Another ship saw the distress signals in the terrible storm and came alongside to rescue those who were still able to get into the lifeboats.

Calling on the Lord Jesus to save us is our distress signal. Then He becomes our lifeboat and promises to carry us safely to His home in heaven to spend eternity with Him. Having our sins forgiven and the assurance of a home in heaven is absolutely “the greatest treasure ever found.”

Oh, yes, oh, yes,

there’s something more,

Something more than gold:

To know your sins are all forgiven

Is something more than gold.

ML-06/30/2002

A Precious Gift

Jeff and Ed had been neighbors for seven years. They had talked together in their backyards and had become good friends as they helped remodel each other’s basements. Occasionally they baby-sat each other’s children.

Not long ago, Jeff learned that he had a kidney disease, and it developed rapidly. The treatments the doctors were giving him weren’t helping, and Jeff was loosing ground. In December, the doctors had to tell him that he soon would die . . . unless they could find a donor kidney. That was his only hope.

What would you do if you had a life-threatening disease? Maybe at this point you feel you’re in the clear. Not so fast. What about the life-threatening disease called “sin”? Yes, you have it. God tells us in His Word that “all have sinned” (Romans 3:23). And the results? “The wages of sin is death” - eternal judgment.

Are you going to just let it go and not worry about the results? Or, on the other hand, maybe you’re trying everything you can think of to help yourself - doing your best to be honest and fair, helping your fellowman, giving money to your church and maybe even to a charity or two. The Bible, God’s written authority, says you’re losing ground. Being saved from your sins is not accomplished by anything you can do. “By grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: not of works, lest any man should boast” (Ephesians 2:89). You are at the same point that Jeff was. Jeff ’s only hope was IF they could find a volunteer willing to donate a kidney whose blood type matched his. There is hope for you too, and it involves blood - not yours - but a Volunteer’s.

One by one, all of Jeff ’s family went in to be tested to see if one of them could donate a kidney for Jeff, and one by one they were all rejected when not one of them matched Jeff ’s blood type. The possibility of a transplant didn’t look good now that Jeff ’s relatives were ruled out.

Neighbor Ed heard about Jeff ’s need and volunteered to be tested.

A few days later Jeff ’s phone rang. It was Ed. “What do you think?” Ed asked, thinking Jeff had already heard.

“What are you talking about?” asked Jeff.

“My test results,” said Ed. “Everything’s a go. The doctor can schedule it for March 5.”

Jeff started to cry. What a precious gift! And from a neighbor, a good friend who was volunteering to step in to save his life at a great cost to himself !

Another precious gift is available to save you from your disease of sin. Another Volunteer, the Lord Jesus Christ, went to Calvary’s cross at the greatest possible cost to Himself. There He died for you and shed His blood so that you could be washed clean of all your sin. “The blood of Jesus Christ [God’s] Son [cleanses] us from all sin” (1 John 1:7). You may receive that precious gift right now - no need to schedule it for a future date.

March 5 came, and the surgeries went well for both men. That evening Ed hobbled into Jeff ’s hospital room pushing an IV pole. When Jeff caught sight of Ed, he sobbed and grasped his neighbor’s hand. “I love you,” he told Ed.

“I love you,” Ed told Jeff, and he was crying too.

Jeff had gratefully and thankfully received the precious gift of life from his friend. Now it’s your turn. Will you do the same with that precious gift of eternal life the Lord Jesus has for you? He loves you and is waiting for you to say “yes.” “The wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Romans 6:23).

“Thanks be unto God for His unspeakable gift” (2 Corinthians 9:15), the precious gift of eternal life.

ML-07/07/2002

AM. 4:12

A kind dairy farmer told the local grade school teacher that he would be glad to show the children around his farm if she would like to bring her class there on a school field trip. The teacher appreciated his offer, and it wasn’t long before the children came to visit the dairy farm.

Of course, the children had lots of questions about the cows and the barns and the milking machines. Someone also asked about the big sign on the barn wall. It read:

“ Prepare to meet thy God” AM. 4:12

“Oh, yes,” the farmer said. “The Lord is coming soon, and we must be ready to meet Him. If we are still in our sins, we will not be ready. But God has sent His Son Jesus to die for us on Calvary’s cross. If you tell Him you are sorry you’ve been naughty and want Him to forgive you, you will be saved. Then you will be ready to meet Him when He comes.”

After one little boy went home that afternoon, he told his mother, “I’ve got to get saved before I go to bed tonight.”

“Why do you have to be saved tonight?” his mother asked.

“Well, the farmer said Jesus is coming soon, and on the wall in the barn it said, ‘Prepare to meet thy God,’ AM. 4:12, and I never wake up that early, so I need to be saved before I go to sleep.”

You may smile at the child’s mistake in thinking that the “AM” on the sign meant “morning,” when really it is the abbreviation for Amos, the book in the Old Testament where the verse is written. But the little boy knew this was something he should not put off. He was going to look after the most important thing in life right away.

What about you?

“Behold, NOW is the accepted time; behold, NOW is the day of salvation” (2 Corinthians 6:2). “The blood of Jesus Christ His [God’s] Son cleanseth us from all sin” (1 John 1:7).

ML-07/07/2002

Mad Mex

Mad Max is a ferret, which is a small animal closely related to the weasel. His fur is whitish, tan, and dark brown in color, and he has a dark mask around his eyes. He belongs to Sue who lives in a big city where larger animals can be a problem to keep. This impish little fellow keeps Sue amused when he is out of his cage. He is constantly on the move, exploring from room to room and investigating everything he can reach. And when held by someone he likes, he can become very lovable, licking that person’s ears and wanting his stomach scratched.

Sometimes Sue will tie a little bonnet on his head and put a leash on him, and they will go out for a walk along the busy city sidewalk. This causes all kinds of reactions among the people they pass. Some want to pet him; some want to hold him; others just stare. Once, as two passing teenage boys saw Mad Max, one asked the other, “What’s that animal?” The other’s reply was, “It’s a little raccoon.”

When Sue travels, she sometimes takes Mad Max with her. A small custom-made, carry-on cage is his home then. She places it at her feet on the plane. She has to get special permission from the airlines to do this. So Mad Max is a pampered pet . . . but he is still a ferret.

There is another side to a ferret’s nature; in the wild, it is a cold-blooded killer. It will quickly catch and kill a rat or a prairie dog. Men have, in the past, trained ferrets to seek out and kill rats and rabbits. If a building were infested with rats, the landlords would hire the ferrets’ owners to turn their animals loose in the building, and there wasn’t a place that a rat could hide where a ferret couldn’t find it. Soon the building was free of rats!

It’s hard to imagine Sue’s lovable pet being a cold-blooded killer, but that is the very nature her ferret was born with. No matter how cute Mad Max may look with a bonnet on and walking along the sidewalk on a leash, he still has a ferret’s nature. Sue can’t change that even though her pet is tamed.

It makes us think about the nature that each of us is born with that likes to sin. We can wear lovely clothes, be well-educated and be well-liked, but we still have that sinful nature underneath it all that is capable of doing some pretty wicked stuff. You and I can’t change that sinful nature of ours. We can dress it up and cover it over, but God still sees it. “The Lord [sees] not as man [sees]; for man [looks] on the outward appearance, but the Lord [looks] on the heart” (1 Samuel 16:7).

I expect that as long as Sue keeps Mad Max well fed and takes such good care of him, the killing nature he was born with, though still there, will remain hidden and inactive. The sinful nature that you and I were born with will not go away either, but ours continues to actively show itself daily, every time we sin. God knows all about it and that we can’t change that sinful nature we each have, but He lovingly offers us a new nature that can’t sin and that loves to please Him. You and I can receive that new nature by coming to God’s Son the Lord Jesus, in prayer, telling Him we are sorry for our sins, and by faith believing that He died on the cross of Calvary to wash away our sins. Then we are given that new nature just as He promised: “If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new” (2 Corinthians 5:17). God cannot allow one sin in heaven, and we still have that sinful nature. But with our sins forgiven and having a new nature which God has given us that can’t sin, we will be accepted in heaven when this life on earth is over. Another happy thought is that once we are in heaven, we won’t have that sinful nature anymore.

Have you received that new nature with the assurance that you have eternal life? “These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life” (1 John 5:13).

ML-07/14/2002

Gold Strike!

In 1848, Jim Marshall was crossing a stream in California. Looking down, he spied a bright, shiny object in the water. He had discovered gold!

At first Jim thought he would keep his discovery as much a secret as possible. But news of the discovery leaked out and traveled across the nation like prairie fire. The California gold rush was on!

Soon prospectors flooded into California from all over. Men from every walk of life came to seek gold and their fortunes. Because many of the men made the trip to California in 1849, they became known as the “forty-niners.” California’s population exploded from 15,000 to 80,000 in that one year alone.

Only a handful of men struck it rich in a big way. The others had to work hard to earn their livings.

Jim Marshall was the first to discover gold, and his discovery sparked the gold rush, but there is a far greater discovery for each one of us to make in our lives. It is the discovery that Christ, the Son of God, is the Saviour of sinners.

Jim Marshall was working at his everyday job when he made his discovery. And you, too, may be going about your everyday life when you learn of God’s great love in giving His Son to die for the sins of any who will accept Him as their Saviour. No discovery is so great as the discovery of realizing for the first time that “Christ died for me!”

It is by faith in Christ that we receive God’s gift of eternal life. Anyone who receives this gift is far richer than the man with the most gold in this world. “Ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold . . . but with the precious blood of Christ” (1 Peter 1:18-19).

“I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish” (John 10:28).

ML-07/14/2002

Carried Across the Finish Line

Mark’s bike was in top condition, of course, and nothing on his bike was left unchecked the day of the race. Mark was in top physical condition too. Everything was ready. It would be great to come in first, but it was a difficult racecourse, and so the real goal was just to cross the finish line, no matter how long it took.

The racecourse was full of steep hills, twists and turns, bumps and other surprises. But when the biker had only the finish line in mind, those pedals and wheels had no choice but to keep up to the biker’s speed.

I wonder if Mark remembered what God says about racing. God tells us that the Apostle Paul was in a race too, and he kept his mind on the goal. It certainly was an uphill and downhill course, with surprises that were far from smooth and easy. But Paul didn’t concentrate on the roughness of the course; he concentrated on the goal before him - the One whom he would meet at the finish line.

Paul really did have a difficult course. It included a horrible prison cell, beatings and stoning, hunger and shipwreck. But he never said, “This is too difficult! I’m giving up.” His poor body must have been scarred and crippled, but Jesus was the goal, the motive, the power and the whole direction of his life. When Paul was near the end of the course, he said, “I have fought [the] good fight” (2 Timothy 4:7). He was not saying that he had done well, but that the struggle had been worth it. It had been a very difficult course, and he had no regrets.

Mark was pushing hard. Somewhere at top speed, he heard that little “poof - hiss,” the sound of a punctured tire. He kept going. He wasn’t going to be hindered by a little thing like a flat tire. But it didn’t work. He jumped off and ran alongside, pushing the disabled bike. “Good work, Mark! Keep going!”

Some of us face things like that on our bad days, don’t we? But if you are a Christian, don’t let trouble hinder you. You can still follow Jesus on the bad days! If you are “looking unto Jesus,” He will keep you on the road to the finish line, even if you must carry burdens that others do not carry. Our Saviour understands. Follow Him.

But the flat tire flapped loose from the rim, making it impossible to push the bike. Determined, Mark picked up the bike and carried it. And running as fast as he could, he crossed the finish line!

Christian, are you disabled in a wheelchair or in a bed? Are you unable to function on your own? Let the Lord Jesus carry you in His willing arms right to the finish line, and you will find that you have missed nothing.

Nobody praised the disabled bike, but there was plenty of applause as the runner crossed the finish line. And perhaps you may finish the race in helplessness too, but you will have a wonderful welcome at those heavenly gates. You will be eternally saved, and the praise will go to Jesus, the One who saved you and carried you.

Are you looking unto Jesus? He is the One who endured the cross for you and is seated now at the right hand of God. If He is not your Saviour, troubles and death will surely come to you, and you will spend not only this life but all eternity without a Saviour.

“Let us run with patience the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross . . . and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God” (Hebrews 12:12).

ML-07/21/2002

Bear Gets Into Some Burrs

This is a story of a dog named Bear. The reason he is called Bear is because he is black and was born with a short tail.

One morning while visiting with Bear’s owner, I was walking around the back of their house and there was Bear. But he sure didn’t look like Bear. He was covered with little green burrs, and he looked like a green monster!

I said to Mr. Monroe, his owner, “Where has that dog been to get covered with burrs like that?”

Mr. Monroe said, “He’s been some place where he shouldn’t have been!”

Say, boys and girls, doesn’t this remind us of sin? We go places, do things and say things that we shouldn’t. Then we try to cover up our sin as if nothing has happened. God says in His Word, the holy Bible, in Numbers 32:23, “Be sure your sin will find you out.” Bear couldn’t possibly hide his burrs. I thought that if we could just put a nice coat or blanket over him, we could hide all those burrs and he would look like Bear again.

But you see, boys and girls, God says in Proverbs 28:13, “He that covereth his sins shall not prosper: but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy.” If we had covered Bear with a new coat, the burrs would still be underneath, and they would hurt him since these burrs are full of tiny needles. Sin is just like a burr - it hurts and hurts, and unless it is removed it gets worse and worse.

Mr. Monroe got a brush. We only called Bear once, and did he ever come quickly! He seemed to know what we were going to do.

The Lord Jesus calls you to “come” in Matthew 11:28: “Come unto Me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” Are you ready and willing to come just as you are? Bear came just as he was. He couldn’t help himself at all.

When Mr. Monroe finished cleaning the burrs out of Bear’s hair, do you think he was sad? No, sir! He wagged his tail and seemed as happy as could be. His burrs were gone!

God says in 1 John 1:7, “The blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin”! Will you trust the Lord Jesus today? Let His precious blood cleanse you today, and then your sins will be gone!

ML-07/21/2002

"I'm With Them"

It was the newest restaurant in town, and there was one week to go until the grand opening. My son John had been hired as a chef there along with several others who had never cooked before. In order to make sure that serving plans worked properly and that the food turned out edible, the restaurant issued free-meal tickets to family members of their employees.

My wife and I looked forward to our evening out. As we stood by the front doors of the restaurant, waiting to be permitted inside, we saw another couple arrive. They walked up to the door and read this sign:

The couple turned away, looking disappointed. Seeing us waiting, the man said to us, “Don’t bother trying to go in. They won’t be open until next weekend.”

“Oh,” I replied, “but we have free-meal tickets for today.”

Quick as a flash, the wife turned to her husband and said, “Well then, I’m with them!”

But we all knew that the restaurant would not accept anyone that day without an issued ticket. So the couple had to find another place for dinner.

As we enjoyed the excellent service of my son and the rest of the staff that night, I couldn’t help but remember the words of the lady outside the restaurant: “I’m with them!” But it could not be, because she did not have a ticket, and she could not go inside with us.

Heaven is a much better place than any restaurant, even the one where my son works. But there is no stepping inside heaven’s door without a “ticket” with your name on it. Sometimes there are events in this life where children are admitted inside because their parents have tickets. But God does not accept anyone into heaven unless He sees that the sin-cleansing blood of His Son Jesus has cleaned that person’s heart. Nobody will be admitted into heaven because their parents or a friend are cleansed from their sins. No, you will only be admitted if your sins have been washed away by the Lord Jesus.

You may be cleansed by the blood of Jesus by telling Him that you are truly sorry for your sins and that you want Him to wash them away with His blood shed at Calvary. We have these promises from God that cleansing from sin is in the blood: “The blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin” (1 John 1:7). “Jesus Christ. . . . Loved us, and washed us from our sins in His own blood” (Revelation 1:5).

Won’t you make sure today that you have your “ticket” to heaven?

ML-07/28/2002

A Fly in a Spider's Web

One day in July, my grandson Stephen came to see us. He asked if he could go see Snowflake, our cat, in the barn. I said, “Sure.” So out to the barn we went to find her. She lives in the barn because her job is to keep it clean of mice and birds.

Snowflake isn’t hard to find because she is pure white. She was up in the rafters and would not come down. But we did see a big cobweb by the window above the workbench where Snowflake has a second bed and loves to lie in the sun.

Stephen said, “Look, Grandpa, there is a big fly caught in the web, and there is the spider up in the top of the web. Let’s wait to see what will happen.”

After only a few seconds, down the web came Mr. Spider to get that big fly. The fly started to beat its wings furiously! So, the spider went back up the web. In a few more seconds, down came Mr. Spider again to get that fly. Again the fly started to beat its wings furiously!

Stephen said, “Look at that, Grandpa. The spider won’t touch the fly as long as he beats his wings.”

I said, “That’s right, Stephen, but the fly is going to get tired soon, and then the spider will have him.”

Again, down came Mr. Spider to get that fly, and again the fly started to beat its wings, but not quite so hard this time. Back up the web went the spider.

Stephen was beginning to feel a little sorry for the fly and asked, “Grandpa, do you think we should save that fly?”

Boys and girls, this reminds me of what God has said in His holy book called the Bible. “All have sinned, and come short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). Because we were born in sin (Psalm 58:3), we need to have someone save us from the penalty of sin. Romans 6:23 says, “The wages of sin is death.” So who can we turn to for help? God has told us in the Bible about His only beloved Son, Jesus Christ. “While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). Isn’t that wonderful, that even while we were just plain sinners, Christ would die for us! What good news!

“Stephen, I guess we will just have to save that fly since he sure can’t save himself.”

And we certainly can’t save ourselves from the web of sin we are caught in, either. We need help, and the Lord Jesus Christ can help us. 1 Timothy 1:15 says, “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.” Will you let Him save you today?

Stephen and I found a little piece of straw and let the fly hold on to it with his feet. Then we gently pulled him out of that web. Away he flew! Then he came right back and flew around our heads as if to say, “Thank you for saving me.”

Are you saved from your sins? If you are, have you thanked the Lord Jesus for saving you? “Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us, and sent His Son to be the propitiation [God’s acceptable substitute] for our sins” (1 John 4:10).

ML-07/28/2002

Left Behind

We had been holding the regular Bible meetings in our home while the building where we usually attend was being remodeled. After the Sunday morning meetings, the young children liked to run down to the lake behind our house to watch the fish.

One Sunday after everyone had collected their families and driven away, I looked out through the back door, and there on the dock was little three-year-old Bobby! He was watching the fish that were guarding their eggs which they had laid in their scooped-out nests.

“Bobby,” I called to him, “do you know your family has gone home?”

He looked worried and said, “No.”

His family lived in a town about fifteen miles away. So I waited to give them time to get home, thinking that while driving home they would surely miss Bobby and come back for him. But they didn’t.

I finally telephoned them, and Bobby’s father answered. “Are you missing someone?” I asked.

Then, upset with himself, the father answered, “Bobby! How could we have forgotten Bobby? I’ll be right back to pick him up.”

Soon Bobby’s father arrived, looking rather sheepish. I laughed and told him that he didn’t have such a large family that he could forget little Bobby.

“I know,” he said. “My mind was on other things.”

I assured the father that we had taken Bobby into the house as soon as we found him and that the Lord Jesus had been watching over him. I reminded him that the Lord says of His own, “I will never leave [you], nor forsake [you]” (Hebrews 13:5). With this he thanked me, and they left.

Being left behind can be very sad. The Bible tells us that the Lord Jesus is coming soon to call away all those who belong to Him. This certainly will be a time when you will not want to be left behind! In Matthew 25, the Lord Jesus Himself warns about this time in the parable of the ten virgins who were going to meet the bridegroom. Five of the virgins were wise and five were foolish. The wise ones carried lamps that they had filled with oil. The foolish ones carried lamps too, but they had not filled them with oil - they were empty. You could not tell the difference between the lamps that had oil and those that didn’t. They looked the same on the outside.

And today we have wise people and foolish people that look pretty much the same on the outside. The wise ones have paid attention to the warning about the Lord Jesus coming to take to heaven all those who belong to Him. They have admitted they are sinners and have accepted the Lord Jesus as their Saviour, and they are ready to go because their sins are gone and the Holy Spirit lives inside them. Then there are the foolish people who have ignored the warning and hope to get to heaven by the good things they do. They have not followed God’s plan of salvation by coming to the Lord Jesus to have their sins washed away. They don’t belong to Him and don’t have the Holy Spirit living inside of them. “Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of His” (Romans 8:9).

In the parable of the wise and foolish virgins, the call came for them to go to meet the bridegroom. The wise virgins with oil lighted their lamps, but the foolish virgins without oil couldn’t light theirs. They asked the wise ones to give them oil for their lamps, but the wise said “no” because they wouldn’t have enough oil to keep their own lamps burning.

So the foolish virgins had to go buy oil. While they were gone, the bridegroom came. The wise virgins went in with him to the marriage, and the door was shut.

When the foolish virgins finally got back, they called to have the door opened. But they weren’t allowed in because the bridegroom said he didn’t know them. They were left behind.

The Lord Jesus used this parable to teach us how important it is to be ready for His coming. Those who have accepted the Lord Jesus as their Saviour are ready and will go with Him to heaven. Those who have not accepted Him are still in their sins and are not ready. They will be left behind to face the judgment of eternal darkness in that awful place called hell.

No telephone call nor any of today’s modern communications will ever open heaven’s door to those left behind.

If you are in danger of being left behind, waste no time! “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved” (Acts 16:31). “Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation” (2 Corinthians 6:2). “Watch therefore; for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of Man [comes]” (Matthew 25:13).

ML-08/04/2002

"Don't Let Anything Bite Daddy"

It was almost bedtime. Daddy was away from home on a business trip, and Mother was reading a Bible story to her children. Little Andy listened carefully to the story of Daniel. Mother read how he was thrown into the lions’ den and how God had shut the lions’ mouths so they could not bite him.

A little later as Andy knelt beside his bed praying, his mother heard him say, “And don’t let anything bite Daddy.”

No doubt Andy knew that God, who had kept Daniel from harm, could take care of his daddy too. And he was right.

In this same simple way, shouldn’t each of us be asking God to keep us and those we love from harm and from sin? The Bible tells us God does hear our prayers and cries, and He promises to help those who trust in Him.

“They cry unto the Lord in their trouble, and He [saves] them out of their distresses” (Psalm 107:19).

ML-08/11/2002

The Park Bear

One pesky bear in our area has made the news lately. Here are some of the headlines:

CAMPSITES CLOSED AFTER BEAR SNIFFS OUT MEALS

BERRY-LESS BEAR IS FORAGING FOR FOOD

BEAR STEALS HIKER’S FOOD, CAUSES CLOSURE OF TRAIL

CAMPERS IGNORING WARNINGS ABOUT HAZARDOUS “DEVIL BEAR”

TROUBLESOME PARK BEAR IS FACING DEATH SENTENCE

BLACK BEAR GETS DEATH SENTENCE

How would you like to be out hiking or camping and meet a bear that had developed a taste for the same food you like to eat? “No way! That would be too dangerous!” you say, and you would be right. Bears have a keen sense of smell, and that bear might smell something good to eat in your pocket or backpack, and he might be very interested in finding it!

Park rangers in the Olympic National Park had become so worried about this bear that they had to take special precautions. After the bear had stolen food from several campsites, the rangers installed “bear wires.” These are wires that dangle between trees so campers can hang their food up high where bears can’t reach it. However, this pesky bear was too smart for its own good. It climbed the trees and learned to shake the crosswires until the food would come tumbling down.

Park rangers were in a fix. They didn’t know what to do about this bear, so they closed down this popular park. But then would-be visitors complained. Many had looked forward to camping in the park and wanted it reopened.

The rangers came up with another idea. They shot the bear with a tranquilizer gun to put it to sleep. While the bear was sleeping, they fastened a yellow radio collar around its neck. This collar would send out radio signals that would tell the rangers exactly where the bear was located.

Again, the bear was too smart for its own good. A few days later they found the yellow collar hanging from a tree branch where the bear had rubbed it off.

Now the rangers had a bigger problem. If they allowed the bear to roam the park, it would continue to raid campsites, and sooner or later a camper was going to get hurt. Their only choice left was to kill the bear. From then on, they carried loaded shotguns.

The bear had gotten into serious trouble raiding campsites, and it was sentenced to die. Each one of us has gotten into serious sin trouble, and the sentence for our sins also is death. The Bible warns: “The wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23); “the soul that sinneth, it shall die” (Ezekiel 18:4). The Bible explains in other verses that this death means being shut out forever from God’s presence in a place called hell. This is an end that none of us wants! But until you and I get a sense of the danger we face for our sins, we won’t see our need of the Saviour.

There was finally good news about the park bear that saved its life. For some reason, it headed towards the mountains and hasn’t been seen since.

ML-08/18/2002

Sent Back to Jail

We have good news for boys and girls, and grown-ups too. In the very same Bible verse that tells us “the wages of sin is death,” it also says, “But the gift of God is eternal life.” You see, God loves you and me so much that He made a way to save us from our sins. He sent His Son Jesus into this world. The Lord Jesus went to Calvary’s cross where He died and shed His precious blood. His blood can wash away the sins of all who will accept Him as their Saviour. “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth My word, and believeth on Him that sent Me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life” (John 5:24).

Now that’s good news! Will you believe it and have your sentence of eternal death removed?

A prisoner was trying to escape from his cell. Somehow he had gotten a small saw and cut the bars from the cell window. He also made a long rope by tying together his clothes so he could go down safely to the ground two stories below.

But the rope of clothes was not strong enough for his weight. It came apart, and he fell to the ground and broke his leg. Even so, and in spite of terrible pain, he was able to stand up and escape to the forest nearby. He walked for many days, looking for a place to hide. But the pain from his broken leg, along with hunger, made him so weak that the police caught up with him. He was sent back to prison.

We are all born prisoners of sin and try different ways to escape from our sins. Some of us try to escape through good works, while others of us look for a religion that might give us freedom. But these ways are only weak ropes made of dirty clothes that we wear to try to cover our sin. Sooner or later those ropes break, and we fall into unhappiness and suffering. And, at the end of our lives, death and punishment for our sins is ahead in the lake of fire. “It is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment” (Hebrews 9:27).

But this isn’t God’s plan for you and me. He loves us and has already prepared a way of escape that does not depend on something we have to do. Jesus Christ, the Son of God, came to this world to save sinners. He died on the cross and took on Himself the punishment for sin. Now He invites you and me to leave the ropes made of rags we are carrying and trust in Him, the only Saviour God can accept. Only those who trust Jesus have been freed from the terrible prison of sin and will be taken, very soon, to His home in heaven.

“We are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses [good works] are as filthy rags” (Isaiah 64:6). “He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him” (John 3:36).

“Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth My word, and believeth on Him that sent Me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life.”
John 5:24

ML-08/18/2002

A Sheared Sheep

When I was in sixth grade, our class went on a school trip to the university farm nearby to watch the yearly shearing of the sheep. I shall never forget that event. The sheep in the holding pen were bleating and milling around, aware of what was about to happen. But when a sheep was selected and led out to the shearers, it didn’t make one sound!

The shearer sat on a stool and, using his electric shears, he began shearing the back and sides of the sheep. He would closely cut the thick wool from the sheep in a continuous process. Then he would roughly throw the sheep on its haunches and, as he held it between his legs, cut off the wool on the underside of the sheep. Every once in a while, he would cut too deeply and gash the skin, drawing blood. During this entire process, the sheep did not make one sound.

I have often thought back on this and the meekness of the sheep, and my thoughts always go to Isaiah 53:7, which so clearly describes the sufferings of our Lord Jesus Christ. “He was oppressed, and He was afflicted, yet He opened not His mouth: He is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb [silent], so He [opens] not His mouth.” How accurate Scripture is! The blessed Lord Jesus, as He stood before His accusers, answered only when He had to for the truth’s sake. When asked by the high priest if He were “the Christ, the Son of God,” He answered, “Thou hast said: nevertheless I say unto you, Hereafter shall ye see the Son of Man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven” (Matthew 26:64). When questioned by Pilate, the Roman governor, Jesus answered, “Thou sayest that I am a king. To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth” (John 18:37). Peter tells us of Jesus’ perfect conduct: “Christ . . . did no sin, neither was guile found in His mouth: who, when He was reviled, reviled not again; when He suffered, He threatened not; but committed Himself to Him [God] that [judges] righteously” (1 Peter 2:21-23). No name-calling or complaining. Instead, His cry on the cross was, “Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do” (Luke 23:34). Truly, He was the Lamb of God.

After the sheep were sheared, they looked so pitiful, almost naked. All their beautiful wool was gone, and they were left with red blotches from the careless shearer. But here was God’s Lamb, stripped of His clothing, His back raw from the beating with the metal-tipped Roman whip. He had been spit upon, a crown of thorns beaten down upon His head, mocked as king, and was placed before the Jews for them to choose between Him and a murderer named Barabbas. They chose Barabbas.

Jesus was then nailed through His hands and His feet to a Roman cross. He hung between two thieves. One thief rejected Him, but the other acknowledged his own sinful guilt and the righteousness of the Saviour and cried to Him for mercy: “Lord, remember me when Thou comest into Thy kingdom.” The Lord promised him, “Today shalt thou be with Me in paradise” (Luke 23:42-43). That thief was the first trophy of Christ’s death and resurrection.

It was for you and me that Jesus, the Lamb of God, suffered so and died on that cross. And for those of us who have accepted Him as our Saviour, He bore that awful burden of our sins in His own body in those three hours of darkness. “He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon Him; and with His stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all” (Isaiah 53:56).

Have you put your trust in the finished work of God’s Lamb, or are you rejecting Him?

ML-08/25/2002

Not so Big and Brave

There was that dog again, straining at his rope, jumping up and down, snarling and barking at our ponies who were feeding on the other side of the fence. “You think you’re pretty big and strong, don’t you?” I said to the dog one day as I went to get Lightfoot, my pony. But the dog just barked all the louder.

Then one day the gate was left open by mistake, and Lightfoot wandered out of the meadow into the yard next door. When I went over to get him, it was really funny to see how that dog was behaving. He was shaking and trembling as he tried to flatten himself against the back of the house. Lightfoot stood switching his tail and cocking his head from side to side as he inspected the cowering dog.

The dog’s snarling and barking were only a bluff. Now he was scared and wanted to hide.

Sometimes we act pretty big and brave, but things have a way of becoming bigger than we expected. What happens then? Do you have someone you can turn to for help, even when your father or mother isn’t around? Is there someone who is able to look after you no matter what happens? Only the Lord Jesus can do that. But is He your friend? Do you know Him well enough that you can trust Him?

Let me tell you something about the Lord Jesus. He loves you and cares about you so much that He died for you on Calvary’s cross. He knows all about your sins and wants to wash them away and make you clean. He wants to be your trustworthy Friend.

Will you let Him be your Friend? You only need to tell Him that you know you are a sinner and want Him to wash you clean from your sins. He will give you the faith to believe and trust Him. “By grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: not of works, lest any man should boast” (Ephesians 2:89).

Will you let Jesus be your special Friend who you can always count on? If you will, this verse can be your very own: “What time I am afraid, I will trust in Thee” (Psalm 56:3).

ML-08/25/2002

Stuck in a Garbage Truck

Shivering a little in the cool autumn evening, Fred had just ended his day shift and was now headed toward his alley corner. He never cared much about holding a good job, so he had to be content with the cheapest bed he could find. Tonight his bed turned out to be a large, brown garbage dumpster. Fred slept here quite often, and although it didn’t always smell very nice, he never once thought that it could be dangerous.

The next morning the garbage collector was earlier than usual on his pickup rounds. Fred was still sleeping soundly when the dumpster he was sleeping in was hoisted onto the front loader of a 21ton garbage truck, turned upside down and dumped into the back of the truck. Falling about eight feet, Fred awoke for a moment and then was knocked unconscious as he hit the floor of the garbage truck.

Seeing that the back of the truck was beginning to fill up, Brian, the garbage collector, turned on the compacting cylinder to make room for more garbage. With 21,000 pounds of pressure, the cylinder trapped the still-unconscious Fred in mountains of garbage in the back of the truck. Hurrying to get on with his rounds, Brian turned off the compactor before it had pushed the garbage all the way back and then hurried to his next stop. He would have been shocked to learn that he had just saved a man’s life.

Threading his way through the city streets, Brian made two more stops at dumpsters. Then his next stop was the bus station where he found two cans of water waiting to be thrown away. Brian dumped them into the truck along with everything else.

Down in the truck, Fred was jerked back to consciousness by a cold shower of dirty water. Realizing where he was, he began banging on the floor of his “prison” and calling for help. He was trapped in almost twenty tons of garbage, and there was no way he could get out.

Probably most of us have never been trapped in garbage, but there is something far worse that we have all been trapped in - our sins! Most of us have committed enough sins to fill many dumpsters to overflowing, and even the youngest child is not without sin. The Bible plainly states that “all have sinned” (Romans 3:23). But like Fred in his awful condition, it is impossible for any of us to escape from our sins by ourselves. Only the sinless Son of God, the Lord Jesus Christ, can rescue us out of our sin-prison. When Jesus went to the cross, God punished Him for the sins of every person who will admit that he is a sinner and believe that Jesus’ death on the cross was for his sins. But like Fred, you and I need to wake up to our danger and be willing to call for help. If we call to the Lord Jesus, He will hear us and save us from our sins, because He loves us.

After making one more stop, Brian could see that he needed to finish compacting all the garbage in his truck so there would be room to finish the rest of his pickups. It was then that he heard somebody calling for help and looked around to see where the person might be. But the voice sounded so far away and faint that Brian decided not to worry about it and move on.

Climbing back into the truck, Brian turned on the cylinder to compact the garbage, and 21,000 pounds of pressure began to crush all the garbage into the smallest space possible. Before leaving for his next stop, Brian rolled down his window to wipe off the water that had splashed onto his rearview mirror. With his window down, he realized that he could still hear that voice yelling for help and that now it sounded much louder and more urgent.

Switching off the compactor to be able to hear better, Brian was startled to hear banging coming from inside the truck. Because he didn’t know who or what was in his truck, Brian called a police officer to come before he opened the back of the truck. Imagine their surprise when Fred came climbing up out of the garbage!

Fred had been less than five seconds from certain death at the crushing end of the garbage compactor. Shaken by his narrow escape, Fred has never slept in a dumpster since.

If you realize that you are a sinner trapped in your sins, how long will you wait until you call to the Lord Jesus for rescue? Fred had a five-second escape from death, but not everyone does. The Lord Jesus wants to save you right now, if you will let Him. He promises that “whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved” (Romans 10:13), and He also says, “I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more” (Jeremiah 31:34).

Why are you waiting?

“Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.”
Romans 10:13

ML-09/01/2002

Money for Daddy's Present

One night little Jenny whispered to her mother, “I’m going to buy Daddy a present for his birthday.”

Her mother smiled and said, “That’s fine, Jenny, but where will you get the money to buy it?”

“Oh, I know Daddy will give it to me,” Jenny answered.

Wasn’t that a good answer? Jenny knew that she could go to her father for the money and that he would love to get a gift from her. This is also true of us as God’s children. Everything we have is what God our Father has given to us. He knows that what we give back to Him in love is what we have first received from Him. He thinks of the love behind the gift, just like Jenny’s father would.

“All things come [from] Thee, and of Thine own have we given [to] Thee” (1 Chronicles 29:14).

ML-09/08/2002

Grandma's Ride on the Harley

When I was growing up, we never heard the Bible read in our home. However, my grandmother loved the Lord Jesus, and I know she was praying for me and longing that I would come to Jesus and be saved from my sins. In fact, she loved me so much that she put her life in my hands!

Grandma knew me well. She knew that in all my seventeen years I’d never loved anything like I loved my Harley-Davidson motorcycle. And she knew I would jump at any excuse to show it off or take it for a ride, so she invited me to take her to a gospel meeting on my Harley.

Off we went - me with my goggles and aviator’s helmet and my 65year-old grandma sitting behind me with her arms tightly around my waist, holding on for dear life!

We arrived safely, and I sat with my grandma for the meeting. I remember the preacher telling us that we are all on a journey, and it’s not long before each person comes to the dividing of the ways and has to make a decision. I could choose the wide gate that anyone can easily pass through. It opens onto a smooth road, but that road leads down, down to destruction. The other choice is a gate so narrow that no one can pass through it while still carrying his load of sins. But right beside that narrow gate stands a cross. On that cross the Lord Jesus Christ, the blessed Son of God, has died for each one of us. I could unload my sins right there if I would bow down before Jesus, confessing that I am a sinner and need His forgiveness. The message gave me something to think about.

Not long after, a friend of mine at school asked me if we could go together on my Harley to a revival meeting. Of course I said, “Yes!”

What I heard at that revival meeting put a real scare into me. The speaker told us we are all at the eleventh hour, and not much time is left for us to come to Christ. God is going to make certain that every knee, either here on earth or in eternity, will bow to His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, and every tongue will confess that He is Lord. “It is written, As I live, saith the Lord, every knee shall bow to Me, and every tongue shall confess to God” (Romans 14:11).

I knew I had not done that yet. But God used those two messages to turn my thoughts to the Lord Jesus and to make me see my need of Him. It wasn’t long after that I accepted Him as my Lord and Saviour and was born into the family of God. It was just like Romans 15:13 said it would be: “The God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing.” I’ve certainly never regretted that decision to trust my life fully to the Lord Jesus Christ and His saving power.

“If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved” (Romans 10:9).

ML-09/15/2002

Buffy's Napping Spot

Buffy was a big dog, full of fun and adventure. He was part of a happy family where four children saw to it that he was fed and cared for every day. But Buffy would sometimes run away to find some excitement. Then the children would hunt through the neighborhood to find him. One cold afternoon late in the fall he set off on an adventure that almost cost him his life.

Buffy had not gone far from home when he came to a river. Though the river was partially frozen, he found some open water, just big enough for a dog his size to enjoy a refreshing swim. He had often gone swimming with his owners at a lake during the summer. So it must have been with these pleasant dog memories that he plunged into that icy water!

It wasn’t long before he felt the cold through his thick fur. Buffy scrambled out and climbed, wet and cold, up the riverbank. He looked around for a warm spot to rest before heading home.

Nearby, the gleaming railroad tracks shone in the afternoon sun. Buffy had been scolded a time or two for going near those tracks. Trains regularly used them, making them dangerous to be near. He had keen ears, and right now they told him that all was safe. Buffy stretched out contentedly on the warm tracks and fell asleep.

A short while later he awoke with a start, sensing something was wrong. He tried to scramble to his feet, but he found himself held fast to the track. He squirmed and fought with all his strength, but something would not let him go. Finally poor Buffy gave up and slumped down exhausted, whining pitifully. His keen ears had heard the rumblings of a train far in the distance, but his soaking wet fur had frozen fast to the steel train track. The river water which had looked so inviting and the warm, gleaming track had combined to hold him captive. Now his life was in danger.

Boys and girls, stop here and answer these questions. Have the pleasures of sin attracted your eyes and led you into hidden danger, like Buffy? Have you turned away from the pleadings of God and the loving invitation of the Lord Jesus to come to Him? Pleasures that appear to be harmless can hold us captive. God’s Word says, “He, that being often reproved [warned] hardeneth his neck, shall suddenly be destroyed, and that without remedy” (Proverbs 29:1).

Our story has a happy ending. Buffy’s frantic yelps were heard by three boys on their way home from school. Rushing to rescue him, they cut away the frozen fur and freed him from the tracks before the train came rushing by.

Are you willing to admit that sin has a tight hold on you? And are you willing to admit that you are helpless to do anything about those sins? It only takes one cry from your heart to the Lord Jesus, and He will deliver you from the coming destruction that follows a life of sin. He is waiting for your call. “Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation” (2 Corinthians 6:2).

ML-09/15/2002

Listening to the Control Tower

Carl was on a business trip, and he was going to fly from one city to another in a small plane. He watched the pilot start the airplane, and they took off. It was a clear day, a good day for flying.

Several hours later, however, they flew into clouds, and they could not see where they were going. They were still in thick clouds as they reached the city where they wanted to land. The pilot realized he needed help from the control tower to land. He radioed the control tower for instructions.

Carl noticed that the pilot listened very carefully to what he was being told to do. He did not let anything take his mind off what he was doing. His whole attention was taken up with what the man in the control tower was telling him, and they soon landed safely on the runway.

We should be doing the same thing if we belong to the Lord Jesus. He wants us to be happy while we wait for Him to come to take us out of the world to live with Him in heaven. He wants us to follow His instructions. He does not want us to be hurt by the enemy of our souls, Satan. Satan is watching closely, trying to do us harm and to lead us away from the safe path of following our Saviour. We need to be reading God’s Word, the Bible, every day and also praying to Him and listening to what the Lord Jesus has asked us to do. Then we will be happy and we will be kept safe from many things that would take our thoughts away from our precious Saviour who loved us so much that He gave His life for us on Calvary’s cross to save us from our sins.

“The Son of God, who loved me, and gave Himself for me” (Galatians 2:20).

ML-09/22/2002

Changed Direction

Nine-year-old Tim was visiting his cousins and having a fun-filled week in the Adirondack Mountains. Every day the cousins went hiking or canoeing together. One time they hiked to a waterfall with a cave behind it.

One of the days was hot, and Tim and his cousins were swimming in the lake. It was not a very big lake and most of the shoreline was rocky, but it was a large enough lake to have a swimming area with a beach. At the far end of the sandy beach, a small stream emptied into the lake.

After lunch Tim didn’t feel like swimming anymore, so he went to see where some of the other children were making little boats out of leaves and sticks and floating them down the stream and out into the lake. It was fun pretending to launch entire fleets of ships into what they now called “the ocean.” But they were having a problem. The shoreline of the stream, which had now become “the river” heading to the ocean, was twisty, and all the boats heading down the river to the ocean were crashing into the rocky shoreline and ending up shipwrecked! So Tim decided to widen and deepen the riverbed. As he began his project, some of the cousins wanted to know what he planned to do, and then they wanted to help.

As time slipped by, the project grew larger and more challenging. Deepening the riverbed led to building a dam to increase the water level. Then the dam overflowed, so a channel was built for runoff. More cousins came to help. The dam broke again. Tim proved to be a good leader and got the cousins to work together. It was a busy, noisy afternoon.

At supper time, all the hungry cousins were called to come for a hotdog roast. It was then that they stopped to inspect what their afternoon’s work had accomplished. The stream that had begun that day as a quiet channel about a foot wide and six-inches deep was now three feet wide and a foot deep. It had taken fifteen children four hours to change the stream’s direction, and now the old drainage bed was dry. And all this came about because a young boy named Tim wanted to sail his ships in safe waters.

Those of you boys and girls who have accepted the Lord Jesus as your Saviour, have you ever thought about what an influence you can be on your school friends or the children in your neighborhood? Have you ever told them that you belong to Jesus and what that means? Even one little person can make a big difference to one other person. Tim changed the direction of a “river” by getting his cousins to work with him, and your telling a friend about Jesus could change the direction of his or her life and maybe some other lives too.

Some of your school friends may never have heard the story of Jesus and His love. They may never have been told that when they purposely do something wrong it is called sin. And some may not know that the Bible says that even one sin will keep them out of heaven. They need to hear that Jesus loves them and died on Calvary’s cross for them and that He can wash away all their sins. Maybe you are the one who can tell them and explain that if they make the decision to let Jesus wash them clean of their sins, they can go to heaven.

You don’t have to be a big person or a preacher to tell others about Jesus. Do you remember how Jesus used a little boy’s lunch to feed five thousand people? Jesus would like to use you to tell others about His love and that He died for them. That little boy’s lunch was a blessing to five thousand people, and telling others about Jesus could turn out to be a blessing to many others too.

Will you tell a friend today about Jesus? It could change the direction of your friend’s life.

“Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven” (Matthew 5:16).

“Jesus called them unto Him, and said, Suffer [allow] little children to come unto Me, and forbid them not: for of such is the kingdom of God” (Luke 18:16).

ML-09/22/2002

A Changed Mind

Bill had a message to deliver. He searched the dark street until he found number 18, and his loud knock startled the man inside.

Perhaps that man did not like to be disturbed. Maybe he wanted a little fun. He shouted his answer through the closed door, “Go around to the back!”

Now it is not always wise to do everything you are told. There are signs everywhere telling you what to do, where to go, and what to buy, and we need to know whose voice to obey. You can’t test them all. Where can you find a voice of authority? We are promised, “Thy [God’s] Word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path” (Psalm 119:105). “The entrance of Thy words [gives] light; it [gives] understanding unto the simple” (Psalm 119:130).

Bill found his way to the back of the building . . . and suddenly he was ankle deep in freshly poured cement!

Maybe that was a funny feeling. You and I probably remember wiggling our toes in warm sand on the beach, but Bill was not thinking about the funny feeling. He knew that this was not a place to stay, and his repentance was fast and real.

Do you know what repentance means? It means to change your mind or to regret something and turn away from it. Let’s see how Bill’s repentance caused him to make some changes.

First, he changed direction, and that’s exactly what repentance does. Then he walked straight out of that mess, which he would have done even if he had had to leave his shoes behind. And he didn’t go back in.

God tells us to “repent . . . and believe the gospel” (Mark 1:15), but there are some who say they don’t know what repentance is.

First, you listen to the voice of God, not of others who tell you that it really doesn’t matter that you are a sinner. Second, you turn around and face the opposite way. Third, you can count on God to give you the strength to walk out.

Bill carried some of the mess out with him. Yes, and you will too. Perhaps the outward marks and stains of sin will remain for a lifetime. But Bill was free. Would you like this freedom from the hold of sin? “If the Son . . . shall make you free, [you] shall be free indeed” (John 8:36). Perhaps you will leave behind some of the fun you once enjoyed, but the Lord Jesus promises that He will give you His joy. His is deep joy which the world cannot give or take away.

Maybe the man inside had a good laugh at Bill’s problem, but Bill was not a quitter. He delivered his message. And when he got home, he had a good cleanup.

Never mind if as a Christian you still carry the outward marks and stains of sin. When you are at home in the Father’s house, you will have a new body without a trace of sin or its results.

Will you repent, right now, and believe the wonderful gospel message that “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners” (1 Timothy 1:15)? “God . . . now [commands] all men everywhere to repent” (Acts 17:30).

ML-09/29/2002

Exploding Rocks!

When I was younger, I used to camp with a group of boys. One time we were camping near a small lake that had formed under a waterfall of clear water. In our exploring, we discovered that the ground that formed the waterfall, the lake and the camping area was made of volcanic lava, formed many years before.

We built a fireplace to cook our dinner, using big round rocks we found under the water. Our dinner was still cooking when we heard the first explosion. One after another, the rocks around the fire suddenly began to blow up like bombs, throwing pieces of rock and fire in all directions! We boys ran as fast as we could, looking for shelter from the exploding rocks.

When the rocks finally stopped exploding, we figured out what was making them explode. Those rocks around the fire were actually big balls of hardened lava that had air or gases trapped inside. When they became hot from the fire, the air or gas that was trapped inside expanded and blew apart the rocks. Thankfully, no one got hurt.

Those rocks make me think of sinners. A sinner keeps sin trapped inside sometimes for many years, and this is what will destroy him. These unforgiven sins make him sad and without hope. But God wants to change this. He loves the sinner and offers to remove his sins and give him eternal life. And God’s offer is for whosoever will believe in the Lord Jesus as Saviour. “God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son [Jesus], that whosoever [believes] in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life” (John 3:16). On the cross Jesus took upon Himself God’s fire of judgment for sin. Now everyone who trusts in Him is free from the fire of eternal punishment.

Even after the rocks stopped exploding, no one wanted to be the first to go near the fire, because we didn’t know if any more rocks would explode. You also don’t know when you will have to meet God, so it is urgent to believe in the Lord Jesus as your Saviour right now and be free from your sins. “Boast not thyself of tomorrow; for thou knowest not what a day may bring forth” (Proverbs 27:1).

ML-09/29/2002

A Wandering Young Man

During the great depression of the 1930s, many men were out of work. This devastating situation caused many of them to leave home and families and set out across the country in search of jobs. Because they had no money and could not afford public transportation, some of these men traveled by hitching rides on railroad boxcars. This was dangerous business, not only because it was against the law, but often these men would hop on the trains by catching onto the boxcar ladders while the trains were moving. “Riding the rods” was another way the hobos, as they were called, would hitch a train ride. When a train was stopped, they would crawl onto the series of rods which hung underneath the boxcars between the floor and the tracks and ride along under there.

Since our family lived next to the train tracks, we saw many of these poor men in their wandering travels. One day while playing with neighbor children in our backyard, I remember watching a hobo try to catch onto a moving train. He slipped off the ladder and fell under the train. Mercifully his life was spared, but he was badly injured.

When the hobos got hungry, they would go to homes near the tracks, knock on the doors and beg for food. My mother never turned them away. She would fix them a meal, always putting a gospel tract in with the meal. One man asked for “meal,” and my mother brought him a plate of food, thinking he wanted lunch. “No, no,” he said. “I caught a fish down at the creek, and I just wanted a little cornmeal to put on my fish.”

Many of these wandering men found shelter under a railroad bridge about a mile from our house. They had a regular campsite there with fires to cook what food they could find or catch, and the bridge protected them from the weather.

Where the men were going or what became of them, we never knew. But we do know the outcome of a similar wanderer in a story with a happy ending that the Lord Jesus tells in the Bible in Luke chapter fifteen. The young man in this story had a nice home and a father who loved him, but the young man didn’t care about either his home or his father. He demanded that his father give him the inheritance that would have been his when his father died. When the young man got the money, he soon left his father’s house and went off to a country far away.

The young man wasted all his money on wild living. Soon a very severe famine developed in the country where he was living, and he ended up with no money, no friends and no food. He got a job feeding pigs and, because he was so hungry, he wished he could eat the leftover pig food.

This story Jesus told isn’t just about the young man who was like the hobos I remember; it’s about you and me too. We are sinners wanting our own way and not wanting God or His divine guidance to interfere in our lives. We are wasting our money and time on what we think is important. But a time will come when our God-given conscience will cause us to realize how empty and worthless it all has been.

And this is exactly what happened to the young man in the Bible story. It says, “He came to himself ” - his conscience began to work on his soul. He began to feel the guilt of his sins, and he was sorry for how shamefully he had treated his father who loved him so much. He came to realize that only his father’s love and the loving home he had left could satisfy his emptiness. He prepared a speech he would say to his father: “I have sinned against heaven, and before thee, and am no more worthy to be called thy son: make me as one of thy hired servants.” And he started home.

I suppose all the way home he was worried about how he would be received. He didn’t need to worry. “When he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him.” The son didn’t get to finish his speech because he was received and welcomed by his father as a son who “was dead, and is alive again; and was lost, and is found.”

Boys and girls, and grown-ups too, are you still wandering far away from God? Are you feeling the guilt of your sins? Come home to the Father who loves you so much that He sent His Son Jesus down to this world to die on Calvary’s cross for those sins. His arms are wide open to receive you, and He wants to claim you as His child, a child who is no longer missing. “As many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the [children] of God, even to them that believe on His name” (John 1:12).

The young man was no longer a wandering hobo, like the men in our story. He was now safe and happy in his father’s house. Are you still wandering in this cold, empty world in your sins? Won’t you come home and receive the Father’s love and forgiveness?

ML-10/06/2002

How Precious

Most little boys and girls have a favorite toy. It might be a truck or an airplane or a doll or something else. I’m sure if you would ask your daddy and mommy if they can remember their favorite toys, they would say, “Yes,” and they could probably tell you what it was.

Most of us have favorite things or favorite friends. Sometimes school teachers have favorite students. And some parents might have a favorite son or daughter. However, God does not have favorites like we do. He does not love some of us a little more than others. He loves each one of us so much that He sent His own Son Jesus to die for us.

Have you ever tried to count the grains of sand at the beach? What a high number that would be! But God’s loving thoughts about you are a much higher number than all the grains of sand on all the beaches of this world added together! The Bible tells us this in Psalm 139:1718: “How precious also are Thy thoughts unto me, O God! how great is the sum of them! If I should count them, they are more in number than the sand.”

Now, can you count how many loving thoughts about God and His Son Jesus you have had today?

ML-10/06/2002

Rescued Too Late

I was enjoying looking out our dining room window at the beautiful green shrubs and grass along the street where we live. Suddenly, I saw a rabbit dash out from underneath one of our neighbor’s large shrubs and attack a magpie in the grass. Now a magpie is a large, black-and-white bird, a little larger than its cousin the crow. Like the crow, a magpie is noisy, aggressive and a thief! It will steal eggs and even baby birds from other birds’ nests.

The magpie must have seen the rabbit coming, for it picked something up from the grass in its beak and tried to fly away, but it couldn’t. The rabbit stood on its hind feet and clawed at the bird with its front feet. It didn’t take long to figure out that the magpie had raided the rabbit’s nest and had stolen a baby bunny. But even a very small bunny was too heavy a load for the magpie to fly away with, and the mother rabbit was trying with all her might to rescue her baby.

How would you feel if you were that baby bunny? I know I would be very scared. But every one of us has been taken captive by an enemy that is far stronger and craftier than any hungry magpie! Our enemy is Satan, and sometimes we don’t even recognize him, because he often comes disguised as an angel of light. Other times he attacks like a vicious, roaring lion. But always he is a deceiver! Don’t let yourself be fooled by him. God saw our need to be rescued from our sins and Satan, and He had a plan, a very costly plan. He sent His own beloved Son down here to rescue us from this awful, deceitful enemy who has ensnared all of us in sin.

But sometimes a rescuer arrives too late. I ran out the front door, and that scared both the magpie and the mother rabbit away. The magpie dropped the baby bunny and flew off, but it was too late to save the little bunny’s life.

Don’t wait until it’s too late to be rescued from your sins and Satan’s power. Cry out to the Lord Jesus now to save you. “Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved” (Romans 10:13). It’s that simple.

Enemies don’t usually give up after just one attack; they come back later. And that magpie came back later and dragged its little victim away and, no doubt, devoured it. Our enemy Satan is the same way; he always comes back to try again. God warns us: “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour: whom resist steadfast in the faith” (1 Peter 5:8-9).

Will you come to the Lord Jesus right now and let Him save you from your sins and Satan’s power? When the Lord Jesus died on the cross and then rose again from the grave, He broke Satan’s power and is able to save you from our cruel enemy. The Lord Jesus loves you and will guard and protect you when He has saved you and you belong to Him. “The Son of Man is not come to destroy men’s lives, but to save them” (Luke 9:56).

ML-10/13/2002

What Kind of Seed?

On the last day of school in June, Robby’s teacher gave each child a different kind of seed to plant in his yard at home. Robby took his home and planted it, but it was a long time before he knew what kind of plant grew from his seed. In September, the children brought what they had grown to school with them. Tracy had a big red flower. Mike had a tomato. But Robby told his teacher that his plant was still growing in his yard and he still didn’t know what kind it was.

“Wait a few more weeks,” his teacher said, “and you will soon find out.”

How happy Robby was a few weeks later to discover that it was a pumpkin vine! His mother made some delicious pumpkin pies out of the pumpkins.

Every Christian boy and girl is planting seeds during his life. I don’t mean real seeds like Robby planted. We are planting seeds of love, honesty, kindness, hate, lying or unkindness. What kind of seeds are you planting? What you plant in your “garden” you will harvest later. If you have accepted the Lord Jesus Christ as your Saviour, ask Him to help you plant seeds of love, honesty and kindness. You will collect love, truthfulness and kindness in return, and He will give you a reward in heaven too.

“Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap” (Galatians 6:7).

“Let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not” (Galatians 6:9).

ML-10/13/2002

An Act of Faithfulness

Splash! The elderly man tripped and stumbled right through the railing on the pier and into the chilly Fraser River of Canada. He went all the way under before his head bobbed back above the water.

It was close to midnight, and the light from the lamps in the harbor barely lighted the spot where he had fallen into the chilly water. He reached out to grab the pier.

In his younger days, he easily could have pulled himself out. Now, no matter how hard he tried, the arthritis in his hands robbed him of his strength, and he could not do it. At that late hour, no one heard his cries for help. He tried working his way along the pier to shallower water, but he only grew tired.

The harbor was large, and since it was still early in the season, many boat slips were empty. Only a few boaters were spending the night on their boats.

On the dock just above where he had fallen, Hunter, the man’s little Corgi dog, watched him anxiously. The little dog sensed the danger and barked nervously. When no one came to help, Hunter left his master struggling in the water and ran down the pier to a boat where a man was sleeping on board. Hunter barked persistently at the boat. He barked until the sleeping man woke up and came onto the deck of his boat.

This man recognized Hunter and after a moment realized that something must be wrong. He followed the little dog through the darkness, down the pier to the spot where Hunter’s owner was struggling to keep from drowning. He was able to haul the elderly man out of the water to safety.

Hunter sensed his owner’s danger, and, as a loyal and faithful companion, he did all he could to bring help. His faithfulness helped save his master’s life. Faithfulness is being true to a friend when they are in trouble.

Now let’s think about the greatest act of faithfulness ever known. Before God placed man on this earth, He knew that man would turn against Him. He knew that man would become a sinful rebel. So before He created the world, He made the plan of salvation. In this great plan, the Lord Jesus would leave His home in heaven and become a man here on earth. In faithfulness to man, His creature whom He loved, He would go all the way to Calvary’s cross where He would be nailed and left to die a cruel death. On the cross, the blood He would shed would wash away the sins of all those who would believe on Him. The Lord Jesus has fulfilled this great plan and is offering Himself as the Saviour of sinners!

Man, the rebellious sinner, now has an offer of grace opened to him: “Therefore with joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of salvation” (Isaiah 12:3). “By grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God” (Ephesians 2:8). Truly, Jesus is the sinner’s faithful Friend. Won’t you come to Him and by faith receive the salvation He offers to you today? The water out of the wells of salvation is there for you to “taste and see that the Lord is good” (Psalm 34:8).

ML-10/20/2002

Just a Little Cut?

The noise of screeching tires made me quickly turn around, just as the car hit the motorcycle. The cyclist was thrown off the motorcycle, hitting his head on the cement sidewalk as he landed. He wore no helmet.

I wondered if the cyclist could survive such a landing. To my amazement, in a few moments he was standing and brushing the dust off his clothes.

The cyclist passed his hand over his head and noticed that his hair had a little blood on it, but nothing that seemed serious. To calm the car’s driver and all those who ran to help him, he said, “It is nothing to worry about.” He used his handkerchief to wipe away the blood coming from the small cut on the top of his head.

The driver insisted that the cyclist should still be taken to the hospital. A doctor there cleaned his head wound and put medicine on it. They also gave him something to take for his headache. But still he insisted that it was not serious, so they let him go home.

Just a little cut - only a little blood. Just a little sin - only a little white lie. Nothing serious? Nothing to worry about? God doesn’t look at sin lightly. He tells us plainly, “The wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23).

Later that night, the young motorcyclist’s headache got much worse. His family decided to take him back to the hospital. But by the time they arrived, the young man was already in a coma. Before the doctors could do anything to help him, he died. The wound that seemed to be just a small cut was disguising a serious hemorrhage inside his brain that would take his life in a few hours.

There are many who go on in this life giving little or no thought to their sins. But even one little sin is a sign of a serious problem. The Word of God says that sin comes from the rebellion of man against his Creator, and now every sinner deserves eternal judgment. Are you interested in the “helmet” God has prepared for any who will trust in the Lord Jesus for salvation? In Ephesians 6:17 God encourages us to “take the helmet of salvation.” He also tells us concerning His Son, Jesus Christ: “Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved” (Acts 4:12). “How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation?” (Hebrews 2:3).

ML-10/20/2002

"Oh, No!"

Have you ever exclaimed, “OH, NO!”? If you have, it is usually because something has happened that you never wanted to happen. I want to tell you about a robber who said those words.

This robber had cleverly escaped with the stolen goods and had gone to live in another country. That wasn’t all he did so he wouldn’t get caught; he also changed his name and how he looked. He found a job, got married, had a family and was living in a nice home. He had put his past crimes behind him and believed that with the changes he had made he was now quite safe. But his name was still on the police record as a criminal, and detectives never gave up searching for him.

I am sure most of you hope that this story will end with the robber being caught and brought to justice. However, at this point all of us have to remember that each one of us is just as guilty of sin before God as that robber. We each have a bad record that also demands justice. We cannot just turn over a new leaf and hope that our past sins are forgotten. The Bible tells us that “there is no difference: for all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:22-23), and, “The wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23). So as we continue the story about the robber, each of us should think seriously about our own sinful record before God.

This man’s life was quite pleasant, and he lived as a good neighbor and fellow-worker. He had no idea that detectives were still on his trail and ready to close in.

He came home from work one day, parked his car in the garage, got out and walked to his front door. Suddenly, two or three men came towards him from different hiding places, calling him by his real name. He paused, turned pale and then said, “OH, NO!” He knew immediately that it was all over and that his cover-up had failed.

They handcuffed the man and took him away, with no time even for good-byes to his family. The Bible says, “Be sure your sin will find you out” (Numbers 32:23). Because his sin was still on the record, he had to be brought to justice - there was a penalty he had to pay.

But what about your sin and mine? How can we get our names cleared and off God’s record so that we will not be called before Him for His judgment? The good news that we have to tell you is that God delights to forgive any sinner who comes to Him, truly repenting of his sins and turning from his bad ways. God calls Himself “merciful and gracious . . . forgiving iniquity . . . and sin” (Exodus 34:67). It is not the will of God that we should ever have to say, “OH, NO!” with our names still on the guilty list, because for that very reason “He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever [believes] in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life” (John 3:16). His Son Jesus paid the penalty for the sins of all who come to Him, admitting their guilt. If we come to the Lord Jesus for forgiveness now, we will never have to be afraid to stand before God or to hear His awful words, “Depart from Me,” and we will never have to exclaim, “OH, NO!”

ML-10/27/2002

Mickey the Macaw

Mr. and Mrs. Morgan really valued Mickey their macaw. Not only was he a family pet, but he cost lots of money! A macaw is a long-tailed parrot with beautiful blue, red, yellow and green feathers. These birds come from the warm climates of Mexico and South America, so Mickey had to live indoors at the Morgan’s home in Illinois.

One summer day Mickey escaped from the Morgan’s house. No one seemed to know just how he got out, but there he was at the top of a tree! Mr. and Mrs. Morgan called the fire department, which arrived with a snorkel truck to try to capture Mickey. The snorkel lifted a fireman right up to the top of the tree. But each time the fireman would get within reach of Mickey, he would fly off to the next tree. It certainly looked like an impossible job to catch Mickey.

Have you ever thought of your value to God? Matthew 10:30 tells us that God values us so much He knows exactly how many hairs we each have on our head! We also know that God’s love for us is so great that He sent His only Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, to die on the cross to wash away our sins. Have you let the Lord Jesus wash away your sins and be your Saviour? Those who have done this belong to Him and are called His jewels: “They shall be Mine, saith the Lord of hosts, in that day when I make up My jewels” (Malachi 3:17). Are you one of His valuable jewels?

After several attempts to capture Mickey had failed, a fireman came up with a great idea, and it worked! The fireman hooked up the fire hose and sprayed Mickey lightly with water until his feathers were soaked. Mickey was now so heavy with water that he could not fly anywhere. Now it was an easy job to raise the snorkel and catch Mickey. How glad the Morgans were to have Mickey safe indoors again, even if he was all wet!

The Morgans would not leave Mickey in the treetop, and the Lord Jesus will not leave His own children in this world. He values His children so much that He has prepared a wonderful home for them in heaven. Very soon He will come to take those who have accepted Him as their Saviour to that home. “I go to prepare a place for you” (John 14:2). “I will come again, and receive you unto Myself; that where I am, there ye may be also” (John 14:3).

Will He take you to His home in heaven?

ML-10/27/2002

"Aren't You Going to Eat Your Toast?"

Timmy was a sweet little toddler, about a year and a half old. One morning, his big brother Ron was fixing his breakfast. “Do you want some toast, Timmy?” he asked.

Timmy nodded his head yes.

Ron popped a slice of bread in the toaster and then lifted Timmy into his high chair. When the toast popped up, he buttered it and set it on the high chair tray.

Timmy didn’t eat it.

Grandma asked, “Do you want some jam on your toast?” Timmy nodded his head yes, and Grandma spread the jam.

Still, Timmy didn’t eat it.

“Aren’t you going to eat your toast?” Grandma asked.

Timmy pointed several times at the toast with his chubby little finger, bowed his head and clasped his hands together. If he had been able to talk, he couldn’t have said any more clearly, “We haven’t given thanks to the Lord Jesus yet.”

Grandma was ashamed she had forgotten. She went over to Timmy’s high chair, bowed her head and thanked the Lord Jesus for Timmy’s toast.

Timmy looked up with a smile and began to eat.

What a sweet reminder about thankfulness little Timmy gave Grandma that morning. God tells us we should “[give] thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ” (Ephesians 5:20). Have you thanked Him today for sending His beloved Son to die for your sins? Have you thanked Him for supplying all your daily needs? “He that spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?” (Romans 8:32). “Be ye thankful” (Colossians 3:15).

ML-11/03/2002

A Pitiful Dog

The janitor of the building where Marvin worked was taking trash out to the big garbage dumpster one morning when he heard something whimpering inside the big steel container. When he lifted the lid, he found a small, black animal inside. He picked up the whimpering creature and found that it was a very sick puppy. Its eyes were infected, its coat was dirty and scruffy with patches of fur missing, and its little stomach was bloated. It was a pitiful little creature.

The janitor carried the little puppy to Marvin and asked him what he should do with it. Marvin told him to put it in a box and he would call his wife to come take a look at the miserable little dog.

Marvin called Louise, his wife. When he told her about the thrown-away puppy, she said, “Marvin, you know I can’t turn a homeless animal away, and we already have three cats!”

“Better come down and look at this puppy anyway,” Marvin told his wife.

When Louise saw the pitiful condition of the little black puppy, her heart went out to it. Even though she knew from experience that the medical cost of treating the puppy would be high, she said, “Let’s take it to the animal doctor and see what he says.”

The condition of this sick, hopeless, unwanted puppy that was dumped in a steel prison is just like any boy or girl or man or woman who is still locked in the prison of their sins and unsaved. The Bible describes their condition as miserable in Isaiah 1:6: “From the sole of the foot even unto the head there is no soundness . . . but wounds, and bruises, and putrifying [festering] sores.” Their condition is sadly hopeless unless they turn to the Saviour of sinners who loves them and has compassion for every lost sinner. The Lord Jesus willingly died on the cross so He could save sinners from their sins. “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners” (1 Timothy 1:15). He wants to wash away their sins, making them clean and fit for His happy home in heaven.

After a few weeks of medication and loving care, the little black puppy blossomed into a pretty dog. She has a patch of white on her chest, a light-brown muzzle, light-brown spots over her eyes and cute, floppy ears. They named her Megan. She had to learn to leave the cats alone, which she did after having her nose scratched a few times. She enjoys the water and loves to lie on a floatboard for rides around the family swimming pool.

Megan is now a happy, trusting companion of her new owners. And the Lord Jesus offers you a happy, trusting relationship with Him, if you will accept the love He offers and let Him cleanse you from all your sins. “The Son of God, who loved me, and gave Himself for me” (Galatians 2:20).

ML-11/10/2002

The Water Seller

In parts of Egypt and other eastern countries, water does not come out of faucets like it does where most of us live. It has to be carried home in jars or buckets from wells or other sources. In larger towns, there are water carriers who carry a large tank of water on a cart. They go down the streets selling the water to anyone who will buy it.

To attract people’s attention, the carrier will call out in his language, “Thirsty ones, come and drink!” This is much the same as what the Bible says in Isaiah 55:1: “Ho, every one that [thirsts], come ye to the waters.”

However, the water carrier sells the water he carries. This is different from what Isaiah says in the last part of the verse — “and he that hath no money; come ye, buy . . . without money and without price.”

Often the water carrier meets groups of children playing in the streets. They are thirsty, but they don’t have the money to buy his water. Some of us live in cities where the ice cream truck comes down the street on hot summer days with ice cream to sell. But unless we have the money, we can’t buy the ice cream.

In those desert countries, sometimes someone will buy the thirsty children water to drink. And sometimes a friend here will buy ice cream for a child who doesn’t have any money. These kind people offer the water or ice cream free to the children! It has already been paid for.

This is the true message of the gospel —Christ has paid the price — the water of life that He offers you is free!

“Whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely” (Revelation 22:17).

“The wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Romans 6:23).

ML-11/10/2002

A Slippery Slope

One morning, Mr. Elgin and his wife decided to go over to their son’s home and visit their new grandchild. Being a workday, their son wasn’t at home. So after seeing the baby and while his wife and daughter-in-law visited, Mr. Elgin decided to play fetch with their dog in the backyard.

He found a stick and he and the dog started the game. They had been playing for a while when . . . oops! The stick went a little too far, and it looked as though it landed on the roof. Mr. Elgin decided it might be a good idea to get a ladder and go up on the roof to find the stick. He didn’t want to just leave it up there.

All he could find was a step ladder, so Mr. Elgin set it up against the house. He saw it was about one step short of reaching the roof. He climbed to the top and decided he could trust the tread on his new rubber-soled shoes to take that final step onto the roof.

Safely on the roof, he looked all around, but there was no stick to be found! So the next thing was to get off the roof, but that might be a tricky matter! He had noticed that his new shoes were not gripping the roof very well. When he found himself slipping, he realized that his son had recently oiled the cedar shake shingles on the roof ! How he wished now that he had not taken that one step from the top of the ladder onto the roof !

Realizing how easily he could slip off the roof, his thoughts quickly turned to two people he loved who had fallen off a roof. One was killed and the other one was seriously injured with many broken bones.

Mr. Elgin certainly was in a dangerous situation. How easy it had been for him to take that step onto the roof. He didn’t expect any problems as he walked around up there. And young people see things they would like to do and usually don’t expect any problems either. They know it might be a little risky, but they want to try it anyway. They are sure they can just walk away if it becomes dangerous. Satan’s trap! Satan whispers, Try it; you’ll like it. How well he knows that sin can be fun, and who’s going to walk away from fun? And so that first step leads to another, and then another toward that slippery slope of disaster.

Mr. Elgin was on that slippery slope and decided to sit down on the roof, but he still kept sliding towards the edge. He pounded on the roof and called to his wife. But since he was on the garage roof, she never heard him.

About then, the next door neighbor drove into his driveway and waved a friendly hello. Mr. Elgin waved back, and then the neighbor disappeared. No help from him, he thought. Then he remembered the Bible verse: “Call upon Me in the day of trouble: I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify Me” (Psalm 50:15). So right then and there he prayed, “Help me, Lord Jesus.” Then he had a thought . . . If he could carefully slide over to the corner of the roof where he saw a vent pipe, he could at least hang on to the pipe until help came. So that’s what he did — very carefully — and he was thankful to find that the seat of his pants wasn’t as slippery on the shingles as his shoes were.

Not long after this, that same neighbor was in his yard and saw Mr. Elgin still sitting on the roof, hanging on to that pipe. “Do you need some help?” the neighbor called.

“Do I ever!” Mr. Elgin called back.

The neighbor brought over a long ladder and put it up against the house and helped Mr. Elgin get safely down to the ground. “You are a godsend!” he told the helpful neighbor. As he walked around to the front of the house, he thanked the Lord for answering his prayer by sending the neighbor and saving him from a terrible fall. And as he came around the front, he discovered something. There in the front flower bed he saw the stick! That one step had not been necessary at all; in fact, it had almost cost him a dangerous fall and possibly his life.

Young person or older one, are you being tempted to take that first risky step into what looks like fun that’s too good to miss? Turn around now before it’s too late, and direct that step to the Lord Jesus who loves you and offers you forgiveness for your sins and far more wonderful happiness than this evil world knows anything about. Come to Jesus right now, confessing that you are a sinner and that you need His forgiveness. He will not only forgive your sins, He will give you much, much more, including a home in heaven with Him when your life on earth is over.

Only a step to Jesus!

Then why not take it now?

Come, and, thy sins confessing,

To Him thy Saviour bow.

Only a step, only a step;

Come, He waits for thee!

“Now unto Him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy” (Jude 24). “In whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace” (Ephesians 1:7).

ML-11/17/2002

"Where Did God Come From?"

One day six-year-old Matthew asked his mother, “Where did God come from?”

“It is really hard to understand,” she answered, “but maybe this will help.” She took off her wedding ring, handed it to him and asked, “Where does this ring begin and where does it end?”

Matthew turned the ring over and over in his hands and finally answered, “There isn’t any starting place or stopping place.”

Then his mother explained, “It is exactly the same way with God — there was no beginning to God, and there will be no end to God. He always has been living, and He always will be living.”

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by Him; and without Him was not anything made that was made” (John 1:13).

ML-11/17/2002

Saved From the Sewer

On the front page of our local newspaper in large black letters were the words,

“THANK YOU, THANK YOU
FOR SAVING ME!”

They were spoken by a young boy who realized he had just been rescued from certain death. The boy had climbed down into a manhole to explore, had slipped on the slimy surface, and was carried down the pipes in the filthy water. When he found his footing, he was waist deep in the dark, smelly, murky, fast-flowing water. He could not go back, for the water was rushing too strongly, so when he found something to hang on to, he stayed where he was. He was cold and scared. As hour after hour passed, he had lots of time to think. He thought of his mother and his friends at the top of the manhole, and he thought about dying. Would anyone come to his rescue? Could anyone help him? And even though he had never thought much about God, he began to pray.

Here was a boy who knew he needed to be saved from death in the sewer pipes. But there are many people who do not know they need to be saved from eternal death. The Lord Jesus came “to seek and to save that which was lost” (Luke 19:10), and the Apostle Peter tells us that “there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved” (Acts 4:12). The name Jesus means saviour - one who saves from danger or destruction-and He came to rescue us from our lost condition in our sins and to save us that we might have eternal life.

What the boy did not know was that his friends had gone for help. A large group of people had gathered up above, and much discussion was going on as to how to rescue him.

It was near midnight when two brave firemen, wearing wet-suits and breathing equipment, climbed down the manhole, dragging a small raft, and with powerful flashlights followed the flowing water. They did not have much hope of finding the boy but kept calling his name and shining the light. The boy thought he heard a voice above the roar of the water; then he saw a bit of light, and he began to cry out. The firemen shone the light until it fell on the boy, weak and cold. One fireman reached out and scooped him up onto the raft. Then they dragged him back to the manhole and up to the anxious, waiting crowd. Imagine the joy of his mother and his friends to receive him back safe and sound.

And what a picture of our Saviour who came from above, down to this sinful earth to shine light into our souls. He calls our names, and when we answer, He lifts us out of Satan’s kingdom of darkness and carries us to His kingdom of light. The Bible tells us in Luke 15:10 that “there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that [repents]”-one sinner that has been saved from eternal destruction.

Do you know that you need to be saved? Do as that boy did, and pray, for “whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved” (Romans 10:13). Then you, like that boy, can tell the Lord Jesus, “Thank you, thank you for saving me!”

ML-11/24/2002

The Library Fine

Recently I went to the library to take out some books. While checking them out, I was totally surprised when the lady, after carefully watching the computer screen, looked at me and said, “There is a fine outstanding since last December. A book you returned was overdue, and this fine will remain on our records until you pay it. Do you want to pay it now?”

I was shocked to think that, quite unknown to me, there was a fine against my name. It was no mistake - the fine was mine. As I thought about it later, it brought to my mind something far more serious. It is possible that some boys and girls aren’t aware of the fact that God is also keeping a record of everything we think and say and do. And no mistakes will be made. God tells us that all have sinned, and those with sins still on their records cannot enter heaven. Every one of us can probably, truthfully remember some sins that are recorded against our names.

How can we ever have these awful records wiped out? For my library fine, I took out some money, paid the fine and immediately the library lady cleared my computer record. Just a simple exchange between the library lady and me, and the record of my fine was removed in a few moments. But we cannot pay God money for our debt of sins, for He clearly says, “Ye [are] not redeemed with . . . silver and gold” (1 Peter 1:18). How can we clear the record of our sins, since we can’t pay a fine for them?

There is good news. God has made a way for a sinner to have his record of sins cleared and be ready for heaven. He sent His Son, Jesus Christ, as my substitute, punished Him instead of me, and all I have to do is accept Him as my own Saviour. I must have a personal exchange with Him - come to Him with my debt of sin, and He will clear my record because He has already paid the “fine” for me. The Bible says, “Christ . . . once suffered for sins, the Just [Christ] for the unjust [you and me], that He might bring us to God” (1 Peter 3:18).

Will you take your debt of sin to the Lord Jesus and let Him clear your record? “As far as the east is from the west, so far hath He removed our transgressions [debt of sin] from us” (Psalm 103:12). “Thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the sea” (Micah 7:19).

Gone, gone, gone, gone,

Yes, my sins are gone;

Now my soul is free,

And in my heart is a song.

Buried in the deepest sea;

Yes, that’s good enough for me;

I shall live eternally;

Praise God! My sins are gone!

ML-11/24/2002

Nothing to Fear

“Mommy, come quick! There’s a monster in my room!” cried Stevie. When his mother came, she explained to Stevie that there wasn’t any such thing as a monster, even though his little friends seemed to think there was.

When Stevie still seemed a little afraid, she said, “Stevie, Jesus is here with you. He won’t let anything hurt you. He loves you very much.”

“Isn’t Jesus afraid of anything?” asked Stevie.

“Oh, no, Stevie. He doesn’t have to be afraid of anything. Don’t you remember when He told the big wind and the big waves to be still, and they became calm? They had to do what He said, because He is God. So you don’t have to be afraid of monsters or anything else with Jesus here to take care of you.”

“Okay, Mommy, you can go downstairs now,” said Stevie. “Jesus will take care of me.” He snuggled down with his Teddy bear under the covers and went off to sleep.

Do you feel afraid sometimes, especially in the dark? Just remember that Jesus is with you all the time. He has promised to those who love Him, “I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee” (Hebrews 13:5). And the very next verse says, “The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear” (Hebrews 13:6).

ML-12/01/2002

"Socked In"

Have you ever ridden in a car through fog so dense you could only see a few feet in front of you? I have and it’s quite frightening. When I was working for a large company, I was involved in establishing new factories and production lines in Puerto Rico, a distance of about three thousand miles from our company. So I made quite a few flights back and forth to the island. On the days we were to return home, many times we would work all day and catch the evening flights home.

On one such trip home when we reached the mainland of the United States, we heard that a dense fog had covered the southeast and central states, and that our destination, Chicago, was “socked in.” That meant no planes could land and no planes could depart! As we headed towards Chicago, the pilot radioed ahead to all airports that could handle a wide-body jet - Atlanta, Knoxville, Louisville, St. Louis, Indianapolis and others - but all those airports had the same problem - dense fog! Here we were stranded, not in an airport, but in the air with no place to go, and the plane was running low on fuel!

Finally we were given permission to land at Minneapolis, four hundred miles beyond our destination. We landed with good night vision and sat on the holding area for two hours before the pilot got clearance to fly to Chicago. The fog had lifted just enough to allow us to land. As the wheels touched down on the runway, cheers went up from the passengers. “Then they are glad because . . . He [the Lord] bringeth them unto their desired haven” (Psalm 107:30). I wonder how many prayers went up to the Lord that night.

I have likened that adventure to men, women, boys and girls who are trying to penetrate the fog in their minds as to how to get to heaven. “The god of this world [Satan] hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them” (2 Corinthians 4:4).

Some think that doing good works will save them from their sins or at least balance them out. But Ephesians 2:89 tells us differently: “By grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: not of works, lest any man should boast.”

Giving money to help the needy will not save a person from their sins either. In Acts 8:1823, a man named Simon saw that Peter and John could give a person the Holy Spirit by laying their hands on the person, and he wanted this power and offered them money. But Peter said to him, “Thy money perish with thee, because thou hast thought that the gift of God may be purchased with money.”

Putting off the matter of your sins until later is dangerous. I saw a bumper sticker which stated, “A PERSON WHO IS WAITING FOR AN 11TH-HOUR CONVERSION MAY DIE AT 10:30!” James 5:8 warns, “The coming of the Lord [draws] nigh.” If our pilot had said, “I believe I’ll just circle Chicago until the fog clears,” he most certainly would have run out of fuel. But instead, he headed for the nearest clear airport and waited until he got the call to go to Chicago. So Christians have been waiting for nearly two thousand years for that call to go to their heavenly home. The last promise in the Word of God is the Lord Jesus saying, “Surely I come quickly” (Revelation 22:20). He could come today!

Do not put off accepting the Lord Jesus’ invitation any longer. He is saying, “Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation” (2 Corinthians 6:2). Confess to Him that you are a sinner and believe that Jesus bore your “sins in His own body on the tree” (1 Peter 2:24). “If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved” (Romans 10:9). Once you do that, you’ve got clearance for a safe landing in heaven.

ML-12/08/2002

"Is It Time Yet?"

Uncle Tom and Aunt Lisa planned to take little Heather to the zoo on Saturday. “Be sure to be ready at 1:00 sharp,” they told her. “We’ll come by in the car then to pick you up.”

Heather woke up very early Saturday morning and asked her mother, “Is it time to go to the zoo yet?”

“Oh no!” said Mother. “It’s only 8:00.”

Heather waited on the front porch all morning, because she wanted to be sure to be ready on time. How happy she was when 1:00 finally came! Uncle Tom and Aunt Lisa took her to the zoo, and what a good time she had watching the lions, tigers, elephants and many other animals and birds.

For those who love the Lord Jesus, a happy time is coming too. It will be much happier than a trip to the zoo, because we are going to heaven to be with our Lord and Saviour forever!

Maybe even today all those who have accepted the Lord Jesus Christ as their Saviour will hear the shout that will call them away to be with Him. Would you be ready to meet Him if He were to come today? Have your sins been washed away in His precious blood?

How sad it would be if you were left behind, because terrible judgments are going to come on this world after the Lord Jesus has taken His people out of it! Run to the Saviour today for refuge and safety.

“Watch therefore; for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come” (Matthew 24:42). “Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of Man cometh” (Matthew 24:44).

ML-12/08/2002

Weasels Are Cute but Have Bad Tempers: (Part 1)

“Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in His sight: but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of Him with whom we have to do.”
Hebrews 4:13

As springtime comes to North America, thousands of baby weasels are born in underground dens, hollow logs and other hideaways. Each nest will have from three to ten or more young, so tiny that two dozen together would scarcely weigh a pound.

The Creator has arranged their birth in early spring so they can learn to care for themselves during the warm days that follow. Before they can be independent, they need the care of both parents, for it will be about a month before their eyes open. During this time, the mother stays close by and nurses them. Then for another month both parents bring solid food and begin taking them outside to teach them how to survive. When they are about four months old, the little weasels are on their own.

There are many varieties of weasels throughout the world, inhabiting forests, meadows and grasslands. All have beautiful fur, but underneath is a fierce nature, making them a threat to small rodents and birds. Actually, they are part of a family that includes badgers, otters, ferrets, minks and skunks.

Weasels are always on the go and full of curiosity, bounding over the ground with snarls, hisses and fearsome noises as they search for prey. Often they squeeze into burrows when their noses tell them there’s a meal down there. Although they are small enough to hold in a man’s hand, they are not afraid of larger creatures, some going after marmots, woodchucks and even rabbits - all much larger than themselves. One of their worst offenses is breaking into chicken coops and killing chickens, which, of course, makes them unpopular with many farmers.

But in spite of these practices, they are a delightful example of the wonders of God’s creation with their pretty coloring, bright eyes, large ears and black noses. Because of the quality of their fur, people hunt them, especially in the winter when their fur is thick and luxurious. Most of them change color in the different seasons, from a beautiful brown in summer to pure white in winter - a provision of the Creator to camouflage them from their enemies.

Our opening verse reminds us that God is always aware of all His creatures. We may be sure that if weasels could, they would thank Him for such wonderful care. But God did not make us like weasels - we can read God’s Word, the Bible, and know His special care over us. Everyone is happy who can agree with the words of Psalm 33:21: “Our heart shall rejoice in Him, because we have trusted in His holy name.” Is that trust and happiness yours?

(to be continued)

ML-09/08/2002

Weasels Are Cute but Have Bad Tempers: (Part 2)

“Great and marvelous are Thy works, Lord God Almighty; just and true are Thy ways.”
Revelation 15:3

The three most common weasels in North America are the least, the short-tailed and the long-tailed. The least is the smallest of all, weighing just a few ounces when fully grown and seldom more than six inches long plus a one-inch stubby tail. It is quite pretty - its back a light brown, changing to white at its throat and underneath parts. During winter, those in the far north turn completely white, but those in the south become a spotted brown mixed with the white. These are provisions of the Creator to conceal them from enemies.

This little one is a real help to mankind, because its appetite for mice and other small, destructive animals helps to keep these under control. Mice are its main food and are easily caught; this weasel is so small it can follow them through any hole.

The short-tailed is often called an ermine. This one is twice the size of the least. During summer, it is a soft brown along the back and sides and creamy white underneath. Strangely, it is the only one with brown feet. When it turns all white in winter, it is hunted for its beautiful fur.

The ermine also hunts mice, rats, moles, squirrels, birds and snakes. The Creator has given it instincts to make rooms in its burrow for storing food for cold winter days.

The long-tailed is the largest of all, measuring up to eighteen inches long, plus a black-tipped tail another nine inches long. Even so, the males weigh only about a pound and the females even less. This one makes its home throughout North America, except for hot desert areas.

The long-tailed hunts day and night for its food and is a great climber, often chasing its prey out to the end of a tree branch. It is the fiercest of the three and will even attack a dog or a man if cornered.

Bold hunters themselves, all weasels have numerous enemies, including hawks, owls, foxes, wildcats and coyotes. But with their thin bodies and speed, they usually escape by diving into a nearby burrow, a narrow crevice, or under a pile of brush.

All these animals are unaware of God’s care, and He does not hold them accountable. However, every human has been given an intellect and a conscience, and God has given us the Bible for a guide. We are told: “Let them . . . commit the keeping of their souls to Him in well doing, as unto a faithful Creator” (1 Peter 4:19). This means we should not only trust our earthly lives to Him, but accept Him as our Saviour to receive eternal life and be safe in Him. Have you done this?

ML-09/15/2002

The Squirrels and Mr. Blue Jay

The squirrels in the park are used to being around people. Children and adults often feed them. One day two boys were giving peanuts to a squirrel. After the squirrel took a peanut out of their hands, he ran a little way into the woods and dug a hole. He dropped the peanut in the hole and then covered it with dirt and leaves to hide the place. He would come back later, dig it up and eat the peanut, just as squirrels usually do.

A blue jay, quietly sitting on a branch, was watching the action. Blue jays can be noisy at times, but this one sat still and quiet. After the squirrel buried the peanut and ran back to the boys for another one, Mr. Blue Jay flew down from his branch and dug up the peanut. Then he carried it in his beak as he flew back to the tree to eat it.

This reminds us of a parable in the Bible that tells of a man planting seeds. Some of his seeds fell on hard ground. The seeds stayed on top of the ground, and so the birds came and ate the seed and nothing grew.

Jesus explained that this is like people who hear the Bible read but do not pay attention to what they hear. The devil comes and takes away what they hear so they learn nothing from it, just as the birds came down and ate the seed. If you or I do not pay attention to what the Bible tells us, we will not learn from God.

Jesus has told us the truth. We are all sinners and need to believe in Him. It is so simple if we do exactly what Jesus told us in this verse. “He that believeth on Me hath everlasting life” (John 6:47). If you believe in Jesus, trusting only in Him to save you from your sins, you have everlasting (or eternal) life. When Jesus comes, He will take you with Him into heaven.

Satan is like the blue jay. He does not want boys and girls and men and women to believe on Jesus. He wants you to forget that you need to be saved from your sins.

Now I’ll tell you the rest of the story. One time the squirrel turned around quickly and saw the blue jay stealing his peanut. The squirrel made a loud, chattering noise, scolding the blue jay, and the blue jay just flew up into the tree. The squirrel ran up the tree to chase him, and the blue jay quickly flew away.

The Bible says, “Resist the devil, and he will flee [run away] from you” (James 4:7). Don’t listen to anyone who says that you are all right the way you are and that you don’t need to be saved from your sins. That is a lie from the devil who does not want you to be saved. Instead, believe what Jesus says and let Him save you.

ML-12/15/2002

Followed Safety Instructions

Eight-year-old Larry asked his mother for permission to burn the papers in the trash can out in the backyard. Since it wasn’t windy, his mother told him to go ahead. She knew his father had talked with him about fire safety and had taught him how to use matches safely.

Seeing his mother watching him from an upstairs window, Larry waved to her. As the trash started burning she went back to cleaning the bedroom.

Only a few minutes later, his mother heard Larry screaming. She dashed back to the window and saw Larry rolling in the grass with his pant leg on fire. She raced downstairs and outside to Larry. By the time she reached him, the fire on his clothes was out. He had followed the directions his father had explained to him, and that may have saved his life.

God our Father has given us “safety instructions” in the Bible because He loves us and wants you and me to spend eternity with Him in heaven. First off, He warns us that we are sinners and cannot go to heaven if we are still in our sins. “All have sinned, and come short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). Then He explains that we cannot get rid of our sins by anything we try to do. “We are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses [good deeds] are as filthy rags” (Isaiah 64:6). In other words, we cannot settle this problem of our sins by ourselves. He also warns that all sin must be punished. “It is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment” (Hebrews 9:27). Each of us will be punished for our sins after we die unless God’s substitute has already taken that punishment for us. Then He explains who that substitute is. God sent His Son, the Lord Jesus, to take the punishment for our sins in our place, if we will accept Him as our Saviour. “Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many” (Hebrews 9:28).

Won’t you follow God’s safety instructions right now and accept Jesus as your substitute and Saviour before it is too late?

ML-12/15/2002

Tip, the Hero

“I brought you a surprise, Sis,” the young man said, holding something behind his back. He brought it around in front of him to show his sister.

“A dog! We already have a dog,” Joan reminded him.

“I found it when I was driving out on the range looking for cattle,” explained Buck. “It’s hardly more than a pup. It’s a stray, and I couldn’t leave it out where the coyotes would have gotten it. It needs a home. Will you keep it?”

Before Joan had time to answer, he set the dog down, and with a wag of its tail it bounded through the open door and into the house to make friends with Aiyana, Joan’s three-year-old daughter. The little dog brushed his nose up against her and she giggled with delight.

“Looks like he’s made a friend real quick,” Buck said, watching them get acquainted.

Joan gave in; “I guess we can give the dog a home.”

The young dog’s short hair was reddish-orange except for tips of white on his tail, nose and feet. He held his head and ears erect. Joan decided to call him “Tip” because of his tips of white fur.

Tip fit into his new family easily over the next few weeks. He especially liked little Aiyana who was happy to share her food with him. They later found out that he was a “dingo” dog. This type of dog can’t bark and originally comes from the outback of Australia.

No one knows why little Aiyana decided to wander away from her home one evening. They lived on the Colville Indian Reservation, which is in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains in northeastern Washington and is full of rough terrain with wild animals. When it was discovered that the child was missing, her parents searched the areas surrounding their house. When they didn’t find her, they called the tribal police who organized a massive search. The next morning over a hundred and fifty men and women began searching the rugged, rocky hills.

A searcher named Skumhiest Jack had searched all morning. He was almost two miles away from Aiyana’s house when he sat wearily on a log to rest. He was thinking about returning to the house when he saw a dog’s head with a white tip on its nose pop up through some bushes. He went to look more closely and found little Aiyana sound asleep under the bush.

Skumhiest Jack carried the little girl back to her home. He later said, “I never would have found the little girl had it not been for the dog. That dog is the real hero!”

The little girl’s father said it was unbelievable that a stray dog they had just recently welcomed into their home would have stayed with their daughter so faithfully. Happily, Tip tipped off the rescuer, and the little girl was saved.

Now here is a tip for you. You too have wandered off and are lost and need to be saved. The Bible says that “all we like sheep have gone astray” (Isaiah 53:6). “Lost” is the word God uses for any person who is still in his sins. If you have not come to the Lord Jesus Christ to be cleansed from your sins, you are lost and headed for the darkness of an eternity without God and without hope. The Bible calls it the lake of fire.

Happily for Aiyana, she was rescued from her lost condition. You too can be saved from your lost condition. “The Son of Man [the Lord Jesus] is come to seek and to save that which was lost” (Luke 19:10). To save sinners from their lost condition, He went all the way to the cross where He “suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God” (1 Peter 3:18). Now any boy or girl who believes that the Lord Jesus suffered for his or her very own sins will receive the gift of righteousness by being cleansed from every sin. The Lord Jesus is such a loving Saviour that any who trust in Him can never be lost again. He tells those who come to Him to have their sins washed away, “Their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more” (Hebrews 8:12).

Are you still lost in your sins?

ML-12/22/2002

An Ignored Warning

As we started out from home to travel to Florida that cold winter day, there was snow on the ground, but the roads were dry. We were pulling a twenty-five-foot trailer that had its pivoting hitch in the center of our truck bed. We hoped that we wouldn’t run into ice, since we knew it was dangerous to pull a trailer on icy roads.

We had gone about a hundred miles when we ran into unusual conditions. It looked like it had snowed and then rained on top of the snow. Truck tires had packed this down, forming two tracks of icy snow on the road. However, in between the tracks the road was dry and the passing lane was dry.

I thought about turning back but foolishly decided to drive in the dry passing lane and keep going. This worked until cars and trucks traveling faster wanted me to move over into the driving lane so they could pass. I tried to straddle the icy tracks in the driving lane, and then a strong, crosswind came up. Suddenly something happened that all truck drivers fear - the trailer jackknifed! Just as you would fold up the blade of a jackknife, the trailer swung around and hit the cab of the truck. The impact broke the rear window behind my head, showering small pieces of glass down my back. Then it pulled the truck around, and we slid backwards into the ditch between the two roadways. The deep snow in the ditch and the hitch kept the trailer from turning over. But when it came to a stop, it was tilted at a forty-five-degree angle with two wheels on the ground and two wheels in the air.

As we sat in the cold truck waiting for the state police to come, we thanked the Lord for protecting us from injury and asked His help in getting out of the ditch and returning safely home.

We sat in the warm police car while the state trooper called a wrecker and filled out the accident report. He asked us where we had been headed. When we said, “Florida,” he said, “Well, you can still go there after checking your rig out.” I said to my wife on the way home, “If the Lord didn’t want us to go to Florida, I certainly am not going!”

The sad part about the whole accident was that we had not listened to a warning from a dear friend. He had visited us the day before we left. When he got home that night and heard a road report, he called us to warn us of the danger of that very road that we jackknifed on. Proverbs 8:33 warns, “Hear instruction, and be wise, and refuse it not.” We were not wise!

There is much warning in God’s Word about people who are living in their sins and are refusing or just not listening to the gospel of the grace of God. This good news tells how God loves us so much that He sent His own Son down here to bear the punishment for sinners on Calvary’s cross and give up His life. He rose from the dead and proclaims the victory: “I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in Me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: and whosoever liveth and believeth in Me shall never die” (John 11:25—26).

Here are some of the warnings: “Today if ye will hear His voice, harden not your hearts” (Hebrews 3:15). “Seek ye the Lord while He may be found, call ye upon Him while He is near” (Isaiah 55:6). “How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation?” (Hebrews 2:3).

By not listening to the warning we were given, we ended up with much damage to our truck and trailer. We also could have been injured or lost our lives. Not listening to God’s warnings about your sins carries a much greater price. When the Lord Jesus comes to take to heaven all those who are saved from their sins, the door to heaven will be shut forever. Those who have not listened to His warnings will be left behind and will face judgment for their sins in that awful place the Bible calls hell.

Will you be wise and listen to God’s warning, “Flee from the wrath to come” (Luke 3:7)? He is offering you safety and happiness in His home forever.

ML-12/29/2002

A Love Letter

Little 3-year-old Elizabeth asked for paper and a pen to write a letter, so I found both and gave them to her. In typical 3-year-old style, she worked hard at it and finally turned out a letter to me!

Well, to say the least, I was very pleased. But I needed an interpreter, so I asked if she would help me read it.

She picked it up and read:

“I love Grandma.

Everyone loves Grandma.

Even Hope loves Grandma.”

I have framed my love letter and don’t ever want to forget it. It sits on my dresser and I am reminded that Elizabeth loves me, and so does even Hope.

God has written a love letter to us! Did you know that? It says, “God so loved the world [and that means you and me], that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever [and that also means you and me] believeth in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” You can read it for yourself in the Bible in John 3:16. We also read in the Bible, “The Son of God [Jesus], who loved me, and gave Himself for me.” You can also read this verse for yourself in Galatians 2:20.

Just like Elizabeth’s letter, I have my Bible where I can see it and read it and be reminded that God loves me, and Jesus loves me. And then I prayerfully say, “Thank you, dear Father, and thank you, Lord Jesus, for loving me.”

Do you keep your Bible where you can see it and read it and be reminded that God loves you and Jesus loves you?

ML-12/29/2002

Heavy Idols

Yes, the oxen were loaded that day, and they were tired. They probably had been pulling the load all day, because oxen are strong beasts, and it takes a lot for their strong and steady legs to become really tired.

What load did they carry? Let’s look up the answer in Isaiah 46:12: “Their idols were upon the beasts, and upon the cattle: [their] carriages were heavy laden; they are a burden to the weary beast. They stoop, they bow down together; they could not deliver the burden.” Those tired oxen were carrying a load of idols, perhaps for moving or perhaps for a parade. Of course, it was a very valuable load, for what is more important in anybody’s life than their idols?

The idols were probably handmade and hand painted and maybe mended and repainted. Idols must be kept in repair, you know, so that they can be faithfully worshipped. Not very many people can live without idols. They are very important, even if they keep you busy and tired and never satisfied.

Do you have some idols in your life? I can think of a few things that I know are idols to some people. Sometimes we call these things “gods,” because they take up so much time and money and work that other things are pushed aside and neglected. See if you can name a few, maybe even in your own life.

Every country has different gods. In Babylon long ago, they were images made of wood or stone, and in the country where you live now, you might think your gods are much more worthy of your time and work. But there’s one thing all gods have in common - they don’t love you. You must buy them with money and time and energy, but they don’t love you. They will never satisfy you, and they will never last beyond death. You must leave them all behind, and most of them you will stop enjoying long before you leave this life.

Is there a God that you don’t have to carry? Is there a God whose approval you don’t have to win? Yes. I have a God who carries me, and He lives in heaven! My God is the One who made me and loves me, and He says, “Even to your old age I am He; and even to hoar [white] hairs I will carry you: I have made, and I will bear; even I will carry, and will deliver you” (Isaiah 46:4).

Would you like to have a God like that? You may ask, What can I do to earn His approval? Nothing. “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners” (1 Timothy 1:15). If you know that you are a sinner, then you know that God loves you and is ready to save you. And He will be responsible to carry you home; you don’t have to carry Him.

Do you want this God of love forever and ever? Or do you look at the gods that seem more important to you, and will you struggle to give your life to those gods that do not love you and cannot save your soul? You are sure to lose them in the end and to lose your soul too.

“Look unto Me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is none else” (Isaiah 45:22).

ML-03/03/2002

The Special Tree (Zaccheus)

No doubt there were lots of trees growing outside the city of Jericho that day, but there was one that was very special. It was a sycamore tree, but it was not the big leaves or the sweet fruit that made it important. You might have walked down the road and thought the trees all looked the same, so what was so special about that one? Let me tell you the secret of that tree.

A great crowd of people were coming out of Jericho one day. They were crowded around a man named Jesus who could do wonderful things that nobody else could do. But there was one man, just one, who wanted to see Jesus for a different reason. He wanted to see who Jesus was - not what He looked like or what wonderful miracles He could do, but who was this man?

Have you learned who Jesus is? Jesus will never disappoint you if you really want to know. Once when He said, “I AM,” all His enemies fell backward to the ground. But they didn’t really care who He was. They got up again and took Him away to crucify Him. Now, if you really want to know who He is, He will show you.

The man who really wanted to know who Jesus was realized he was just too short to see Jesus above the crowd. But that did not stop the man. He ran ahead and climbed up into that sycamore tree and looked down on Jesus from the branches. Now do you see why that tree was so special?

Of course, Jesus knew he was there, just as He knows where you are this very moment. Jesus stood still and called the short man by name - “Zaccheus, make haste, and come down; for today I must abide at thy house.” Now the secret was out, and the surprised crowd saw Zaccheus slide quickly down the tree and stand before Jesus. Zaccheus knew he was a sinner, but he was still joyful at the thought that Jesus was coming to his very own house.

Can’t you just hear the voices of the people crowded around? Their little trip was ended, and I can almost hear their mutterings, “Jesus has gone to be the guest of a man who is a sinner!” And that was true, but they seemed to forget that they were sinners too, every one of them. And not one of them had received Jesus joyfully as Zaccheus did. Have you?

Zaccheus was a rich man, and he was also important where he worked, but he had not been an honest man. It seems that Jesus did not say anything about this, but Zaccheus was feeling guilty about his dishonesty in the presence of Jesus. He said to Him, “Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor; and if I have taken anything from any man by false accusation [dishonestly], I restore him fourfold [give back four times as much].”

It is good to make right the wrongs we have done to others, but this does not wipe away the sin. It was Jesus who wiped away all Zaccheus’s sins that day. This is what Jesus said: “This day is salvation come to this house, forasmuch as he also is a son of Abraham.” Jesus was explaining that Abraham was a man who believed God, and Zaccheus did too. Do you?

Then the Lord Jesus adds the words that show that this story is for us too: “The Son of Man is come to seek and to save that which was lost.” Can you answer, “Yes, Lord, I’m a lost sinner too”? And will you receive Him joyfully, since He came to seek and to save lost ones like you?

You may read this story for yourself in the Bible in Luke 19:1-10.

ML-04/14/2002

The Golden Calf

Have you heard of Moses? We first read about him in the Bible as the baby who was found floating in a basket in the Nile River. He had a three-year-old brother named Aaron.

When Moses was older, God chose him as the leader of the children of Israel. At the time of this story, Moses and Aaron were in their eighties and strong and healthy.

God had a wonderful plan to explain to Moses, and so He called him up to the top of Mount Sinai where Moses could listen undisturbed. God chose Aaron to be the high priest, and he waited down in the desert with the thousands of people of Israel while God gave Moses the ten commandments and the pattern of His beautiful place of worship. This took a long time - more than a month - and God wrote the ten commandments with His finger on tablets of stone.

Here is the first commandment: “Thou shalt have no other gods before Me” (Exodus 20:3).

It was not a long month for Moses, but it was a very long month for the people who were waiting for him below the mountain. They said that Moses was the man who brought them out of Egypt, and they didn’t know what had happened to him. What a huge mistake! It was God, not Moses, who opened the Red Sea and brought them through! And one bad mistake often leads to a worse one.

Are you making a bad mistake like that? Are you thinking that some person has put you where you are? Are you forgetting that it is God’s power and God’s love that have planned the details of your life? How you handle the details is often where the mistakes are made. Remember, one bad mistake can lead to a worse one, and the people of Israel were about to do just that.

“Let us make gods to go before us,” said the people.

Do you really need other gods? Isn’t our God enough? If you say, “No, He is not enough,” then you don’t know Him. He is the God who loves you and gave His only Son to die for you. Is He not enough?

Aaron told the people to break off their golden earrings, and with the melted-down metal, he shaped a golden calf. The people were delighted and said, “These [are] thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt” (Exodus 32:4). And since the next day was a feast to the Lord, they made it a day of sacrifices and celebrations and games, and they had a great songfest. But, they had broken the first commandment.

The people of Israel did not turn away from the worship of the Lord, but they changed it to suit their own pleasure. The God who had saved them was not who they were thinking about on that feast day. Aaron was a good man, but he led them in the wrong direction just to please them.

Moses came down from Mount Sinai with those wonderful hand-written tablets in his hand. But when he heard and saw the party, he became angry and shattered the stone tablets on the mountainside. He saw that the people had already broken the first commandment.

Now, we know that the wages of sin is death, and we would expect God to destroy those wicked people who broke His law. Well, if God destroyed lawbreakers, why are you and I still alive? God had a plan to save those people, and He has a plan to save us too. Yes, “the wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23), but JESUS DIED FOR ME so that I could go free!

Isn’t that a wonderful plan? It was God’s own Son who took my place and died for me. God knew that I was a sinner, and He was glad when I understood this too and said “Yes” to Him and to His great plan of salvation. But there comes a moment when it will be too late to say “Yes.” It is important to say “Yes” to Him right now!

If you read this story in Exodus 32, you will find that God did not just overlook this great sin. It brought sorrow to the whole nation. They all deserved to be destroyed, but God patiently brought them through.

God wants to save you right now. If His patience waits for you a little longer, you will only build up sorrow for yourself in the meantime, and you may find that when you need Him, it is too late. God says, “Today if [you] will hear His voice, harden not your hearts” (Hebrews 3:15). And the message of that verse is so important that He says it again in Hebrews 4:7.

ML-08/11/2002

Washed Feet

It was Easter time, just before the Passover. Jesus sat down at the supper table, and there were twelve men there with Him.

After supper was over, the men were watching their dear Master to see what He would do next. But not all twelve of them loved Him. There was one who had a dark secret in his heart, which Satan himself had put there. Satan knew that one man’s heart was not looking to Jesus, but, rather, that he was thinking about money, and that was the very spot where Satan could plant his seed of wickedness. What do you think about when others are looking to Jesus and praising and worshipping Him?

Jesus knew Judas was thinking about money, but nothing changed the love in His heart. He took off His outer coat and then tied a towel around His waist, poured water into a basin, and began to wash the disciples’ feet. They were dirty feet, soiled by the unpaved roads of Jerusalem, and it was usually the task of a slave to wash and dry them. But on that day, it was Jesus, King of kings and Lord of lords, who stooped to wash off the dirt, one foot at a time, and leave them dry and comfortable. Jesus was teaching the disciples a lesson.

This was a hard lesson for Peter to learn. He said to Jesus, “Thou shalt never wash my feet!” But Peter had to learn that we cannot share the joy of the Lord’s company if we cling to the dirt and filth of the world we are passing through.

Peter really wanted the Lord’s company more than anything, so he said, “Not my feet only, but also my hands and my head” (John 13:9). Wrong again, Peter! If Jesus has saved you and made you forever clean, what you need is every-day cleansing from the unclean things around you if you want to enjoy the Lord’s company.

That once-forever sin cleansing can be done by Jesus only, but the daily cleansing we can do for one another. Let’s use the water of the Word to help one another.

“Ye are clean,” said Jesus, “but not all.”

Nobody else knew, but Jesus knew that Judas had never received that once-forever sin cleansing. Judas did not love Jesus; he loved money.

Did Jesus Himself ever have His feet washed? Yes He did. He was invited to dinner at the house of a proud Pharisee, and while He was at the table, a sinful woman came behind Him and washed His feet with her tears. Now God did not write the Bible in English. He wrote the New Testament in the Greek language, and He uses a different word for washing. It was not to wash away the dirt of the streets, but rather to refresh His holy feet. Then she wiped His feet with the hairs of her head. And she left them not only washed and dried, but she poured sweet-smelling perfume over His blessed feet.

The proud Pharisee was not pleased at all with this woman, but Jesus knew what was in the heart of that sinful woman, just as He knew what was in the heart of Judas, and in your heart too. And Jesus said, “Her sins, which are many, are forgiven.”

Why didn’t Judas have that wonderful forgiveness too? Because he never repented and came to Jesus to receive it, and so he took his sins into eternity with him. Are you forgiven? And if so, do you know the joy of the Lord’s company every day? And do you help others to be clean from the world’s dirt and filth? This is what Jesus wants you to do.

“If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them” (John 13:17). “Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered” (Romans 4:7).

ML-11/03/2002

Invited to a Marriage

A certain king planned a marriage for his son. The invitation list included only very special people, and they would be very honored and looking forward to wearing their finest clothes and to being there on time!

Or were they? It depended, I suppose, on what they really thought of that king. If he was unpopular, it would not take much to keep them away.

But why would a king be unpopular? He was certainly rich enough to provide a grand wedding feast. He killed the finest of his cattle for roast beef and veal, and the fanciest desserts were ready, and it was all free. I suppose it was a question of what was more important to those people.

I know of another King who is unpopular. I have heard His name used scornfully every day, even by children. And I have heard Him blamed when things go wrong among ourselves, and His book is seldom read. Do you know that great King? His name is God. He is not wanted, because His holiness interferes with our sin.

When it was time to begin the marriage, the king in our story sent his servants to tell the people who had been invited to “come; for all things are now ready.” An amazing thing happened! Even with a second invitation, none of those honored people took the king’s invitation seriously enough to come. They all had other things to do instead. One went to his farm, and another went to his business. And worse than that, they treated his servants very, very badly.

What would you do, or rather, what are you doing now? God is sending you His invitation while you are reading this paper. What other plans are keeping you from coming?

The servants told the king that nobody invited would come; they all had other plans, and he was very angry. But everything was still ready, so he sent his servants out to bring in the poor and the homeless and the beggars, until all the seats for the wedding were filled. It did not matter at all that they were a ragged bunch, for the king made sure that each one was fitted and dressed for the occasion. It is not hard to imagine how pleased and grateful those people would be. The king was pleased too.

Our God is pleased when sinners respond to His invitation to come to Him. He is pleased to pour on us all the love of His heart and the riches of His grace. But God does not forget about those who refuse and despise Him. In our story, the king destroyed those who refused his invitation and treated his servants badly, and he burned up their city. Do you think God cares any differently about those who refuse His invitation and rebel against Him now? There is punishment awaiting them too.

There is one more warning at the end of the story. One of the guests who came did not wear the clothes the king had provided. The king asked him why, and the guest was speechless. The king ordered him to be bound hand and foot and cast into outer darkness. We are often reminded that God is holy, and He is not to be ignored. He can make you ready for His holy presence, but you cannot do this for yourself. God is willing to do it for you, at the expense of the life-blood of His Son. Are you willing?

“Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear My voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with Me” (Revelation 3:20).

You may read this story for yourself in Matthew 22:2-14.

ML-12/01/2002

Miriam's Secret

It is very important to be a big sister, especially when you have a secret like Miriam had. It doesn’t matter if I tell you her secret now, but it mattered a lot then.

Her secret was that there was a new baby brother in her home, and everybody knew that King Pharaoh had ordered that all Hebrew baby boys should be thrown into the Nile River. The Hebrews were the king’s slaves, and he was afraid the Hebrew boys would grow up to be too strong for him. He was afraid there would be so many of them that they would fight against him and win their freedom.

People without God and without Christ are often afraid and try all sorts of ways to make sure that nobody and nothing will be too strong for them. But it was Isaiah who said, “The Lord . . . is my strength and my song; He also is become my salvation” (Isaiah 12:2). I’m sure the king did not know anything about the Lord or he would not have made such a wicked command because he was afraid.

The Hebrew midwives who helped the mothers having new babies knew the king’s command, but they didn’t listen to him; they saved the baby boys alive. That was brave, wasn’t it?

After three months, Miriam’s baby brother must have become rather noisy, and so his mother did a very surprising thing. She put him in the Nile River herself, but not the way the king intended. She took a big basket made of bulrushes and waterproofed it with tar. Then she carefully laid her baby boy in it, covered him up and set the basket afloat among the tall weeds by the river. Big sister Miriam watched from a distance to see what would happen to him.

That was the time that King Pharaoh’s daughter, the princess, came down to the river to bathe, and her servants walked along by the riverbank. When she saw the basket among the weeds, she sent her maid to get it. When the princess opened the basket, the baby cried, and his cries melted her heart.

“This is one of the Hebrews’ children,” she said. She knew her father’s command about the Hebrew baby boys, but she felt sorry for the little crying baby and decided she wanted that baby for herself. But she was going to have a problem very soon - how would she feed the baby?

Before she had time to wonder, Miriam ran to the princess and asked if she should call a Hebrew nurse to feed the baby for her. “Go,” said the princess. Miriam probably ran all the way home and burst into the house to tell her mother the good news. Mother was ready to run faster than Miriam did and to hold out her arms gladly to her very own baby.

“Take this child away, and nurse it for me, and I will give thee thy wages,” said the princess.

The princess may not have known who the nurse really was, but there was no need to hide the baby any more. This Hebrew baby boy lived because the princess had saved him, and nobody could argue with that.

We don’t know what name his parents gave the baby, but the princess called him “Moses.” And that was his name from then on, and he lived for one hundred and twenty years.

When Moses was old enough to walk by himself, that brave mother took him to the palace of the princess and left him there. It was a hard thing to do, but do you know something? It is more important to belong to God because the Lord Jesus has saved you than it is to belong to anybody on earth. His mother went home and put away his little things, but she knew that little Moses was God’s good gift, and God never changes His mind about gifts. Both the parents were not afraid of the king’s commandment.

As Moses grew up, he was given a good education, and he could talk about important matters with anybody. But he never forgot that he was a Hebrew, and it showed up in his life. Perhaps we’ll tell you about it at another time.

Today’s story about the baby Moses is a story of doing what God says, no matter what anybody else says. You can find what God wants you to do by reading His book, the Bible. And if you aren’t brave enough to do what God says, ask Him for the courage, and He will give it to you. It takes courage to obey Him even today!

“We ought to obey God rather than men” (Acts 5:29).

You can read this story for yourself in Exodus 2.

ML-09/08/2002

Mice and More Mice: Part 2

“Be ye glad and rejoice forever in that which I create.”
Isaiah 65:18

There are many kinds of wild mice which can be found in the mountains, in fields and woodlands, in swamps, near streams and in deserts. The short-tailed field mouse, also called a vole, is one of these. It is only about five inches long, including its stubby tail. It lives underground in damp meadows. It can be a real nuisance when it eats the seeds of newly sown wheat and later devours the mature wheat heads. This mouse also gets into barns and storage bins. Some farmers keep several cats around to catch these pests.

The white-footed or deer mouse is six to eight inches long and has large ears, bright eyes and gray fur, but white belly fur and feet. This mouse is not so destructive since most of its food is seeds of wild plants, nuts and berries. But it can cause problems in orchards by eating tender bark and roots. It makes its nest outdoors, storing food for winter and carefully cleaning every bit of it before storing it away.

The grasshopper mouse is about the same size as the house mouse but looks fatter. This one is unusual in that it is a meat eater rather than a plant eater. It is helpful to people by feeding mainly on grasshoppers and other insects, including scorpions. It also eats worms and almost any little animal it can overpower, even other grasshopper mice.

The outdoor pocket mouse, though tiny, has a long tail with a brush on the end, enabling it to jump three or four feet into the air. After filling its cheek pouches with food, it scampers off to its nest, packing the food away and rushing back for more. It wisely covers the openings to its runways while absent. Although wild, if caught and held gently, this little fellow acts like a pet and likes being stroked with a finger.

Two other interesting mice are the Japanese waltzing mouse, that hops around in circles for no apparent reason, and the singing mouse, which chirps a wide range of notes, but not in a melodious way.

All of these mice are closely related, but the Creator has made each a distinct variety. How do you think they learned all these interesting ways? They did not need to learn them because they are God-given instincts, passed on from generation to generation.

The Bible tells us that God feeds all His creatures: “The eyes of all wait upon Thee; and Thou givest them their meat [food] in due season” (Psalm 145:15). He also provides the food for you and me by wisely sending the necessary sunshine and rain for plants to thrive - the source of everything we eat. Before you eat your meals, do you stop to thank Him for your food?

ML-01/06/2002

The Pretty Plovers

“Out of the ground the Lord God formed . . . every fowl of the air.”
Genesis 2:19

There are many varieties of compact, ground birds known as plovers. Many are shore birds, darting among the waves as they search for food churned up by the water. They pick out pieces of oysters, clams and other bits of sea life.

Plovers are found around the world. Nine species spend all or part of the year in North America. The most common is the killdeer, quickly identified by its loud, piercing “kill-dee, kill-dee” call as it flies. It can be found in all of the states and in almost every province of Canada.

One feature of God’s remarkable care over plovers is the way He protects their eggs and young. Their nests are scooped out of the sand or gravel and usually hold four eggs. These eggs are spotted and so perfectly camouflaged that they are hard to distinguish from the pebbles around them. When the birds hatch, they are speckled with black and will “freeze” at the mother bird’s command, making them well hidden. The parents are careful never to fly directly to or away from the nest. Instead, they first walk away so anything watching cannot easily tell where the nest is.

Let’s take a closer look at the remarkable lesser golden plovers. They nest in northern Canada and Alaska from spring until fall. In August or September, they fly in great numbers to Labrador. From there they fly nonstop in V formation over four thousand miles to Brazil by way of Bermuda and the Caribbean Sea. In March, they return across the Gulf of Mexico and up the Mississippi Valley, back to their northern breeding ground.

The Pacific golden plover is a foot-long bird with an even more amazing life. Nesting in northern Alaska and Siberia, it flies to Hawaii in the fall, then on to Malaysia, New Zealand and other Pacific islands.

The beginning of this journey to Hawaii requires a nonstop flight of over two thousand miles. The adult birds take off first, leaving the young ones to follow later. Doesn’t it seem impossible for these young birds to do this since they have never made the journey before, and Hawaii is just a pinpoint in the middle of the ocean? How do they know where to go and how to get there? Once more, the answer is that God has given them instincts that never fail, generation after generation. He tells them when to migrate and sends them safely to their destination.

These birds obey the will of the Lord, their Creator, and are an example of how we should also obey Him. His Word, the Bible, has instructions for us at every age of our lives. If we walk in His way, He will always bless us.

ML-01/13/2002

The Nimble Fisher Marten

“Thou, even Thou, art Lord alone; Thou hast made . . . the earth, and all things that are therein . . . and Thou preservest them all.”
Nehemiah 9:6

The fisher marten, which looks somewhat like a weasel, lives in the cold, densely wooded areas along the United States-Canada border. It is about two feet long, including its tail, and weighs about fifteen pounds. From November to March, its dark brown or grayish-brown fur is thick and soft and is a special prize for trappers. They can sell it for use in coats, hats and muffs.

These animals live mostly in trees, climbing with ease and skill and jumping from branch to branch, sometimes as far as thirty or forty feet between trees. If attacked, they are quite capable of defending themselves by arching their backs, baring sharp teeth and uttering threatening growls. With their sharp teeth and vicious claws, they can usually fend off dogs and even bears. But confrontations are rare, because the Creator has made them the swiftest animal of the northern woods.

Surprisingly, they are one animal that will challenge a porcupine, flipping it over and exposing its unprotected underpart for the kill. They also catch and eat fish, rabbits, beavers, squirrels, raccoons, mice and birds. Some of their food they get by outsmarting trappers, stealing bait from their traps.

The fisher marten does not hibernate; however, when snow is deep, it may sleep in its den for long periods of time. Hunting in snow is more difficult because its dark color makes it easily visible. Under those conditions, it often will lie on a branch and drop on passing prey. It is also clever in burrowing through snow to catch mice, kangaroo rats and other rodents that are active below.

Although the mother sometimes makes her den in caves or burrows, she prefers to find a tree hole high above the ground where she gives birth to two or three young in April. Blind and naked, the mother nurses them for almost two months and then teaches them to hunt. Within a year they are fully grown and go out on their own.

The way of these nimble animals reminds us of the care the Creator shows to all living things. Truly, “the Lord is good to all: and His tender mercies are over all His works” (Psalm 145:9). However, His mercies are shown to us in ways an animal could never know, for it is His mercy and love that provide redemption and everlasting life to all who trust in Him. This is well stated in Luke 1:49-50: “He that is mighty hath done to me great things; and holy is His name. And His mercy is on them that fear [respect and trust] Him.” Do you trust in Him?

ML-01/20/2002

The Pretty Little Goby

“They that go down to the sea in ships, that do business in great waters; these see the works of the Lord, and His wonders in the deep.”
Psalm 107:23-24

Those who live in the islands of the Caribbean Sea and have explored underwater in the bays or along the reefs have seen beautiful and fascinating sights. Among all the colorful sights, they may have observed a small, bright-blue fish known as the goby. This little fish lives a rather unusual life.

Most little fish try to remain hidden, fearing that larger fish will eat them. But the goby remains entirely exposed on a piece of coral where it lives and has a little business going. It has no fear of larger fish; in fact, it seems to try to attract them.

The parrot fish, which has beak-like jaws, is one of the goby’s regular customers. When a parrot fish sees the goby, it will slowly swim over to it, and then turning upright in the water it spreads out its fins. The goby begins cleaning off and eating all of the small parasites that are attached to the body of the parrot fish. Then the parrot fish will open its mouth wide, and the goby swims inside to clean the teeth and the inside of the parrot fish’s mouth. When the cleaning is finished, the goby swims out, the parrot fish swims away, and the goby has had a good meal for its work.

Other species of fish, such as the surgeon fish and the vicious bar jack, are also cleaned by the goby. Both of these could easily swallow the little goby whole.

How is it that a little fish could overcome natural fear of larger fish that could so easily eat it? What makes the otherwise vicious killers come peacefully to this little fish, even letting it swim into their jaws without harming it? Here we have another wonder of God’s creation, displaying that “with God all things are possible.” It also shows His wisdom in providing a working relationship between creatures who would normally be enemies, that they might help each other through this arrangement.

Let us remember that the Lord God is the Creator of all things and is also the Provider for them. His eye is always on even the smallest and strangest of His creatures, and all form a part of His wise purposes. Of most importance, it is “the Lord God [who] formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life” (Genesis 2:7). The little goby and the big fish do not have this, but God’s Word tells us that He has loved you and me with an everlasting love and would draw us to Himself through Christ the Saviour. Do not turn away from Him, but accept His love today.

ML-01/27/2002

Horseradish Is Not for Horses

“We remember the . . . cucumbers, and the melons, and the leeks and the onions, and the garlic.”
Numbers 11:5

Horseradish should not be confused with the red and white radishes you sometimes eat whole or in a salad. Horseradish is usually sold as a creamy sauce in a small jar. Beware! It is quite hot and spicy.

The horseradish plant itself is rather pretty and belongs to the mustard family. Its clean white blossoms give no clue as to the taste that is in its roots, which go down as much as fourteen feet and from which horseradish sauce is made. People who grow this in their home gardens usually make their own sauce by grating the roots to a fine hash and adding vinegar and salt. But the job of grating is unpleasant, for horseradish is much worse than onions in bringing tears to the eyes. It also has an unpleasant smell.

A strange thing about horseradish sauce is that most people who taste it the first time are not likely to try it again, because it is so hot. But those who continue to eat it learn to like it and will eat it when it is available.

This is the reason that horseradish has also been given the name “devil root.” An author of an article about it has said, “Certainly horseradish has some characteristics in common with sin: It’s delicious, but there are side effects. And like sin, it’s easy to start”—and, we might add, hard to stop.

What he said is worth thinking about, for any sin once allowed in our lives is hard to turn away from. The Israelites on the way to Canaan, complaining to Moses in our opening Bible verse, were an example of this. The Lord had delivered them from Egypt and the hard life there, promising something much better ahead, but they complained, for they could only think of the food they had left behind in that land.

The Bible warns of this in Proverbs 4:1415: “Enter not into the path of the wicked, and go not in the way of evil men. Avoid it, pass not by it, turn from it, and pass [go] away.” Proverbs 1:10 gives the warning: “My son, if sinners entice [tempt] thee, consent thou not.”

And so the “devil root” to be concerned about is not really the horseradish that we eat, but that which it reminds us of—Satan himself. The Bible warns us about Satan’s temptations: “Put on the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil” (Ephesians 6:11). The “armor of God” means being full of trust and faith in the Lord Jesus as our Saviour and walking according to God’s Word, allowing Him to be our help and guide in everything. Are you doing this?

ML-02/03/2002

The Vicious Wolverine: Part 1

“Every beast of the forest is Mine, and the cattle upon a thousand hills. I know all the fowls of the mountains: and the wild beasts of the field are Mine.”
Psalm 50:10-11

The mean-tempered wolverine lives in the northern woods of Asia, Europe and North America. It makes its den in a cave, under a fallen tree or under an overhanging rock. The den is lined with leaves, grass and moss.

The wolverine is related to badgers, skunks and otters and looks something like a small bear. It is about 2½ feet long, weighs from thirty to fifty pounds, and has dark, shaggy hair with white markings.

Its broad, round head is armed with a vicious set of tough, razor-sharp teeth. It also has been provided with a heavy build and short, powerful legs. Its four-inch paws have spike-like claws, and in winter, its paws are thickly covered with hair, which act like snowshoes to help it travel over snow.

The wolverine is the scourge of the woods and is considered the most destructive animal. Unusually strong, it is feared by all animals and even avoided by those larger than itself. A meat eater, it will devour almost anything alive or dead and finds much of its food by digging foxes, rabbits and marmots out of their burrows. If these are not available in winter, it looks for deer or elk that are weakened and slowed down by deep snow. Its strong jaws can crush the leg bones of a deer, making it defenseless and easy to kill. A wolverine can drag a dead animal that weighs more than double its own weight for several miles. It is one of the most powerful animals for its size in the world and seems to kill for the love of killing, destroying more animals than it can eat.

This fighter will even challenge a cougar, wolf or bear that is feasting on captured food. If hungry, the wolverine will go right up to these larger and more powerful animals, growl and snarl at them, displaying its sharp teeth and claws. Most of these larger animals could defeat the wolverine if a fight resulted, but to avoid a bad time, they will usually leave the food to this fiery challenger. If a fight does result, the wolverine does not retreat and, as a result, will most likely be killed.

This bad-tempered beast reminds us of the warning given in the Bible: “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary [enemy] the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour” (1 Peter 5:8). It is only by trusting in the Lord Jesus Christ and keeping close to His care that we can overcome Satan, the evil one.

ML-02/10/2002

The Vicious Wolverine: Part 2

“Seek the Lord and His strength, seek His face continually. Remember His marvelous works that He hath done.”
1 Chronicles 16:11-12

When hunting, a wolverine is not fast but determined. If it cannot overtake its prey quickly, it may follow it day after day, until the pursued animal is exhausted and finally caught. Besides animals and birds, a wolverine eats birds’ eggs, wild fruit and honey. Ripping beehives open, it is not concerned with the bees because its long, shaggy hair protects it from stings.

While not challenging people openly, the wolverine seems to delight in stealing bait from traps and devouring animals caught in them. After cleaning out one trap, it usually proceeds along the trap line and tears to shreds other captured animals, making their fur worthless.

The wolverine is usually a night hunter, but if out in daylight, it hides quickly when a human is near. In the absence of humans, it will break into a cabin, tearing bars off doors, ripping shingles or sheet metal from roofs, pulling screens off and smashing windows - anything to get inside. Once inside, the damage continues as it eats available food and destroys what it cannot eat. A mischievous raccoon will occasionally do this too, but the wolverine is worse—smashing lamps, pulling shelves down, tearing clothes apart and ruining other things by spraying its bad-smelling musk. Hasn’t sin made it an awful creature!

Each year in May or June, two or three young cubs are born in a well-hidden underground den. They are blind at birth and weigh less than a pound. They are carefully protected by the mother who nurses them for several weeks and then teaches them hunting skills. While growing up, their playfulness quickly shows their true nature, for they are rough with each other during mock battles. After a year or more with the mother, they are able to capture game and soon are on their own.

The wolverine is a ruthless destroyer and reminds us of the world’s greatest enemy, Satan. He also is a destroyer, and his object is to capture the hearts of people tempted by him, leading them into a godless and hopeless life. But strength to resist Satan is given in these Bible verses: “What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us? He that spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?” (Romans 8:31-32).

How good it is, as our beginning verse states, to turn to the Lord Jesus as the One to save us from Satan’s power, cleanse away our sins, and who alone can give strength to resist the attacks of that evil one. If you have not yet done this, turn to Him as your Saviour today.

ML-02/17/2002

The Adaptable Lizard

“These also shall be unclean unto you among the creeping things . . . the chameleon, and the lizard.” Leviticus 11:29-30

Although declared by God as “unclean” and not to be eaten by the Israelites in Old Testament times, the three thousand varieties of lizards are very much a part of God’s creation and care. They are found nearly everywhere in the world except the Antarctic. They usually live in warm, rocky places but sometimes are found in trees or in water.

The chameleon and most other lizards can actually change the color of their leathery skin, even showing stripes like a zebra or showing several colors like an autumn leaf. They can also shed their entire tails when attacked. The wriggling, separated section attracts the enemy’s attention while its owner escapes. Soon a new tail grows back. Every lizard has a long, sticky tongue for catching insects.

Each lizard has been especially designed by the Creator to fit into its surroundings. Those on rocky cliffs have needle-sharp claws and hang onto rocks so tightly that if forced off their claws remain behind. They also have special scales under the tails to help them cling to steep surfaces. Tree-climbing monitors and iguanas, which have special toes for climbing, also use monkey tricks, like climbing and swinging by grasping tree branches with their tails.

Those species that live in the desert are colored like the sand or rocks and often change color as they move about. Burrowing species have wedge-shaped heads, and their ears and nostrils are protected from the sand by shields. They have tough scales on their feet to help dig, and some even have shovel-shaped feet for this purpose. Some of these “swim” through sand as fast as fish swim through water.

Flying lizards glide from tree to tree, having webs of skin like flying squirrels. The flying dragon looks like a colored leaf traveling through the air. The gecko can shed its skin to escape an attacker and also makes long airborne leaps.

Many lizards make short runs at more than fifteen miles an hour and sometimes run upright on their hind legs. Several species easily adapt to civilization and often scamper over walls, ceilings and floors of houses.

The abilities of these little creatures are another example of the wonders of God’s creation. However, not one of them is able to think about the Lord God who created it and cares for it “by the word of His power.”

While the Lord God cares for all His creation, He has said only to man: “I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with loving-kindness have I drawn thee” (Jeremiah 31:3). Have you responded to His loving-kindness by letting Him forgive your sins? All you have to do is come in faith and accept Him as your Saviour.

ML-02/24/2002

Hitchhiking Birds

“He giveth to the beast his food, and to the young ravens which cry.”
Psalm 147:9

The energy needed by birds demands a plentiful supply of food, and usually much time is spent finding it. Some, like the kingfisher, dive into the water for theirs. Others, such as robins, search in the soil for worms and insects. Swallows are one kind that capture insects in the air. Others use an easier way.

The small, graceful, white-plumed cattle egrets ride on the backs of wild and tame animals. As the animals graze in grassy areas, they disturb insects which are caught by these hitchhikers. Even crows will ride on the backs of pigs while they are rooting in the ground, swooping down to snatch the grubs and worms that are turned up. Cowbirds ride on the backs of grazing cattle and catch the insects stirred up by the cows’ hooves.

The oxpecker, with its red bill and orange and black feathers, frequently perches on the neck of an impala to remove ticks from the impala’s ears. Sometimes it clings to the sides of rhinos, water buffalo or hippos, eating parasites out of their loose folds of skin. Certain starlings, as well as the tickbird, also ride on the backs of these big animals.

Other unusual birds include the phaleropes in the Arctic and the carmine bee-eater of South Africa. Both gray and red phaleropes will perch on the exposed fin of a killer whale and feast on parasites. The bee-eater rides atop another bird, the big hori bustard. As the bustard walks through meadows, it stirs up food for itself as well as its little passenger.

In the British Isles, the pied wagtail perches on the head of a fallow deer and catches the pesky flies that bother the animal’s eyes and sometimes cause blindness. Often this bird’s young ones also ride on the deer’s back while the mother is busy up front collecting flies to bring back to them.

All of these birds, and many others, help their hosts by catching the annoying insects and parasites that bother them. The birds are very welcome as riders, and if the animals could talk, they would probably thank them for the relief and comfort their service provides.

It has been the joy of the Creator to give these birds and animals a companionship which benefits each other. It is another example of how “the Lord is good to all: and His tender mercies are over all His works” (Psalm 145:9).

But as wonderful as God’s care is over all living things, His care and love for you is much greater. That love has provided His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. On Calvary’s cross, He was punished for the sins of all who will admit they are sinners and accept Him as their Saviour. Then God delights to call these His own sons and daughters. Have you accepted and thanked Him for that love?

ML-03/03/2002

Caterpillars for Dinner

“Every creature of God is good, and nothing to be refused, if it be received with thanksgiving.”
1 Timothy 4:4

How would you like a bowl of fried caterpillars for lunch? Or would you enjoy taking a few along for snacks on your next picnic? “Yuck!” you might declare. “Don’t even suggest such a thing!” But there are people in southern Africa who would tell you that you don’t know what you’re missing until you have tasted this very special food.

The African people don’t mean that every kind of caterpillar should be eaten - just those known as Mopane worms (because they are found mostly on Mopane trees) or a few others like them. These are large caterpillars, about four inches long with fat bodies circled with green and black bands, and some have yellow or red bands. Many Africans eat them either raw or cooked, as a snack or added to other foods in stews.

Children, as well as grown-ups, collect them. When one is removed from a leaf, it is pressed flat to remove the inside part and then either eaten right away or added to others in a basket to take home. Sometimes they are canned for eating later. It is not just the natives in the forests who enjoy them, but many wealthy people buy them in sealed cans or in plastic bags in grocery stores and meat markets. Housewives, fixing lunch bags for workers or for children in school, often include a package to be eaten for dessert - just as most of us would eat a piece of cake or a candy bar. While all this may seem like a bad dream, this food is actually full of vitamins and minerals and helpful for good health.

Visitors who have tried them report they taste like nuts; others compare them with roast beef, while some think they taste more like a breakfast cereal. But all visitors agree that it would take quite a while to really want them included in their meals!

The opening Bible verse tells of the bounties of God’s provision for all He has created. Of course, the verse does not mean that everything can be eaten without first knowing if it is harmless or needs special preparation. It may have been God’s purpose to have it changed into medicines or even be used as a poison to dispose of dangerous pests or for some other use than eating. But it does remind us that the Creator had a definite purpose for everything He brought into being, and all can be accepted with thanksgiving.

Have you thanked Him for His goodness to you, not only for daily food, but in providing His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, to be the Saviour? Have you admitted your need of having your sins washed away and accepted Him as your very own Saviour? If not, don’t wait another day!

ML-03/10/2002

A Three-Ton Baby

“God created great whales, and every living creature that moveth.”
Genesis 1:21

Blue whales are the largest and fastest-swimming whale. A newborn blue whale may be twenty-three feet long and weigh three tons at birth. That is one huge baby! But the mother herself may be one hundred feet long and weigh one hundred fifty tons!

Whales of all kinds are found throughout the world’s oceans. Many of them spend summers in the Arctic where they are protected from the cold water by a layer of blubber about two feet thick. Before winter comes, large groups migrate thousands of miles south where the calves are born. In spring, they return north.

Although they look like huge fish, whales are mammals and breathe air. They can dive three thousand feet and stay underwater as long as an hour, but they will drown if they are trapped underwater. While underwater, their bodies use oxygen very efficiently; their hearts beat slowly and blood circulation is reduced. When they finally come up for air, they exhale through “blowholes” as they reach the surface, causing a spout of water and vapor to rise twenty feet or more in the air.

Some whales have teeth and eat solid food, including fish, squid, octopus and turtles. These are called toothed whales. Others, like the blue whale, have no teeth and are called baleen whales. When they open their mouths as they swim, seawater passes over hundreds of “baleen plates,” hanging down from the upper jaw. When they expel the water, these plates strain out the plankton and a few fish which the whales swallow.

Like porpoises, whales are usually quite sociable. They often leap out of the water, play tag and circle boats. The mothers have the help of “aunties” in raising their young. By use of a remarkable sonar system, whales communicate, even miles apart, by a series of whistles, clicks and grunts. A wounded whale is never deserted. Others stay with it until it recovers or dies.

Whether we look at these, the largest of all living creatures on earth, or use a microscope to examine the smallest, the handiwork of God is always evident. Each has its purpose in creation and has been made for His pleasure. Yet, except for one, none are aware of God their Creator or of His care over them.

The exception is mankind, who has been given both intelligence and conscience, as well as the Scriptures. These all tell him of God, not only as Creator, but also of his responsibility to Him and the need of having his sins forgiven. In His love, God desires to forgive our sins and offers eternal life to all who accept His promise and show “repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ” (Acts 20:21). Have you done this?

ML-03/17/2002

"Spiky Pig" the Porcupine

“Who [teaches] us more than the beasts of the earth, and [makes] us wiser than the fowls of heaven?”
Job 35:11

A three-foot-long porcupine suddenly appears in a quiet wooded area, moving noisily through dry leaves and underbrush. It apparently is unconcerned about the noise it is making, for it has little to worry about. The twenty-pound porcupine is safer from attack than nearly any other animal. It is even safe from attack by a bear. Only pumas seem able to attack porcupines successfully.

This rodent is covered on its back, sides and tail with hundreds of strong, stiff quills. These sharp quills are two to three inches long and come out easily, sticking into an attacker’s flesh. Sometimes the quills rattle as it walks, but it cannot shoot them at its attacker.

If a porcupine senses danger, it turns its back, flares its quills, and greets the attacker with a hard slap of its tail, leaving many barbed quills in the attacker’s face and body. These quills can only be pulled out from dogs and cats by people. When an animal tries to remove them with its paws, the quills go in deeper. If the quills are in the face or mouth, they usually cause the animal’s death in the end, either from infection or starvation.

Porcupines live in hollow logs, stumps, trees and rock slides. Their main food is green vegetation and tree bark, but they also eat roots, fruits and berries. Always hungry for salt, they sometimes break into cabins and eat any salty food they can find. They become troublesome by gnawing paddles, axe handles, leather or anything stained with salty perspiration.

The female porcupine gives birth to a single offspring in the spring. The baby arrives with a full supply of quills, which are soft and flexible at birth but soon harden. The mother raises her baby alone. Interestingly, she can push or help the little one climb a tree without getting herself stuck by its quills.

These unusual animals are another example of how the Creator gives certain creatures a quiet and peaceful life, but with ample means of protection against any who would harm them. In many ways, this is an example of His love and care over us as well. The Bible encourages us to “lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty” (1 Timothy 2:2). It is good to follow this instruction.

But instead of wanting to “get even” with those who oppose us, as the porcupine does, we should tell them of God’s love and let them know that God wants them to be saved from their sins by coming to Him through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. If you try this, you will be happily rewarded.

ML-03/24/2002

The Purple Martin

“The winter is past, the rain is over and gone; the flowers appear on the earth; the time of the singing of birds is come.”
Song of Solomon 2:11-12

After having migrated to Central and South America for the winter, martins return each spring to North America. Some have been seen in summer as far north as the Saskatchewan valley in Canada.

The forked tails, wide wings, and the way they catch their food while flying identify these eight-inch birds as part of the swallow family. There are several species, including the house martin, the sand martin and the purple martin, which is the one we will focus on today.

The males of the purple martin species are a beautiful dark purplish-blue color all over. The females are much the same, but the undersides of their bodies are light colored. These birds nest in colonies with each pair raising three to eight young birds.

Because they are great insect eaters, purple martins have earned the friendship of farmers and people who live in the suburbs. Some place martin houses on tall supports near their homes or barns to keep these welcome insect-eating “neighbors” nearby. Some of these martin houses allow space for fifty nests or more. There is an interesting trait about the martins living in these “apartment” houses. Most houses have adjoining balconies where the parent birds like to alight and perch before entering their own apartment. The baby birds, not yet able to fly, sometimes hop about on these balconies. After exploring, they forget which hole they came from and often enter a neighbor’s apartment by mistake. Strangely enough, parent martins do not seem to be able to recognize their own chicks, and these “neighborhood chicks” are accepted and cared for as part of their family.

Although martins do not like other birds as close neighbors, sparrows do not share this trait. If there is an opportunity, a sparrow will move into a martin’s apartment and chase the true owner away. If this happened in most bird species, they would work together to keep the intruder out. But the martin is not a fighter, so it meekly accepts the loss of its home to the smaller thief.

Our opening verse tells us of the happy season of the year when winter’s cold, dark days are over, flowers are showing their pretty colors, and birds are returning from their migrations. It is similar to the happy time when a boy or girl or grown-up places their trust in the Lord Jesus as their Saviour. The dark times are left behind, and the reality of being a Christian brings a joy many times happier than even the yearly return of spring. Have you had this experience by accepting the Lord Jesus as your Saviour?

ML-03/31/2002

The Thrill of a Shooting Star

“Ah Lord God! behold, Thou hast made the heaven and the earth by Thy great power. . . . There is nothing too hard for Thee.”
Jeremiah 32:17

It is quite possible that you were hit today by a piece of a star falling from the sky! However, the piece would have been so tiny that you would not have been aware of it. It is estimated that about ten thousand tons of “star dust” from outer space come to the earth every year!

How thrilling to be looking into the night sky and see a bright streak of light falling toward the earth. These are called shooting or falling stars. Sometimes showers of these stars are visible.

Actually, most shooting stars are just little pieces of material no larger than a grain of sand. They have traveled millions of miles through space until, attracted by earth’s gravity, they turn toward it. Traveling many times faster than a bullet, they enter our atmosphere. Friction from the air makes them white hot, and they burn up in the flash that you see in just a moment or two. All that remains is a speck of ash or rocky mineral that turns to dust, eventually falling to the ground or into lakes or oceans. It is the goodness of God that provides the earth’s protecting atmosphere so these do not harm us.

These shooting stars are actually meteorites, and countless billions of them are believed to be racing through space all the time. Over the centuries, a few larger ones have fallen to the earth without being burned up and destroyed. One has been found in Africa that has been estimated to weigh sixty tons. In the Museum of Natural History in Washington D.C., another meteorite weighing thirty-one tons is on display which is only part of a two-hundred-ton meteorite found in Greenland.

No one really knows where they come from or how they were formed. Some think they may be parts of a comet’s tail, sweeping the sky, or particles that escaped from the Asteroid Belt that travels in a great orbit between Jupiter and Mars.

However, we can be sure that God knows all about meteorites, and perhaps He directs some of them our way to remind us that our world is just a speck in His vast creation. But what an important speck it is! It was only on this earth that He created and placed man. It was only to this world that He sent His Son, the Lord Jesus, to provide a way for sinners to be saved now from those sins. It was the death of Jesus on Calvary’s cross that paid the debt of sin of all who accept Him as their Saviour. It is written, “Who His own self bare our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed” (1 Peter 2:24).

ML-04/07/2002

A Slippery One-The Eel: Part 1

“Ask now . . . and the fishes of the sea shall declare unto thee.”
Job 12:7-8

Although they are so long and thin that they look like snakes, eels are actually fish. They have tiny scales embedded in a smooth, slimy skin. They usually grow to about three feet long, but larger ones may grow to five or six feet long.

Male eels spend most of their lives in rivers near the ocean; females go upriver to streams or lakes. After two or three years in fresh water, both males and females head for the ocean at spawning time in the fall. Those in landlocked lakes have a difficult time beginning their journey. They leave the lake in great numbers, wriggling their way for a day or two across fields and ground wet with rain or dew until they find a stream that leads to the ocean. God has equipped them with special gills that hold enough moisture while out of water on this part of their trip.

When the eels reach a stream, they swim downstream, joining others on the way. Many of them are caught in wire traps or nets by people who like them for food. Both European and North American eels that make it to the ocean begin a long migration to the breeding grounds in the Sargasso Sea near Bermuda where females deposit thousands of eggs deep below the ocean surface. Here many miles of seaweed is teeming with food which will provide for the needs of baby eels that will appear the following spring. After spawning, the parent eels die.

When the eggs hatch, the young eels are about one-quarter inch long and are thin and transparent. They rise to the surface where they feed for about a year. The North American eels begin the long trip back to the home of their parents. The European eels remain another year to gain the necessary strength for their journey, which will take about three years. When both species reach the stream of their parents, they are still long, thin and transparent and are called elvers. Just like their parents, the males remain in tidal waters, and the females go far inland -the cycle continuing just as God designed it.

How can these little, inexperienced eels reach their destinations with no parents to guide them? The answer is exactly what the Bible tells us of every creature in the seas: “These wait all upon Thee” (Psalm 104:27). He gives them the instinct to follow the paths He has marked out.

And the Lord has a pathway for every boy and girl called “the path of life,” which is the way to heaven and everlasting joy. Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life” (John 14:6). If we accept Him as our Saviour, then we are sure of being on the right path where He can teach us His way.

ML-04/14/2002

More About Eels: Part 2

“They that go down to the sea in ships, that do business in great waters; these see the works of the Lord, and His wonders in the deep.”
Psalm 107:23-24

Besides the eels that can be eaten, which we looked at last week, there are many other kinds, some of which are large and vicious. Let’s consider three of these marine eels.

Conger eels and moray eels do not migrate. Both are found in warm waters off the coasts of California, Mexico and parts of Europe. Even though some are as long as eight feet, they live their entire lives in crevices of rocks or coral deep in the ocean. They hide there until a victim comes within reach of their jaws, which have strong, sharp teeth. These creatures will attack almost anything that is small enough for them to eat. Underwater divers are often startled by suddenly coming across one of these eels, but they do not bother humans unless irritated.

In spring, the three-foot-long lamprey eels travel from salt water to fresh water to lay their eggs. A pair swim many miles up mountain streams until shallow water is reached. The male leaves the female and explores the stream bottom. When he finds a suitable spot, he removes stones from the bottom with his sucking mouth and takes them to the shoreline. Soon he has exposed a smooth, sandy bottom where the female lays her eggs and the male fertilizes them. Then they both swim upstream, busily picking up and moving stones around, deliberately stirring up the sand which drifts downstream and covers the eggs.

After hatching, the young eels remain in the stream for four or five years, then swim out to the ocean or a large lake. In their new surroundings, each one seeks out a victim -usually a large fish.

The young eel does not have jaws but has a large sucker mouth, armed with sharp teeth and a rough, cutting tongue. Attaching to the fish’s side with its suction mouth, it uses its sharp teeth and rough tongue to make a wound deep enough for blood to flow. It will remain attached to the fish, sometimes for days, sucking out the blood until the fish dies. Then it finds another victim.

These repulsive creatures remind us of Satan. The Bible warns us to beware, lest “through his subtilty . . . your minds should be corrupted” (2 Corinthians 11:3). It is our sins that make us an easy victim of that evil one, but a gracious God warns us to “flee from the wrath to come” (Matthew 3:7) and turn to the Saviour who “is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by Him” (Hebrews 7:25).

Do you realize that you are a sinner under Satan’s power, and have you accepted the loving invitation to find a shelter in the Saviour?

ML-04/21/2002

An Unusual Nest Builder

“Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of Man hath not where to lay His head.”
Luke 9:58

An unusual bird found in Africa and in Europe is the Cape Penduline tit. It is about the size of a sparrow, but with a much longer tail. It is not a colorful bird, having just a few scarlet and yellow feathers by which it can be identified.

These little acrobats hang upside down on swinging leaves and swaying branches when looking for insects, seeds and berries. They travel in groups of ten to twenty, constantly calling back and forth with low, pretty whistles.

An outstanding feature of this bird is its elongated nest, a bag-like, waterproof nest suspended from a branch. The male usually starts to build the nest, weaving hoops of grass and fibers to form its basic shape. Soon his mate joins him, and sometimes others come to help. After the framework is completed, the bottom, walls and top are finished. Finally, soft, fluffy materials and feathers are woven in for a soft, comfortable lining.

The entrance to this nest is most interesting. Two-thirds of the way up the side, a large opening is made on one side. It looks like an entrance, but it actually leads into an empty chamber, walled off all by itself. However, it serves a purpose.

When the parent bird returns with food, it flies directly into this empty chamber, settles to the bottom, then cautiously looks out to make sure no enemy is around. Satisfied that it is safe, it reaches up with its beak, tugs gently on a concealed section, and another opening appears into which it enters. This is the true entrance that leads down to where the baby birds are housed. The trap door closes by itself after the parent bird enters. A clever use of spider webs and silk from caterpillar nests makes a flexible hinge on this trap door, keeping it shut when not in use. When leaving the nest, the bird goes through the same safety routine, hopping into the big opening before flying off.

When the baby birds grow up, they will also make identical nests and without having any lessons. How have they learned this? You may already know the answer - the Lord God provided these abilities and instincts when He created them. And these are passed on from one generation to another. No lessons are necessary!

Hebrews 4:13 tell us that God watches over them at all times: “Neither is there any creature that is not manifest [visible] in His sight.” And since you are one of His special creatures, He is watching you and knows everything you do and think. How good to make the prayer of David your prayer also: “Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in Thy sight, O Lord, my strength, and my Redeemer” (Psalm 19:14).

ML-04/28/2002

The Mayfly

“All things were made by Him; and without Him was not anything made that was made.”
John 1:3

There are over one hundred varieties of the mayfly, most of which appear during May or June. With a body little more than an inch long and a long, forked tail, it is a pretty sight, flying about with its four transparent, veined wings.

Life begins for the mayfly as an egg dropped in water. Soon a nymph hatches out and it crawls along the bottom of the lake or stream for about two years, eating food filtered from the water. At the end of two years, it changes from gill-breathing to air-breathing. Rising to the surface, its outer skin splits open and the adult-stage mayfly emerges. After a short exposure to the air, its four wings strengthen, and it flies to a nearby object to rest for a few hours before becoming active.

After this change, its life is very short. The adult-stage mayfly does not eat - it does not have a mouth or a stomach. It spends its time finding a mate. Clouds of males and females perform their courtship dance over the water, rising and falling gracefully through the air. Afterward, the females lay a number of eggs in the water and die, as do the males. Their adult life span lasts only a few hours. Because of this, their Latin name “ephemerida” means “living for only a day.”

Frequently, great numbers of nymphs come to the water’s surface at the same time for their change into mayflies. As they take to the air in large numbers, they cause excitement among fish that leap for them, as well as birds, swooping down and snatching them in midair. Even so, many do escape, so the egg-laying and eventual hatching of a new supply of nymphs goes on year after year.

Do you think God cares about these little insects? He certainly does. They are part of His creation and are part of the balance of His whole creation. We may not always understand His purpose in the things about us, but like the prophet Isaiah, we can say, “Hast thou not known? hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth, [faints] not, neither is weary? there is no searching of His understanding” (Isaiah 40:28).

But He does want us, as His special creation, to come to Him. We are invited to “seek . . . the Lord while He may be found” (Isaiah 55:6). He also invites each one to “come unto Me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28). Our lives, like the mayfly’s, may be shorter than we expect. How important it is to accept Him as our Lord and Saviour today!

ML-05/05/2002

The Familiar Cow

“He causeth the grass to grow for the cattle, and herb for the service of man.”
Psalm 104:14

As those who live in the country know, there are many kinds of cows on farms, and they are the most familiar of the large animals. Only the female is called a cow, and the male is called a bull. It’s unusual for a cow to charge a person, but it’s always good to keep a fence between yourself and a bull!

The Bible mentions cows. Genesis 1:25 says that “God made the beast of the earth after his kind, and cattle after their kind.” This shows that God made a distinction between wild animals and domestic animals. The domestic animals were to be used “for the service of man,” as our opening verse states, and certainly the cow is an animal of great service to man.

A cow’s stomach has four compartments. As a cow grazes, each bite is swallowed after a little chewing. This passes along to the first and second parts of the stomach where it combines with liquids to form a “cud.” Later when resting, the cow brings this cud back to its mouth and chews it more completely before finally swallowing it. This time the grass ends up in the third and fourth stomach parts where it is further digested.

Milk is produced and collects in the bag-like underpart of the cow’s body known as the udder. When a calf is born, it instinctively knows that this is the place to go to satisfy its hunger. After the calf has grown enough to eat solid foods such as grass, hay and grain, the cow continues to supply milk for the dairyman. This milk will be shipped to market where it will be converted into butter, cheese and other dairy products. We should thank the Lord often for these foods. What would we do without them?

Besides milk and meat, cows and bulls are a main source of hides from which leather is made. Glue, soap, some medicines and other products are also produced from their body parts.

In early Bible days, God instructed His people how to distinguish between a “clean” and an “unclean” animal. A “clean” animal, which they could use for food, chewed the cud and had divided hoofs. The cow meets both of these requirements, as do sheep, goats, deer and several other animals.

There are lessons for us in all that the Bible teaches. A “clean” animal chewing its cud speaks of one who loves the Lord Jesus and spends some time reading and searching the Bible - not just glancing quickly at a portion of it. The divided hoof tells us He wants His people to divide (separate) themselves from the sinful world and live for Him. “Wherefore come out from among them [unbelievers], and be ye separate, saith the Lord” (2 Corinthians 6:17). Do you fit these examples?

ML-05/12/2002

Protection Underseas

“Woe to him that is alone when he [falls]; for he [has] not another to help him up.”
Ecclesiastes 4:10

In the Red Sea, a fish called amphiprion takes the responsibility of driving away the enemies of one of the sea anemones. This particular anemone relies on this fish for its protection. It will not even fully open unless it senses that its “friend” is close by. The fish communicates this to the anemone by touching it occasionally.

The anemone will never intentionally hurt its friend. Any other fish touching its poisonous tentacles is immediately stung to death. If something does happen to accidentally push the amphiprion into the tentacles of its friend, it will be seized and eaten. The communication between them breaks down at these times.

The benefit of this relationship to the amphiprion is that it shares the food caught by the anemone. Although it looks like a lovely plant, the anemone is really a sea animal and lives mostly by eating other sea life.

A similar arrangement exists between another sea anemone and the snapping shrimp. This anemone has many enemies among the larger fish that like to feed on it. Although not very large, the shrimp can make a loud snap with its large claw. The noise frightens the anemone’s enemies, and they leave very quickly.

The anemone does not bother or sting the shrimp. It is allowed to swim freely around the anemone and to burrow near its base where it hides from its own enemies.

God has made these residents of the ocean helpers to one another. How nice to have a friend standing beside you when danger threatens or when life’s problems seem too great to bear alone.

God gives a very true picture of every one of us in the Bible: “Man is born unto trouble” (Job 5:7). The Apostle Paul also recognized this condition when he asked, “Oh wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?” His happy answer was: “I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Romans 7:24-25).

We are happy to tell you there is “a Friend that [sticks] closer than a brother” (Proverbs 18:24) and to repeat King David’s words: “The Lord also will be a refuge for the oppressed, a refuge in times of trouble. And they that know Thy name will put their trust in Thee: for Thou, Lord, hast not forsaken them that seek Thee” (Psalm 9:9-10).

These comforting words speak of the very same Lord who extends a loving invitation to you: “Come unto Me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28). And to those who have already accepted Him as their Saviour, He reassuringly says, “I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee” (Hebrews 13:5).

Do you know this Friend as your personal companion and guardian?

ML-05/19/2002

The Wise Old Stork

“The stork in the heaven [knows] her appointed times . . . but My people know not the judgment of the Lord.”
Jeremiah 8:7

The European white stork has black wing tips, a red bill and long, reddish-pink legs and feet. Storks have no real vocal cords, so they “talk” by clapping their bills together. Although this stork migrates every fall, a pair will return year after year to the same nest. The nests are huge, built mostly on chimney tops or roofs. Each year something is added to each nest, until they become as tall as a man and several feet wide. A pair of storks will stay together for life and are devoted to their young, feeding them great quantities of frogs, grasshoppers, mice, eels and reptiles.

Storks get along very well with humans and are protected wherever they live. Sometimes when they meet you on a street, you would think they were almost human as they stroll along, for they nod their heads like wise old men or tuck their beaks in their chests like absent-minded professors.

Before winter overtakes the storks, large migrations begin, following two southern routes. Those nesting in eastern Europe fly through Turkey, Palestine, over the Sea of Galilee, over Mt. Sinai, into East Africa and then down to South Africa. That is how they are known to the people of Bible lands, because some stop off in those lands to stay until spring. Those nesting in western Europe make their flight to the same destination, but by a different route. These fly over the Rock of Gibraltar, across the Sahara Desert and the Congo forests of Africa. They meet the eastern European storks somewhere along the Nile River and fly together to southern Africa.

These storks have an amazing characteristic: When it’s time to begin these migratory flights, the young storks begin the seven-thousand-mile journey without waiting for their parents. Although they have never flown these routes before, they have no difficulty reaching their destinations. Can anyone deny that they receive this remarkable ability from their Creator? If they were not guided by Him, certainly they would wander off course and die, but He watches over them with utmost care.

As our opening Bible verse states, “the stork in the heaven [knows] her appointed times” and will not change it. The rest of the verse is sad when the Lord says, “But My people know not the judgment of the Lord.” The people were not as wise as the birds and failed to follow the counsel of God.

How important for us all to “hear what God the Lord will speak; for He will speak peace unto His people . . . but let them not turn again to folly [sin]” (Psalm 85:8). Do you know the peace of hearing His voice and applying it to your own heart?

ML-05/26/2002

The Always-Hungry Shrew

“Out of the ground the Lord God formed every beast of the field.”
Genesis 2:19

There are more than two hundred kinds of shrews throughout the world, with thirty kinds in North America. They are among the smallest known mammals—the tiniest is so small it could be hidden in a man’s closed fist and weighs less than a dime. The largest American shrew is about six inches long, including its tail. But in spite of their small size, they will attack, and with their sharp, needle-like teeth, they will kill animals more than twice their size.

The reason for such fierceness is that they are always hungry and must eat almost continually during the day, eating about three times their weight daily in order to stay alive. A boy or girl weighing fifty pounds would have to eat about six hundred hamburgers a day to keep up with a shrew! Do you think you could do that?

Most shrews look like a mouse with a pointed nose. Because much of their food consists of worms, grubs and insects in the soil, the Creator has given shrews long, slender snouts to explore small holes and crevices for food.

Actually, a shrew will eat almost any living creature it can handle, including small birds and snakes, mice, frogs and chipmunks. Because their tremendous appetites cause them to eat so many mice and insects, farmers are usually glad to have them around.

Most shrews are good swimmers, but one known as the water shrew outdoes them all and can stay underwater a long time, devouring fish, frogs and crabs. If its food gives out, it will die of hunger in less than a day’s time, so it also eats some land creatures.

Most shrews make grassy nests in the side of a bank or in short burrows where half a dozen or more babies arrive in the spring. The mother takes care of them, nursing them for a short time and then training them to search for solid food. In just a few weeks, she leaves them entirely on their own.

Do you think God cares about shrews? Yes He does, for the Bible tells us, “In [His] hand is the soul of every living thing” (Job 12:10), and He watches over all His creation, even though sin has spoiled so much of it.

We admire these little creatures but cannot help but think how they remind us of Satan who “[walks] about, seeking whom he may devour” (1 Peter 5:8). Satan is very real, and we can only be kept from his tempting us into evil things if we know the Lord Jesus as our Saviour. Then we can come to Him in earnest prayer for help, since He “is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.” Is He your Saviour? Is He a refuge and strength to you?

ML-06/02/2002

Two Oddities of the Ocean

“God created great whales, and every living creature that [moves], which the waters brought forth abundantly.”
Genesis 1:21

The carrier shell is native to the waters of Japan, the Philippines and Malaysia. It is an unusual marine animal that looks like a pile of dead shellfish.

Although it has its own shell, parts of its body are not covered, so it seems to be looking for added protection. As it moves about on the ocean floor and finds an empty shell, it adds a thin coating of new material to the shell with its mouth. This, along with a cement it produces, enables the new shell to stick to the carrier’s back wherever it chooses to place it.

This unusual little creature will often add a dozen or more shells to its back and sides. This strange habit apparently adds protection and at the same time conceals it from its enemies.

The harp shell is also a creature of tropical waters. Its strong, ribbed shell is large and beautiful with a variety of colors. Most of its time is spent plowing through the sandy ocean bottom, searching for shrimp or crabs.

Its method of catching a crab is interesting. The harp shell and the crab are enemies; the crab loves to eat the harp, and the harp loves to eat the crab. However, when they meet, the harp usually wins. When the harp finds a crab, it purposely exposes part of its “foot” which the crab immediately grabs. Since this is an expendable part of the harp, the “foot” breaks off easily and later grows back. While the crab is occupied with eating this treat, the harp moves around it, covering its enemy with a sticky substance on which it throws a mound of sand. The crab can’t escape! The meal which it so eagerly accepted was really a trap. Now the harp has its turn and eats the crab.

These are strange but interesting details of sea life. We may not understand why they were created, but they are part of God’s purposes in the ways of the ocean. We know these creatures were not originally made to devour one another, but their peaceful way of life was disrupted when sin came into the world. Thankfully, there is a time coming when everything will be made right. However, before that time comes, a dreadful judgment is coming. All who have refused God’s gift of salvation will stand before the great white throne to hear that judgment pronounced against them.

Listen to the Bible’s warning and “escape for thy life!” Turn to Christ the Saviour of sinners right now, while there is still time. “The Lord is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble; and He [knows] them that trust in Him” (Nahum 1:7).

ML-06/09/2002

The Tough Zebra

“A wild ass used to the wilderness . . . snuffeth up the wind at her pleasure.”
Jeremiah 2:24

The Bible does not refer to zebras by name, but they also “snuff up the wind” and are much like the wild ass referred to in the opening verse.

Among all the animals of Africa, the zebra is truly a beautiful and outstanding creature. Its prominent stripes, short thick mane, soft black muzzle and erect ears make it different from any other animal. There are three main breeds. The mountain zebra is the most common, having velvety-black and creamy-white stripes, but underneath it is all white. The Burchell’s is the tallest. Its stripes are irregular with none on its legs. Grevy’s is the third one and has the most stripes, but they are narrower.

The Creator provided these stripes as an excellent means of camouflage. The zebra’s chief enemy is the lion. The stripes blend so well with grass, trees and brush that the zebra is not easily seen. Even in broad daylight, a group standing together presents such a mixed design of black and white that a hunter, their other enemy, is confused and cannot easily pick one out as a potential victim.

These animals have excellent sight, hearing and sense of smell and are seldom caught unawares. Their bands are always headed by a fierce stallion, and all are savage fighters. When they are attacked, they all turn their heels to the enemy. A kick from any of them can break a jaw or other bone, convincing the attacker to give up the fight.

Out on the African prairie, grass is the main food for many animals, and the Creator has provided an excellent way for some to share this resource. Zebras eat only the tops of certain tall grasses; gnus will follow, since they prefer the middle of the stems; finally, the lovely springboks finish it off down to the ground. They all leave the area until the grasses grow tall again.

This is more evidence of God’s special care of all His creatures. Sadly, many zebras are killed by predators when they carelessly separate themselves from the band. This reminds us of the need of every believer in the Lord Jesus to share his life with others who also love the Saviour, to help protect one another from our “adversary the devil, [who] as a roaring lion, [walks] about, seeking whom he may devour” (1 Peter 5:8).

The Bible says, “Two are better than one; because they have a good reward for their labor. For if they fall, the one will lift up his fellow: but woe to him that is alone when he [falls]; for he [has] not another to help him up” (Ecclesiastes 4:9-10). The Lord wants us to help and encourage one another in a happy Christian life. Do you have this kind of friends?

ML-06/16/2002

Beware the Shark!

“Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour.”
1 Peter 5:8

In this verse, Satan is described as a lion prowling through the earth. A similar example could be a vicious shark in the ocean. About three hundred fifty varieties of sharks are found throughout the world. The smallest is the ten-inch dwarf; the largest is the forty-foot whale shark, weighing fifteen tons or more. In spite of their frightening looks, most sharks are harmless, living on fish, squid and shellfish. Two huge species, the basking shark and the whale shark, have such small teeth that they can only eat tiny drifting sea life and small fish.

The hammerhead is the most unusual-looking shark with its head extending out two feet or more on each side of the body. A large eye is on each end, and its mouth is underneath on the body. The ugliest shark is the horn or pig shark, with its jaws and teeth at the front of its pig-like snout.

The blue shark is actually a beautiful creature, with its dark bluish tint on top and light blue underneath. Its huge eyes and a small mouth give it a smiling appearance, and it shows only curiosity towards swimmers. Thresher sharks, which often work in pairs, beat the water with their tails. This causes small fish to group together, and then the threshers move in for the kill.

The most dangerous of all sharks is the great white shark with its huge jaws and dagger-like teeth. This one will sometimes attack swimmers. The injuries from their bites are severe, often resulting in death. The tiger shark is also vicious and sometimes will attack people. It is fifteen to thirty feet long, with rows of long, sharp teeth.

In spite of the shark’s bad reputation, God has a place for them in His creation. As scavengers, they help keep the ocean clean. They are useful to man directly in that valuable medicines and vitamins are extracted from various parts of their bodies, and shark meat is an excellent food.

Although some sharks are harmless, few of us would trust these unpredictable creatures. People can also be just as unpredictable. How careful we should be in any relationship with people who are not God-fearing, for many of them are used by Satan to lead others to do evil deeds. The Bible gives good advice: “Ponder the path of thy feet, and let all thy ways be established” (Proverbs 4:26). “It is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in man” (Psalm 118:8). “Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct thy paths” (Proverbs 3:56). This is excellent advice to follow.

ML-06/23/2002

Shearwater Travelers

“Out of the ground the Lord God formed every beast of the field, and every fowl of the air.”
Genesis 2:19

Every bird is a marvel of God’s creation. It was on the fifth day of creation that God made “every winged fowl after his kind.” Ever since, they have reproduced their own kind and spread throughout the world.

Among the migrating sea birds are several species of shearwaters. Some are about the size of pigeons; others are as large as seagulls. These ocean birds have long, slender wings that enable them to fly and glide long distances, only flapping their wings occasionally. They skim above the waves, catching a fish or squid to eat without stopping. They come to shore only to reproduce, usually on an island. Each female lays one large, white egg in a hole dug in the ground or concealed under rocks.

The greater shearwater is an Atlantic Ocean bird, nesting and hatching its young from January to March in the Triston da Cunha Islands of the South Atlantic. As the North begins its spring warm-up, they fly to Newfoundland and then to Greenland, but they do not settle anywhere very long. In another three months, they move on to Iceland, Scotland and Ireland. Then in October or November, they migrate south along the coast of France. Soon great flocks are returning to their nesting spots in the South Atlantic, having traveled thousands of miles on the round-trip journey.

The short-tailed shearwater is just as busy in the Pacific area. From September through November, it nests along the coasts of South Australia and Tasmania. The female lays only one egg, but because millions are nesting in the same area, it is a busy community when the chicks hatch.

In April or May, both young and old travel north along the coast of Japan, taking a month to reach the Aleutians and other Arctic Islands. Well insulated against the cold, they thrive on the abundant seafood of these chilly waters. Like their cousins of the Atlantic, they become restless and start south in August. They return by a different route, traveling down the Pacific Coast to California and then southwest across to their breeding grounds in Australia.

What wonderful navigators these birds are! No one knows how they find their way over such long distances or how they all decide to leave together and fly on to their next spot. But we do know they are following God-given instincts which are passed on from generation to generation.

The Bible tells us “there is a path which no fowl knoweth” (Job 28:7). That is the path of salvation made possible by God’s love to every boy and girl. He invites each person to come to Him to be saved from their sins through faith in His Son, Jesus Christ the Lord. Is He your Saviour?

ML-06/30/2002

The World of Insects: Part 1

“Hear now this, O foolish people, and without understanding; which have eyes, and see not; which have ears, and hear not: Fear ye not Me? saith the Lord.”
Jeremiah 5:21-22

Do you know how to tell if something you see crawling or flying is really an insect? One quick way is to count its legs. Insects always have six legs - no more and no less. Spiders are not true insects because they have eight legs.

The word insecta means “in sections,” and this is also true. All true insects have three body sections joined together - head, thorax and abdomen. The legs and wings are supported by the middle thorax section. Most insects have four wings, but some have only two, and some don’t have any.

When the Lord God created the world and everything in it, He must have had much pleasure in creating the insects since they represent the largest group of visible forms of life. There are over 600,000 species. Some are so small they can only be seen through a microscope. The fairy fly, for instance, is only one-hundredth of an inch long but is perfect in all its parts. At the large end of the scale is the fifteen-inch insect called walking stick, found in New Guinea.

In proportion to their size, insects are the strongest creatures on earth. In experiments, a bumble bee was able to pull more than three hundred times its weight, and a beetle carried more than eight hundred times its weight! When insects walk, their front and back legs on one side and their middle leg on the other side all move at the same time. The Creator may have arranged this so they can keep their balance and are always firmly on the surface.

Most insects begin life as eggs, hatch as larvae or nymphs, then change to pupae and finally appear as fully formed adults. Having no skeleton or bones, they have been given an armor-like skin for protection. As they grow larger, this splits open and drops off, and a new, protective skin soon hardens and replaces it. This happens several times as the insect matures.

Insects breathe, but they have no lungs; they hear, but they have no ears; they smell, but they have no noses; they have eyes, but they cannot close them. Their hearts can pump blood backward or forward. These strange features about insects remind us of the opening verse of this article. The Lord scolded those people who refused to use their eyes to see His ways or to use their ears to hear His Word. No wonder He called them “foolish people, and without understanding.” We hope none of you will be so foolish! “Today if ye will hear His voice, harden not your hearts” (Hebrews 4:7).

(to be continued)

ML-07/07/2002

The World of Insects: Part 2

“God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty.”
1 Corinthians 1:27

Many books have been written about the unusual features of the world’s 600,000 varieties of insects. Approximately a third of the insects are beetles, some of which have unusual habits. We have already written in other articles about the living bomb, the sexton beetle, and the ladybug. The beetle that eats the tobacco plant is called the cigarette beetle; another one eats cork, glue, mustard plasters and certain medicines and is called the drugstore beetle.

There are other unusual insects besides beetles. One of the most beautiful insects is the morpho butterfly, which is covered with a million tiny, colored scales on each wing. Another unusual insect is the water strider that skims over water - its middle legs work like oars, the hind legs act like rudders, and the front legs are free to catch its prey. It has been given air-filled “shoes” made of hair that allow it to float.

Another resident of ponds is the brown water bug. This one grasps other water insects in a hug of death while its sharp beak draws out the victim’s blood. When the female is ready to lay her eggs, she grips her mate tightly and glues the eggs onto his back. Then she leaves him to incubate them in the sun for many days, until the young hatch.

God has made some insects experts at camouflage. The ambush bug is so well hidden by its green and yellow colors that it cannot be seen until it moves. The dead-leaf butterfly is easily seen when flying but looks like a dead leaf when resting. The long-horned grasshopper has wings which look like leaves that have been partly eaten away. There is one variety of the walking stick which has a green-brown body with red, thorn-like growths that make it look like part of a bramble bush.

Certainly insects are among “the weak things of the world” that confound “the mighty.” How good to know that “God made . . . everything that creepeth upon the earth after his kind: and God saw that it was good” (Genesis 1:25). Each one was given every perfect detail at the moment He created it.

He had a much greater joy when He brought mankind into the world, for He had His heart of love set on each of us even before the world was made. How sad that many have not responded to that love nor realized that their sins made it necessary for the Saviour to die on Calvary. There He bore the sins of all who will admit their guilt and put their trust in Him. How wonderful of God to provide such a way of salvation! Have you accepted His Son, the Lord Jesus, as your Saviour?

ML-07/14/2002

The Hedgehog

“I have made the earth, the man and the beast that are upon the ground, by My great power and by My outstretched arm.”
Jeremiah 27:5

Although the hedgehog is well-known in many parts of Europe, Asia and Africa, it is not native to North America. This peculiar little animal is less than a foot long and looks somewhat like a porcupine.

As it is one of the weaker animals that would be hunted and killed by larger animals, God has given the hedgehog a very effective defense against its enemies. From its neck to its short, stubby tail, it is covered along its back and sides with sharp, stiff spines, sticking out in every direction. When in danger, the hedgehog tucks its head into its chest and rolls itself into a spiny ball and is safe from its enemies. If it hadn’t done this right the very first time, it would have been quickly killed. God gave it that protective knowledge when it was born.

Although this animal sometimes lives in harsh surroundings, it knows how to make a comfortable nest of woven moss, grass and leaves that is waterproof even in heavy rains. Sometimes it will burrow into a rabbit’s runway and make its home there or burrow under the roots of a tree where it is safe with a good strong roof over it. It has sharp claws on powerful front feet which enable it to dig quickly, not only in making its home, but also in finding grubs, slugs, worms and insects that make up part of its diet.

The hedgehog is helpful to man in at least one way - it is a natural enemy of snakes, especially poisonous ones. The hedgehog quickly seizes the snake by its tail and then curls up into its spiny-ball defense with the snake’s tail in its mouth. The angry snake strikes against the prickly spines again and again, until it almost hacks itself to pieces. The hedgehog then finishes it off and makes a meal of the snake.

Do you think the hedgehog gave itself such a protective armor or taught itself how to catch snakes without being harmed? No, God, who cares for all His creatures, provided it with its unusual survival features. “In whose hand [the hand of God] is the soul of every living thing, and the breath of all mankind” (Job 12:10).

This verse reminds us that, while God cares for every creature, He considers mankind separate from all others. He does, indeed, care for such an unusual little animal as the hedgehog, but it is important to realize He has a special interest in every human being and wants each one, through faith in Christ, to be His child. He tells us: “I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with loving-kindness have I drawn thee” (Jeremiah 31:3).

ML-07/21/2002

Star of the Sea

“The Lord is a great God. . . . The sea is His, and He made it.”
Psalm 95:3,5

Most people who live near the ocean have seen starfish dead on the beach. Sometimes they are called sea stars. These are sea animals in the same family as the sea cucumbers, sea lilies and sea urchins. Most starfish have five arms that make them look like five-pointed stars. However, there are many varieties. One looks more like a pentagon because it has such short arms, and there are some that have as many as fifty arms. The colors of starfish are usually red, brown or bright orange.

A very colorful one is the brittle star which moves rapidly through the water by thrashing its arms vigorously. This variety got its name because its brittle arms are easily shattered by crabs and large fish that then eat the broken pieces.

With few other exceptions, starfish appear to be stationary or just moving gently with the current. But the Creator did not leave them without a means of travel. The underside of each arm has many tube feet with a tiny suction disk on each foot. The starfish uses its tube feet and suction disks to crawl over the ocean bottom, onto a rock or other firm surface.

It is with these sensitive arms and suction disks that starfish capture food. When a shellfish is found, such as an oyster, mussel or clam, the suction disks of one arm attach firmly to one side of the shell, and those on another arm attach on the other side of the shell. Then the contest begins. The shellfish clamps its two shell halves tightly together while the starfish’s firmly attached suction disks apply continuous pressure as it pulls the shell halves apart. The contest may last an hour or more before the shellfish usually loses the battle. When the two sides of the shell finally open, the starfish’s stomach slides over the shellfish’s soft body and slowly digests it.

Starfish can regenerate new arms when the old ones are broken off. Even if a starfish is cut in two, each piece will grow into a new starfish.

These sea animals are among the lower forms of life, without the benefit of an intellect. We do not expect them to be aware that a divine Creator rules over the sea and its inhabitants. Our opening verse reminds us that this is so, and another Bible verse says, “The Lord is good to all: and His tender mercies are over all His works” (Psalm 145:9).

We who have been given the ability to know of Him, His wonderful works and His great love to us are responsible to act on God’s Word which says, “Oh that men would praise the Lord for His goodness, and for His wonderful works to the children of men!” (Psalm 107:8). Have you ever done this?

ML-07/28/2002

The World's Laziest Animal

“He also that is slothful in his work is brother to him that is a great waster.”
Proverbs 18:9

The sloth lives in the tropics of Central and South America and is among the strangest of all animals. A full-grown sloth is about two feet long and has almost no tail or ears. Its hair is long and coarse, but its face is bare. It has a blunt nose on a head that doesn’t seem to have any neck. Some species can turn their heads almost completely around without moving their bodies, which suits this sluggish creature just fine since it will sometimes stay in the same spot all day.

No wonder the Bible doesn’t have anything good to say about the sloth. In fact, our opening verse indicates that it is shameful for people to be like these lazy creatures. Another verse cautions, “Slothfulness [casts] into a deep sleep; and an idle soul shall suffer hunger” (Proverbs 19:15). Perhaps the Creator allowed the sloth to have its lazy habits to give us an example of what is displeasing to Him. Instead of slothfulness, we are instructed, “Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might” (Ecclesiastes 9:10).

The sloth lives among the trees of the tropics where it hangs upside down most of the time, using its three sharp claws on each foot to securely grip a branch. After sleeping this way, it is quite content to spend its waking hours in the same position, slowly munching leaves, buds and young twigs within its reach. Because it seldom moves, it is well hidden from its enemies. The sloth occasionally comes down to the ground where it moves clumsily about, but very soon it climbs back up the tree to its lazy way of life.

Unlike most other animals, the sloth doesn’t bother to groom itself. As a result, its hair becomes the home of numerous bugs, ticks and moths, and some even have a growth of green algae on their hair. This certainly is not an animal you would want for a pet!

This creature is an illustration of how bad habits and laziness are used by Satan to produce the ugly stains of sin that leave their mark on many people. But, thank the Lord, all who come to the Lord Jesus Christ can be washed clean from their sins. In 1 John 1:7,9 we read this wonderful message: “The blood of Jesus Christ [God’s] Son [cleanses] us from all sin. . . . If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

Certainly the sloth is a sad example of laziness. How much better it is to please the Lord by obeying His request: “Whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men” (Colossians 3:23).

ML-08/04/2002

How an Enemy of Trees Is Stopped

“Put on the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.”
Ephesians 6:11

As beautiful, tall and strong as a tree may appear, it has enemies quite capable of killing it. Some of these enemies are very small insects. One persistent little enemy is the bark beetle. It is one of the worst pests of spruce and pine trees in North America.

Usually these beetles come in swarms, boring through cracks in the bark and eventually boring their way into the sapwood. In a healthy tree, these beetles often become submerged in the resin that oozes out of the hole, and then they die. But in weakened and drought-affected trees, there is not enough resin to trap them. Once the beetles reach the vital sapwood, they lay their eggs in their bored tunnels. When the eggs hatch, the larvae continue to feed in the tree.

If there were no way to stop these persistent little insects, there would eventually be no pine or spruce trees left. God has provided protection for these trees by using another insect known as the checkered beetle which can catch the bark beetles in flight and eat them. Not only do checkered beetles kill the bark beetles, they also go into the tunnels the bark beetles have already made. The checkered beetles lay their eggs alongside those of the bark beetles, and when the larvae hatch, they attack and kill the newly hatched bark beetle larvae.

God has also given another friend to the trees - the braconid wasp. In some unknown way, it locates the bark beetle larvae, even though they might be under an inch of bark. This wasp injects its own eggs into the bark beetle’s larvae. The eggs soon hatch and these larvae immediately feed on their hosts, which, of course, kill the bark beetle larvae.

The killer beetles remind us of the enemy Satan, who “as a roaring lion, [walks] about, seeking whom he may devour” (1 Peter 5:8). His attacks are often in some small manner that we may even be aware of, but we say, “That doesn’t amount to much; I’m not concerned about it.” But what prayerful care we need so that Satan does not get the edge on us.

The only way we can apply the armor of Ephesians 6:11 or withstand Satan’s attacks is by turning to the Lord Jesus in every testing. “Finally . . . be strong in the Lord, and in the power of His might” (Ephesians 6:10). With Him taking our place before our enemy, we can say, “Thanks be to God, which [gives] us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Corinthians 15:57).

ML-08/11/2002

The Great Bustard

“God . . . made the world and all things therein, seeing that He is Lord of heaven and earth . . . [and gives] to all life, and breath, and all things.”
Acts 17:24-25

The bustard is a large game bird found on all continents except the Americas. Although there are about twenty-two species, the great bustard is best known. The male weighs about thirty pounds, stands three to four feet high, and has an eight-foot wingspan. Its small head has a razor-sharp beak, and it sometimes bites people, causing severe pain.

Another bustard, called the kori, is interesting because it almost always has a beautiful bee-eater bird perched on its back. From this viewpoint, the bee-eater bird can see bees and other insects which are disturbed by the kori’s feet as it walks through the grass. The bee-eater then quickly swoops down to catch its meal.

All bustards are shy and wary and difficult to approach. They prefer living on open plains where their sharp eyes can quickly spot motion. The great bustard, with its long legs and three-toed feet, is a fast runner. Although it can fly, it prefers to run from danger or hide in the tall grass where it is well camouflaged.

These strange birds have no song. Instead, they bark, grunt, hiss or make a whistling sound. When searching for food, they may wander several miles in a day. However, they have no trouble finding enough food as they eat plants, insects, lizards, frogs and small snakes.

When seeking a mate, the male stands atop a mound of dirt and makes a show of his feathers by turning up his tail and spreading his large wings over his back. At the same time, he lays his head between his shoulders and puffs up a pouch on his neck so that only the top of his head shows.

This is a pretty display, and an impressed female soon joins him. Together they make a one-foot hole in the ground for a nest. The female lays two or three speckled, greenish eggs, and in three weeks the chicks hatch. The young birds often eat too much and look quite funny, wobbling around as their legs are not yet strong enough to carry the extra load.

It is not known if this odd bird serves a special purpose, but it pleased the Lord God to create it, and so it fulfills a part in the balance of His entire creation. Additionally, we know He does not neglect it, for the Bible tells us, “In whose hand is the soul [life] of every living thing, and the breath of all mankind” (Job 12:10).

This verse reminds us of God’s goodness to each of us personally. Our response to this goodness should be, “O give thanks unto the Lord, for He is good: for His mercy endureth forever” (Psalm 107:1).

ML-08/18/2002

Geckos and Chuckwallas

“Who is like unto the Lord our God, who dwelleth on high, who humbleth Himself to behold the things . . . in the earth!”
Psalm 113:56

Geckos are small lizards that live in warm climates and are the most interesting member of the lizard family. Their name comes from the loud call that many kinds of geckos make. Most are active creatures of the night.

In North American deserts, the pretty banded gecko is plentiful. It has soft, pliable skin, large eyes, a long tongue for snatching insects and makes its home in the rocks. The unusual fat-tailed gecko of Pakistan has leopard-like coloring on top and on its extra-fat tail and is plain gray on the underside.

One of the more interesting geckos is found in an African desert. It is beautifully colored and has paddle-like, fleshy feet, provided by the Creator to help it travel over sand and probe for insects. The feet of most other geckos have adhesive toe pads which are covered with thousands of tiny hooks, enabling them to travel on smooth walls and upside down on ceilings. Their grip is so tight they need to pull each foot loose before taking the next step.

Geckos eat mainly insects. Because they devour so many insects, in some countries they are treated as pets in people’s homes, even eating scraps at the table.

The large, rusty-brown chuckwalla is really a lizard that is over a foot long, similar to an iguana. Like the iguana, a chuckwalla prefers to eat the buds, flowers and foliage of creosote plants. At night, sometimes both creatures share a creosote bush. They both live in lava beds and in the rocks of the southwestern deserts of the United States.

A most interesting feature about chuckwallas is how they escape from their enemies. They crawl into a narrow rock crevice and then fill their lungs with air, making themselves fit in the crevice so tightly that they can’t be pulled out. Where do you think they learned to do this? They didn’t learn by themselves; they received this life-saving instinct from their Creator.

Covered with loose, sandpaper-like skin, chuckwallas look rather fierce. They aren’t - they are harmless. Although they are night workers, they often can be spotted in daylight, sunning themselves on a rock. They are just one more of God’s creatures that is quite satisfied with its lifestyle.

As we consider these creatures, let us always remember the One of whom it is said, “By Him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth . . . and He is before all things, and by Him all things consist” (Colossians 1:16-17). The Bible contains God’s account of the truth of creation.

ML-08/25/2002

The Awkward Manatee

“He looketh to the ends of the earth, and seeth under the whole heaven. . . . And unto man He said, Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom; and to depart from evil is understanding.”
Job 28:24,28

Few people have ever seen a manatee, mainly because this large water animal lives only in tropical waters off the coast of Florida and along the coasts of the West Indies, South America and Africa. This mammal spends its life underwater, in both freshwater and saltwater, coming up to breathe with only the nostrils at the top of its snout breaking the surface.

The skin on these eight- to thirteen-foot-long creatures is grayish black and without fur. They are quite gentle and affectionate toward each other, often swimming side by side and sharing any available food supply. Because they are clumsy and slow moving, they are unable to come out on land to enjoy the sun’s warmth, like a hippopotamus can. They are actually helpless on land.

A manatee looks somewhat like a seal, all the way from its large, bristly mustached mouth to its huge, flat, rounded tail. Because of its appetite for underwater grass and plants, it is sometimes called a sea cow. Heavy and bulky, it is supported by an extremely large muscle along the whole length of its body, as well as by a framework of strong, heavy ribs. Having no hind legs, movement through water is achieved by its large tail and hind quarters, assisted by paddle-shaped front legs. These front legs are also necessary to maintain balance as well as to dig plants from the ocean bottom.

The Creator has given manatees everything needed for their unusual way of life, including the replacement of teeth so vital to them. As their front teeth wear away from constant cutting and chewing of sea grasses, they drop out. Promptly, all those behind move forward, and additional new ones soon fill in at the back of the mouth. Isn’t that an interesting part of God’s wonderful provision for them?

A female will have just one calf a year, born underwater and immediately taken to the surface for its first breath of air. The mother will often assist in this until the calf learns to swim up for air without help. She also brings the calf to the surface for nursing, keeping its head above water until finished.

Does God care about manatees? Yes He does. They have been under His watchful care ever since the time of their creation. You also are always in His care. The psalmist was thinking of this when he wrote, “Happy is he . . . whose hope is in the Lord his God; which made heaven, and earth, the sea, and all that therein is” (Psalm 146:56). Are you one of these happy people whose hope and trust are in the Lord?

ML-09/01/2002

Attractive Barbets

“He sendeth the springs into the val-leys. . . . By them shall the fowls of the heaven have their habitation, which sing among the branches.”
Psalm 104:10-12

There are about seventy-five species of barbets. All have colorful and strong bills which make them look like miniature toucans. In relation to their size, these birds have large heads and short tails. The smallest variety is about three inches long, and the largest is close to twelve inches. They are tropical birds and do not migrate. They live in the forests of Africa, Central and South America and parts of the South Pacific.

All barbets are brightly colored with some white and dark, and many bird watchers consider them the most beautiful of all birds. Each species bears a descriptive name, and we will look at two. One is called the crimson-throated. It is strictly a fruit eater and is especially fond of wild figs. Another is called red and yellow, even though it is almost entirely green except for a red crest on its head, a blue throat and yellow on the sides of its neck. All the others are equally colorful and interesting.

The Creator has provided barbets with strong legs and feet having sharp claws, enabling them to climb and hold securely to the side of a tree while feeding or digging a nest out of a decaying area of the trunk. Males and females work together, their large beaks pulling out the decayed wood. They make a nest with a small opening, but it is large enough inside for both them and their young, which usually number four. They are tidy housekeepers and promptly discard all unusable material from the nest.

The lives of most barbets are spent in the trees, and they seldom go to the ground. Resting after searching for insects, lizards, rodents and fruit, all of which they eat, they often sit on a branch for hours without moving. There they call back and forth to one another in sharp, ringing tones which have no real melody. It is amusing to hear their happy but discordant notes when a pair sits cozily side by side.

These lovely birds remind us of the Lord’s pleasure in His creation. Psalm 111:4 says, “He hath made His wonderful works to be remembered: the Lord is gracious and full of compassion.” That gracious compassion is extended toward everything He has created, but it is especially extended to all the people of the earth. Jeremiah, one of the Bible prophets, wrote, “It is of the Lord’s mercies that we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not. They are new every morning: great is [His] faithfulness. . . . Therefore will I hope in Him” (Lamentations 3:22-24).

Are you aware of the Lord’s loving compassion to you? and have you received Him as your Saviour by faith?

ML-09/22/2002

Four-Legged Battering Rams

“The high hills are a refuge for the wild goats; and the rocks for the conies.”
Psalm 104:18

Rocky Mountain bighorn sheep are majestic, sharp-sighted animals that are often seen standing atop a boulder or at the edge of a steep precipice in the mountains. Their beautiful horns curve backward from their foreheads, down and then forward and sometimes measure four feet along the front curves and spread thirty-one inches apart. Both rams and ewes have thick, brown wool, white muzzles and a patch of white around their stubby tails. Rams often weigh up to four hundred pounds.

Living above the timberline throughout the year, bighorns only head down to lower grassy slopes when food is scarce. The Creator designed them to live where other animals cannot survive (except the little coney). An advantage of the high, sub-zero climate is that strong winds sweep the snow away from the high meadows, leaving grass and shrubs exposed. The bighorns’ God-given digestive systems were designed to handle this frozen but nourishing food.

Familiar with every foot of the highest parts of the mountains and rocky slopes and cliffs, these surefooted animals can jump and climb easily in the most dangerous places. They escape from wolves, coyotes and mountain lions by racing to the heights far above them. They are just as sure-footed when they plunge at great speed down steep slopes. Lambs two or three weeks old can go wherever their mothers go. For this exciting life, the Lord God provided them with insulated coats, shock-proof legs and hooves that hold firmly to the rocky ledges.

The rams live peacefully except when seeking mates among the ewes. At that time, they batter each other without mercy. Two rams, standing several feet apart, will suddenly rise on their hind legs, then dropping down, dash forward and clash their horns and heads together in crashes that can be heard a mile away! This stuns them for a few moments, but soon they go at it again, until one finally leaves. Serious injury seldom results, for the Creator has provided them with an inch-thick, honeycomb “sandwich” in their two-layered skulls, plus an inch of tough outer skin — all of which helps to absorb these shocks.

These animals give the appearance of pride in their majestic beauty. However, the Bible warns that it is not right for boys and girls, or grown-ups either, to have pride. It says, “A man’s pride shall bring him low: but honor shall uphold the humble in spirit” (Proverbs 29:23). Instead of pride, Colossians 3:12 tells us to have “kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness.” However, this attitude, so pleasing to the Lord, can only fully show itself when we have accepted the Lord Jesus as Saviour and are depending on His strength to walk in ways pleasing to Him.

ML-09/29/2002

The Meerkat

“O Lord, Thou preservest man and beast. How excellent is Thy loving-kindness.”
Psalm 36:67

Meerkats make their homes in southern Africa in two wild areas protected from hunters. One place is called Kruger National Park and the other Kalahari Gemsbok Park (named after the deer-like gemsbok which is the park’s main resident). Sharing these areas are gnus, springboks, hyenas, lions, leopards and ostriches. The Creator has provided them all with abilities to adapt to the red sand dunes and hot, open country with its infrequent watering holes.

These reddish-brown, squirrel-like animals are a member of the mongoose family. They are noted for living in groups of twenty-five or more. Their lifestyle is rugged, and their major enemies are eagles, hawks and other birds of prey. Another enemy is the cobra, but like the mongoose, meerkats are usually too quick to be caught and even seem to enjoy teasing these vicious snakes into striking without success until they give up.

Meerkats spend much time searching for food, consisting of insects scratched from the sand, as well as mice and lizards. While some are searching for food, others frequently stand upright on their hind feet (much like prairie dogs), in groups of a dozen or more with heads tilted back, on the alert for their enemies overhead. If one is seen, a shrill warning is given, and all immediately dive into their nearby burrows.

A meerkat is not likely to wander off alone, for the group habit of watching out for each other is really the secret of their survival. Those hunting food make a purring sound, enabling the others always to know where they may be. If one wanders to an area where the watchers no longer hear the purr, they call it back.

When food is scarce, they move as a group to another location, usually where ground squirrels have already dug out burrows. The meerkats take over without so much as a “thank you.” Twice a year from two to four kits are born in these individual burrows and kept there for about a month. When allowed outside, they find others to play with and are often joined in their play by older brothers and sisters and sometimes parents, all of whom help in their training.

The clever ways of meerkats in surviving and even thriving in such barren country remind us of the wisdom of the Lord God when He created them and adapted them to such unusual conditions. And He has done this with all His creation, as our beginning Bible verse indicates. But of more importance, He has provided a home in heaven for every man and woman, boy and girl who accepts His loving invitation: “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved” (Acts 16:31). Have you accepted this invitation?

ML-10/06/2002

Protection Underseas

“Woe to him that is alone when he falleth; for he hath not another to help him up.”
Ecclesiastes 4:10

Sea anemones are sea animals that look like flowers. Touching their poisonous tentacles means death to small fishes and other digestible sea animals. A fish called amphiprion works jointly with one of the sea anemones by taking the responsibility of driving away the anemone’s enemies. This particular anemone relies on the amphiprion for its protection. It will not even fully open unless it knows that its “friend” is close by. The fish “tells” this to the anemone by touching it occasionally.

The benefit of this relationship to the amphiprion is that it shares the food caught by the sea anemone. The anemone will never try to hurt its friend. However, if something does happen to accidentally push the fish into the tentacles of the anemone, it will be paralyzed and eaten.

A similar mutual benefit exists between another sea anemone and the snapping shrimp. This anemone also has many enemies among the larger fish that like to feed on it. Although not very large, the shrimp can make a loud snap with its large claw. The noise frightens the sea anemone’s enemies, and they usually leave the area quickly.

The sea anemone does not sting nor bother the shrimp. It is allowed to swim freely around the anemone and to burrow near its base where it hides from its own enemies.

How nice to have a friend standing beside you when danger threatens or when life’s problems seem too great to bear alone. God has made these ocean residents helpers to one another, but it is not likely that they understand more than the fact that a helper is nearby.

God gives us a true picture of ourselves in the Bible: “Man is born unto trouble” (Job 5:7). The Apostle Paul also recognized this when he asked, “O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?” Here is his happy answer: “I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Romans 7:24-25).

Yes, we are happy to tell you there is “a Friend that [sticks] closer than a brother” (Proverbs 18:24) and to repeat David’s words: “The Lord also will be a refuge for the oppressed, a refuge in times of trouble. And they that know Thy name will put their trust in Thee: for Thou, Lord, hast not forsaken them that seek Thee” (Psalm 9:9-10). These are comforting words.

This same Friend extends this loving invitation to you: “Come unto Me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28). If you have accepted Him as your Saviour, He also gives you these words of assurance: “I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee” (Hebrews 13:5).

Do you know this Friend as your personal companion and safeguard?

ML-10/13/2002

The Glowing-Tailed Comet

“God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: He made the stars also.”
Genesis 1:16

Astronomers say there are uncountable comets throughout space, with more than a trillion in our Milky Way galaxy alone and millions more circling the sun. Many of these are in elliptical orbits and take thousands or even millions of years to complete their circuits. Some comets have heads fifty thousand miles in diameter and tails one hundred million miles long.

Among these many comets, there are only about two dozen whose circuit brings them close enough to earth that we can see them. Encke’s comet appears every three years. Biela’s and Brooks comets show up at about seven-year intervals. Halley’s comet, the most well-known, comes within sight at seventy-six-year intervals. It is the only one generally seen without special telescopes.

Halley’s is thought to weigh about six billion tons and is distinct from all the others with its great fiery tail streaking across the sky. During its pathway near the earth, it is an amazing sight and can be seen out on the seas or from open fields and hillsides all across North America, Europe and other countries. It was last seen in February of 1986.

No one seems to know what Halley’s comet is really made of. Some think it is made up of solar dust and gases squeezed tightly together. Others suggest it is a great frozen ball of ice mixed with dust. But whatever it may be, it is evident that as it draws near the sun the intense heat breaks down some of it into great volumes of vapor. This vapor trail, streaking out behind it as a tail millions of miles long and which is exposed to the sun’s brilliance, provides the wonderful exhibit viewed by so many. Actually, only a small part of the comet is drawn off each time, so its life will continue for whatever period of time the Creator has determined for it.

The sun’s gravity keeps Halley’s and other comets in their orbits, drawing them close and then swinging them out great distances into space on precise schedules. This is another example of the wonders of God’s creation, for although the sun determines the orbits, it is God who controls them, just as He controls the uncountable number of stars in space.

As David gazed with wonder at the starry skies, he exclaimed, “Let the heavens rejoice, and let the earth be glad” (Psalm 96:11). “The heavens declare His righteousness, and all the people see His glory” (Psalm 97:6). When you think of all this grandeur, what does it mean to you? Is the One who made it and controls it your Saviour as well as your Creator? Can you say, “This is my Lord and Saviour. I have put my trust in Him”?

ML-10/20/2002

The Lion - King of Beasts: Part 1

“A lioness . . . brought up one of her whelps: it became a young lion, and it learned to catch the prey.”
Ezekiel 19:23

Lions are the most famous member of the cat family. They are among the fiercest of animals and live in Africa, southern Asia and India. Six to twenty will live in a group called a “pride.” When hidden in tall grass or rocks, they are hard to spot. Hunters have sometimes almost walked into such a group before seeing them. Like a house cat snoozing much of the day, they spend twenty hours a day sleeping or resting. Perhaps this helps them live for eighteen to twenty years. Do you think God cares about them? Yes, He cares for all His creation. The opening Bible verse shows that He has taught even lions to care for their young.

A lioness, temporarily leaving the pride, gives birth to two, three or four cubs about every other year. The cubs weigh around three pounds at birth and are blind and helpless, and the lioness nurses and trains them for about three months before returning to the pride. Then she and other mothers take turns baby-sitting for each other. If the cubs do not do as the lioness wants, they often get picked up by the loose skin at the back of their necks.

At two months, they accompany their mother to a “kill” for their first meal of meat. Soon she teaches them to stalk and capture their own prey. Female cubs stay with the pride, but male cubs are chased from the territory by their fathers when they are between two and three years old. These young males wander and hunt together until they are fully grown. Then they challenge males in other prides and may take over the prides.

A full-grown male, weighing five hundred pounds, may stand four feet high and measure eight to ten feet from nose to the end of his tail. He is a handsome animal, dressed in buff-yellow with a shaggy mane and penetrating eyes. The female is smaller and has no mane. Strong creatures, they can carry animals in their mouths weighing as much as twice their own weight.

The big male is famous for his frightening roar which terrifies nearby animals so that they jump up and run. But the lion soon catches them and can disable or kill some prey with one swipe of a paw.

How we need God’s warning to us: “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour” (1 Peter 5:8). A place of safety from our enemy Satan is most important. God offers you that place of safety: “In the fear of the Lord is strong confidence: and His children shall have a place of refuge” (Proverbs 14:26).

(to be continued)

ML-10/27/2002

The Lion - King of Beasts: Part 2

“Wilt thou hunt the prey for the lion? or fill the appetite of the young lions?”
Job 38:39

While male and female lions often hunt together, either as a single pair or in groups, it is usually the females that circle around and drive the prey towards the hidden males. With a sudden rushing leap, a male pounces on the victim, and death comes quickly. In spite of the fact that they must kill to survive, lions only kill when hungry and never for the sport of it. Although they are not aware of it, they are dependent on the Creator for their food supply. The Bible states, “The eyes of all wait upon Thee; and Thou givest them their meat in due season” (Psalm 145:15).

Lions prey on antelopes, zebras, springboks, wildebeests, impalas and some smaller animals. However, they do not always do their own hunting. Sometimes they come upon other animals feeding on something they have captured and will drive the animals off and take over the prize. On other occasions, they watch the sky for vultures. These carnivorous birds quickly drop to the earth when they see a dead animal. Following this lead, the lion finds food without the work.

As strong and fierce as they are, lions are not always successful in their hunting; swift animals often escape. At times, the lion itself becomes the victim. When zebras and giraffes are pursued by a lion, they will sometimes watch until the lion is right at their heels and then give a vicious kick to the lion’s face. Many a lion has had its jaw broken and been forced to give up the chase. With such an injury, it cannot eat and will eventually starve to death.

The lions taking part in a big feed will lie down together and sleep it off in places where they are well hidden. At such times, with the lions’ stomachs full, a person or animal could walk by them and not be bothered.

Although the big male looks very noble, he does not always measure up to the title. If food has been scarce or if he is extremely hungry, even if a female has made the catch, he will not let her or the cubs eat until he has eaten his fill. This sometimes results in the cubs starving to death.

The lives and habits of these huge beasts remind us that this world is full of trouble — the result of sin which is seen on every hand. There are many evil things around us which Satan, the “roaring lion,” uses to capture careless ones, so a place of safety is most important. The Bible tells us of a sure place of escape: “The eternal God is thy refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms: and He shall thrust out the enemy from before [you]” (Deuteronomy 33:27). Is He your hiding place?

(to be continued)

ML-11/03/2002

The Lion and Other Carnivores: Part 3

“How unsearchable are [God’s] judgments, and His ways past finding out!”
Romans 11:33

Have you ever asked, “Why does God allow lions to kill and eat other animals?” This is a good question. When God created them, shedding of blood, death and eating flesh were unknown (Genesis 1). But Adam and Eve were warned by God that if they disobeyed His instructions, death would result. As we know from the Bible, they did disobey, and immediately they saw an example of the penalty of sin — God killed animals to provide them with coats of skins.

After sin entered into the world and after the flood, God oversaw a change in many of His creatures, allowing some to become flesh eaters — carnivores — while others remained vegetarians. This certainly was an evidence to Adam and Eve, as it is to us, of how dreadful sin is in God’s sight. Yet, in His perfect way, He saw that the needed changes were made in the appetites of these animals which were to display the penalty of death through their activities.

Happily, in a coming day, the Bible tells us the original peaceful order will return. This will be after those whose faith is in the Lord Jesus Christ have been called into heaven and after God’s rightful anger against the world that has refused His love results in His terrible judgment on them. Then an earthly people pleasing to the Lord will come forth, and the animals will be changed to be as they were when God first created them. One Bible verse, in explaining this, says, “The calf and the young lion . . . shall lie down together: and the lion shall eat straw like the ox” (Isaiah 11:67).

However, all life now is dependent on the minerals, vitamins and nutrients provided in the soil by the Creator and supplied to us in vegetation, fruits, seeds and nuts. But how do lions and other carnivores that don’t eat vegetation now get this important nutrition? The answer is another wonder of God’s ways. As a grazing animal, such as an antelope or a zebra, eats vegetation, these important necessities are deposited in its flesh and blood and are carried into the body of the carnivore that eats it. Only the Lord God, the Creator, could make such a provision.

God has not overlooked the herds from which slain animals are taken. Most of those killed animals are sickly and weak. It is a mercy that they are killed quickly rather than lingering on weak and sickly to a slow death. Also, if the herds were not reduced this way, they would increase beyond the available food supply, and starvation would result. So we see God’s wisdom in all things.

“Touching the Almighty, we cannot find Him out: He is excellent in power, and in judgment, and in plenty of justice” (Job 37:23).

ML-11/10/2002

The Bird Called a Booby

“Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father [feeds] them.”
Matthew 6:26

Early-day sailors gave this bird the name booby because it will light on ships and allow itself to be caught. There are several varieties of this swimming sea bird, but the one seen most by North Americans is found along the Pacific Coast — the blue-footed booby. Well named, its broad, webbed feet and legs are a bright blue. Its beak is also blue, but not the same bright shade. Its long wings are brown and its breast and underparts are pure white — a very pretty bird.

The Creator has well adapted the booby to its kind of life near the coasts and on islands of the Pacific Ocean, off Central and South America and Mexico. Waterproof plumage allows it to rest on the ocean surface as well as dive for fish. Long, strong wings take it hundreds of miles over water and, beating rapidly, provide a power dive to catch fish. At the last second before hitting the water, the wings are pulled tightly against its body, and its strong beak makes the catch. This bird can also catch flying fish while they are in the air.

Colonies of thousands of these birds make nests only three or four feet apart on bare ground where three or four chicks are hatched and raised in each nest. The hatchlings are naked, but in two or three weeks they are covered with white feathers and their feet begin to show the blue color. Within three or four months, they are fully developed and can catch their own food.

Another reason for sailors calling these birds boobies was observing their behavior to attract a mate. The male first picks out a nesting spot, and then he tries to attract a female by performing a strange hopping dance. He holds one blue foot up and waves it at the female, making loud whistles while pointing his beak skyward. If the female approves, she joins in, both stopping occasionally to bow, touch bills, point skyward and finally do a stiff-legged walk together. After this, the nest is completed and family life begins.

It is understandable how these activities seem humorous and even clumsy, especially when great numbers are engaged in these rituals at the same time. However, they are full of meaning to the blue-footed boobies and an important part of their courtship.

For thousands of years these birds, living in remote places, were never seen by man. But the Creator has always cared for them, as the Bible tells us in Psalm 104:27-28: “These wait all upon Thee. . . . [What] Thou givest them they gather: Thou openest Thine hand, they are filled with good.” The Lord God also provides for all mankind, and we should thank Him often for His care.

ML-11/17/2002

The Amazing Honeybee

“How sweet are Thy words unto my taste! Yea, sweeter than honey to my mouth!”
Psalm 119:103

Without the work of the honeybee, the world would soon starve. Its work in pollinating blossoms is essential to the development of many kinds of fruits, vegetables, grains and other plant foods and also the reproduction of many other flowering plants.

The hive of the honeybee is a marvelous example of community living. As many as fifty thousand bees will work together in unity, building a hive of honeycombs made up of hexagonal cells. In one square inch, there are exactly 4.83 cells. How do they make such an exact measurement? No one knows other than God, who has created them and given them their unusual skills.

Whether building honeycombs in a hive provided by a beekeeper or in a hollow tree or in any other location, the work always follows the same pattern. Young worker bees produce beeswax in special glands in their bodies. This wax is attached to the ceiling; then, working down, the cells are built one by one all the way to the base. Several groups of bees begin building from different parts of the ceiling, gradually all coming together to make a complete comb. Where the sections join together, the result is still the same - all adjoining cells measure exactly 4.83 to the square inch!

Thousands of bees are busy right now, each adding its tiny bit to what others have started. The walls of the waxen cells, only two or three thousandths of an inch thick, are so fragile that you could easily crush them in your fingers, yet strong enough to support the weight of the comb as well as the weight of the bees working on it.

Once the comb is completed, the workers then turn their attention to making honey which they use as food. The bee fills a special pouch inside its body with nectar from several blossoms. In the pouch, the sugar and nectar are broken down into two simple sugars. After the nectar is deposited in the hive, most of the water in the nectar evaporates and the liquid becomes thick.

Surely we need not ask where these busy workers get the wisdom needed to build these complex homes, nor how they work together in such unity. God, “which doeth great things and unsearchable; marvelous things without number” (Job 5:9), is the One who has set their ways and kept them in the same pattern since the day He first created them.

As King David thought on God’s ways which provide so many benefits to man, he said, “Oh that men would praise the Lord for His goodness, and for His wonderful works to the children of men!” (Psalm 107:8). But His greatest work of all was on the cross where He became the Saviour of sinners. Is He your Saviour?

ML-11/24/2002

The Long-Lived Orangutan

“All flesh is not the same flesh: but there is one kind of flesh of men, another flesh of beasts, another of fishes, and another of birds.”
1 Corinthians 15:39

The rain forests of Sumatra and Borneo are the primary homelands of orangutans, part of the ape family. When fully grown, they may weigh as much as two hundred pounds and stand over four feet tall. Some are known to live as long as fifty years. They are silent and peaceful animals, but powerful and fierce fighters if attacked. In captivity, young orangutans are easily tamed and taught tricks for performances in zoos and animal shows.

These apes have large hairy heads but very small ears and bare faces and hands. The rest of their bodies are covered with reddish-brown hair, and they have long arms that reach to their ankles even when they are standing. They use their long arms to swing from tree branch to tree branch, often for great distances. They rarely come down to the ground and are awkward when walking, often swinging along on their arms with their knuckles on the ground. They are much more at home in trees where they spend most of their time - the style of life for which the Creator designed them.

Unlike some other apes, orangutans are not very friendly, preferring to be left alone. However, family members are affectionate to one another and particularly to the one baby that is usually born each year. Entirely helpless when born, it is fondly cradled in its mother’s arms and, for the first two years of its life, clings to her back when traveling.

While keeping to themselves, they nonetheless maintain groups, spending most of the day gathering fruits and leaves to satisfy their big appetites. Every evening new nests are made by bending branches together and adding leaves for linings. The bent limbs are grasped with fingers and toes which hold on tightly even while sleeping. Some of these nests are as high as forty feet above the ground and four feet across! The ability to build nests in this way is the result of God-given instincts. Additional nests for afternoon naps are often made, and they even pull big leaves over themselves if it is raining. Instinct has also taught them to hold leafy branches over their heads, like umbrellas, when in a rainstorm while away from their nests.

Even though orangutans look somewhat like humans and perform clever things, there are many differences. They are strictly of the ape family and all people are of the human family, just as God created them, separate and apart from each other. Our opening Bible verse explains this. The Lord Jesus did not die for apes, but He did in great love die for the sins of all people who put their trust in Him as their Saviour. Have you done this?

ML-12/01/2002

Lions of the Sea

“Let the heavens be glad, and let the earth rejoice. . . . Let the sea roar, and the fullness thereof.”
1 Chronicles 16:31-32

A visitor approaching San Miguel Island, fifty miles off the coast of California, might wonder at the noise he hears even when a mile away. He would soon discover the source - a colony of California sea lions, part of the 35,000 sea lions that make the Channel Islands National Park their summer home. Large bulls, six to seven feet long and weighing 650 pounds or more, roar during their waking hours to warn rival males to stay away. Cows join in the noise but with a softer bark. Even the pups add their bleating to the deafening noise. It is no place for a seaside picnic.

There are about 90,000 sea lions in the Pacific Ocean; most live along the California coast, but many also live on the coast of Japan. These sea mammals have streamlined bodies with smooth, round heads and can swim up to fifteen miles per hour. The Creator gave them brown, warm fur to insulate them from cold and heat. Their bodies also have thick blubber for two reasons - as added insulation against the cold and as an energy source when food is not available.

In some ways sea lions are similar to walruses, but they don’t have the walruses’ tusks and tough whiskers. They share the same food preferences of shrimp, shellfish, squid and many kinds of fish. They are excellent swimmers and divers and can stay underwater for thirty minutes. In this, too, the Lord God provided for them by giving them ears and nostrils which automatically close when submerged.

Fights between the bulls are frequent as they compete to get and protect territory on the beach. These are frightful to witness as sharp teeth make bloody wounds. However, their thick blubber usually protects them from serious injury.

Pups are born on land. Immediately after birth, the mother and her single pup “talk” constantly to each other. They become so well acquainted with each other’s voice that, in spite of all the bellowing and roaring noise, they can identify one another when they become separated. Pups quickly take to the water where they love to play. In captivity, they can be trained and quickly learn tricks.

Many sea lions living in obscure places are never seen by people, but there is One whose eye is always on them: “He [looks] to the ends of the earth, and [sees] under the whole heaven” (Job 28:24). The Bible also tells us, “The Lord is in His holy temple, the Lord’s throne is in heaven: His eyes behold, His eyelids try, the children of men” (Psalm 11:4). No matter how hidden you might be, the Lord’s eyes always see you. What does He see when His eyes rest on you?

ML-12/08/2002

A Lovely Snail - the Conch

“Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in His sight.”
Hebrews 4:13

Perhaps the most beautiful of all sea snail shells is one that is not usually thought of as belonging to a snail; it is the queen conch. You may have one of these prized, heavy shells in your home. It is spiral shaped and beautifully colored in creamy pink with rose and tan. The large end of the shell is worth examining. It has large, star-shaped spikes spiraling with gradually smaller ones until it ends in a point. The fan-like lip of the shell is lovely with its pretty colors. No one but the Lord God, the Creator of all, could design such a beautiful home for such a lowly creature.

Conches live in the world’s shallow seas where they eat plants and grasses that grow in shallow water and algae that grows on rocks. They lie flat on the ocean floor, withdrawn into their shells except when traveling or eating. A conch’s meaty body can move in and out of the shell but remains attached to it. Two long, antennae-like stalks emerge first, and each of these has an eye on its tip. Its mouth is underneath these two stalks. It uses a claw on its body to move about on the sea bottom. Its shell is made from calcium carbonate which is secreted from a part of the conch’s body.

The queen conch lays many eggs in long strings. About a week later, the young veligers hatch and are already equipped with miniature shells. They swim in the ocean for about three weeks before settling to the bottom to develop mature bodies. Most will grow to be about a foot long and weigh about five pounds.

An interesting feature of the conch’s life is its friendship with the little conchfish that swims right into the conch shell in the daylight and then leaves at night. Another visitor is a small crab that clings to the conch’s lip and remains there, gathering food that floats by.

The Bible tells us, “Thou [the Lord] hast created all things, and for Thy pleasure they are and were created” (Revelation 4:11). We can understand His pleasure in these creatures and the beautiful homes He has given them. But did you know that He has taken pleasure in creating you? He tells us this in Proverbs 8:31: “My delights were with the sons of men.”

His pleasure in creating us does not end there. It is also His desire that we find our delight in Him, the One who is so loving to us that He died to save us from our sins. Have you answered the wonderful invitation of God, “Delight thyself also in the Lord; and He shall give thee the desires of thine heart. Commit thy way unto the Lord; trust also in Him” (Psalm 37:45)?

ML-12/15/2002

The Wallaby From "Down Under": Part 1

“These wait all upon Thee; that Thou mayest give them their meat [food] in due season.”
Psalm 104:27

There are thirty-nine known varieties of the interesting wallabies, which are part of the kangaroo family. Some of the pale-colored wallabies look like large rats and some look like rabbits, but most look like small kangaroos. However, the fur of most wallabies is more brightly colored than kangaroos’ fur. The tails of wallabies are more slender and bushy or tufted at the tip, whereas kangaroos’ tails are quite plain.

These animals are known as marsupials, meaning that the mothers carry their young in a pouch, which is shaped like a pocket. The Creator has adapted them to the rocky areas of Australia, New Guinea and neighboring islands. (Australia is sometimes called the “Land Down Under” because it lies entirely south of the equator.) Most wallabies are speedy and if startled hop swiftly away on their strong hind legs.

Wallabies live on grasses but also eat foliage and bark from trees and roots of various kinds. They usually feed in the cool of the evening, at night or in early morning, leaving the shelters where they rest throughout the day. In their hot, dry homelands, the Creator has provided them with bodies that can survive on the moisture from their food, although they will drink water when it is available. One kind, the tammer, even drinks saltwater when freshwater is not available.

Once a year, mothers give birth to usually just one tiny, blind baby (like a baby kangaroo, which is called a “joey”), and it remains several months in her pouch until it can eat solid food. Even then it stays close to her and is quick to jump back into her pouch if danger is near. Babies are not born in their mother’s pouch. Although tiny and blind, their sensitive noses tell them their mother’s rich, nourishing milk is in the pouch, and they make their own way into the pouch where they grow fast.

Usually brown-beige in color, or occasionally red, gray or blackish, wallabies are much like miniature kangaroos, having short front legs and long, strong hind legs and feet. Their long, thick, powerful tails are used for balance and support when sitting. Full of curiosity, they usually stop grazing to watch a person going by.

Wallabies are content with the heat and dryness of their homelands, and if they knew about their Creator and could speak, they would surely thank Him for His care over them. But you boys and girls do have that ability, and God, who is also your Creator, is pleased when you thank Him. One Bible verse tells us to “[give] thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ” (Ephesians 5:20). Be sure to do this every day!

(to be continued)

ML-12/22/2002

The Wallaby From "Down Under": Part 2

“O Lord, how manifold are Thy works! in wisdom hast Thou made them all: the earth is full of Thy riches.”
Psalm 104:24

Let’s look at a few of the varieties of wallabies living in Australia, New Guinea and neighboring islands. These animals in the kangaroo family vary in size from twelve to forty inches, plus a ten- to twenty-eight-inch tail, and weigh from four pounds to over fifty.

One of the largest is the brush kangaroo because in size and activities it appears more like a kangaroo than anything else. Another large one, the most commonly encountered and best known, is the rednecked. It is particularly noted for the great jumps it can make.

Then there is the sure-footed rock wallaby, provided by the Creator with special thick pads of rough skin on its hind feet to give it a good grip on the rocks where it lives. It is stocky and unusually powerful, jumping and dashing around on rocks and precipices, making great leaps from cliffs and from rock to rock. Most of these are red in color with large, upright ears, large eyes and fine, long fur.

Another of the wallaby family is known as the ring-tailed, because of the pretty bands of white, brown and pale yellow that circle its tail. The shrub wallaby is among the smaller ones. Each mother in this group seems to have a problem with her lively youngster that hops in and out of her pouch every time she stops to rest or eat. Unable to teach it good manners, she sometimes will not let it in again until it gets back on good behavior. (So you see the mothers of lively boys and girls aren’t the only ones who have problems!)

It’s not hard to understand how the spectacled hare variety got its name, for each eye is circled by a light orange ring, which looks like a pair of glasses. One that has an unusual tail also has an unusual name - the nail-tailed. It has a horny spike at the tip of its tail, and no one seems to know just what its purpose may be.

The hare wallaby, named for its size and movements, can jump higher than a man’s head. Like a rabbit that twists and jumps, it usually leaves its enemy far behind and is quite a sight to watch.

There are more of these unusual creatures, but we will have to stop with these few. How nice to know that the Creator doesn’t overlook any of them. They also give us reason to think about His wisdom in every area of His wonderful creation, as the opening Bible verse tells us. We must never forget that He made us a very special part of His creation, and we should always seek to please Him.

ML-12/29/2002

Who Is This?

He was like none of us.

He was like some of us.

He was like all of us.

What is his name?

Hint 1: He is a man we read about in the New Testament.

Hint 2: Most of you have heard about him.

Hint 3: There is a Sunday school song about him that children enjoy singing.

Hint 4: Part of the riddle says that he was like “none of us.” He was a tax collector for the Romans, and I’m sure there is no one reading this who is a tax collector for the Roman government.

Hint 5: The riddle also says he was like “some of us.” He was short.

Hint 6: Finally, he was like “all of us,” because he was a sinner.

Unscramble the letters to find out his name:

SECACHUZ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __

How kind Jesus was to __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ . Jesus knew what had happened. He had seen __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ running along the road and then climb up into a tree. __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ wanted to see Jesus. That was good. But even better, Jesus saw __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ and wanted to save him from his sins. So when the crowd reached the spot where __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ had climbed up into the tree, he heard Jesus say, “__ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ , make haste, and come down; for today I must abide at thy house” (Luke 19:5).

__ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ did just what Jesus asked him to do and received Him happily. Jesus had reached his heart and conscience.

Jesus is calling your name right now, because He wants you to be saved from your sins. Be like __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ and answer immediately and accept Him as your very own Saviour. Then Jesus can also say to you, “This day is salvation come to [your] house . . . for the Son of Man is come to seek and to save that which was lost” (Luke 19:9-10).

ML-01/20/2002

Scripture Verse Word Search: Acts 17:31

Can you find the words of this Scripture verse in this word search? Look up, down, diagonally, backwards, across—every direction. Use a ruler if necessary.

Circle each word in the diagram as we did with “by” and then circle the same word in the verse once you have found it.

“He hath appointed a day, in the which He will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom He hath ordained; whereof He hath given assurance unto all men, in that He hath raised Him from the dead” (Acts 17:31).

ML-01/13/2002

Scripture Verse Word Search: Proverbs 27:1

Can you find the words of this Scripture verse in this word search? Look up, down, diagonally, backwards, across - every direction. Use a ruler if necessary.

Circle each word in the diagram as we did with “of” and then circle the same word in the verse once you have found it.

“Boast not thyself of tomorrow; for thou knowest not what a day may bring forth” (Proverbs 27:1).

ML-05/26/2002

Scripture Verse Word Search: Isaiah 26:3

Can you find the words of this Scripture verse in this word search? Look up, down, diagonally, backwards, across - every direction. Use a ruler if necessary.

Circle each word in the diagram as we did with “in” and then circle the same word in the verse once you have found it.

“Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on Thee: because he trusteth in Thee” (Isaiah 26:3).

ML-12/22/2002

Bible Birds Word Search

This word search uses the names of some birds found in the Bible. See how many of the words listed below you can find among the letters. Look up, down, across, backwards, diagonally—every direction.

BITTERN EAGLE LAPWING OWL QUAIL SWALLOW

COCK HAWK OSPRAY PARTRIDGE RAVEN SWAN

CRANE HERON OSSIFRAGE PEACOCK SPARROW VULTURE

DOVE KITE OSTRICH PELICAN STORK

ML-02/03/2002

Ruth Word Search

This word search uses words from the story of Ruth. See how many of the words listed below you can find among the letters. Look up, down, diagonally, backwards, across - every direction.

BARLEY FAMINE

BETHLEHEM FULL

BOAZ GLEAN

CHILION HARVEST

CORN KINSMAN

DAMSEL MAHLON NEIGHBOR REAPERS SHOE

ELIMELECH MARA OBED REDEEM THRESHING FLOOR

EMPTY MOAB ORPAH REWARD VEIL

EPHAH NAOMI RAIMENT RUTH

ML-02/24/2002

Unscramble Bible Book Names

Can you unscramble these names of books
in the New Testament?

S H R E W B E

__ __ __ __ __ __ __

M A J E S

__ __ __ __ __

H E L P O M N I

__ __ __ __ __ __ __ __

K L U E

__ __ __ __

ML-03/03/2002

Unscramble Bible Book Names

Can you unscramble these names of books
in the Old Testament?

K A K A B H K U

__ __ __ __ __ __ __ __

R O R B E P S V

__ __ __ __ __ __ __ __

D U G S E J

__ __ __ __ __ __

ML-07/14/2002

Unscramble Bible Book Names

Can you unscramble
these names of books
in the Old Testament?

K E Z E L E I

__ __ __ __ __ __ __

S I N G K

__ __ __ __ __

L O E J

__ __ __ __

SEPTEMBER 29, 2002

ML-09/29/2002

Messages of God's Love: 2002

Table of Contents

A Wasted Life

"Where Are You Goin'?"

"Come"

Trapped in a Snow Storm

The Forbidden Book

Acorns in Concrete

Stuck in an Underwater Cave

A Valid Passport

Strange Tracks

A Letter From Gramma and Grampa: The Duck and Her Babies

The New Minibike

Packy, the Donkey

The Best Umbrella

Scissors, Hair, and Glue

Gorilla on the Loose

Akia

What's a Sinner?

Sarge's Trip to the Vet

What Do You Have That You Can't Lose?

The Salvation Train

One Little Match

My Advocate

A Letter From Gramma and Grampa: The Wolf

Runaway Kangaroo

Word Pictures

Close Calls

The City of Safety

The "Phantom" Squirrel

The Name of Jesus

The Unsinkable Ship

Will You Come?

Cinder Wouldn't Heel

Destroyed With Fire

The Rich Man's Funeral

Caught!

The Snapping Turtle

The Runaway Train

A Plea for Mercy

Come and See

Completely Helpless

They Destroyed Their Own Home

A Sunbeam

Worthless Gold

A Precious Gift

AM. 4:12

Mad Mex

Gold Strike!

Carried Across the Finish Line

Bear Gets Into Some Burrs

"I'm With Them"

A Fly in a Spider's Web

Left Behind

"Don't Let Anything Bite Daddy"

The Park Bear

Sent Back to Jail

A Sheared Sheep

Not so Big and Brave

Stuck in a Garbage Truck

Money for Daddy's Present

Grandma's Ride on the Harley

Buffy's Napping Spot

Listening to the Control Tower

Changed Direction

A Changed Mind

Exploding Rocks!

A Wandering Young Man

How Precious

Rescued Too Late

What Kind of Seed?

An Act of Faithfulness

Just a Little Cut?

"Oh, No!"

Mickey the Macaw

"Aren't You Going to Eat Your Toast?"

A Pitiful Dog

The Water Seller

A Slippery Slope

"Where Did God Come From?"