Dear Children,
Hello again from Gramma and Grampa! I would like to tell you what happened this morning while Gramma and I were eating breakfast together and watching all the birds at the feeders. I usually try to feed the birds between 6:30 a.m. and 7:00 a.m., and sometimes they are waiting for me! We have nine feeders to take care of, so this takes a little time to get the seed and fill the feeders that are empty.
This morning we had lots of birds — about sixty! We have juncos, sparrows, blue jays, nuthatches, lots of mourning doves and others.
It was about 7:30 a.m. when suddenly, all at once, the birds took off flying in every direction as fast or even faster than they usually fly. That is...all but one dove. Before Gramma and I could even blink an eye, what made the birds take off so fast was coming around the corner of the house, flying as fast as a jet. It was a marsh hawk — the Number One Enemy of all the birds that come to the feeders!
“Grampa, why is the marsh hawk the birds’ number one enemy?”
Well, children, the marsh hawk, as well as the sparrow hawk, will make a meal out of any bird they can catch. The birds know this and are always on the lookout for such an attack at any time. When they spot a hawk coming, they only have a split second to get out of there! They can get away IF they are warned in time.
And so, children, when your dad and mom or Sunday school teacher read to you from the holy Bible that God says, “Flee from the wrath to come” (Matthew 3:77But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees come to his baptism, he said unto them, O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come? (Matthew 3:7)), these are words of warning from the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. And He means it! How can you and I escape from going down to the burning lake of fire? God has provided a way that is free for all who will accept it!
“What is it, Grampa?”
Listen to these words: “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved” (Acts 16:3131And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house. (Acts 16:31)). Don’t be like that one dove that waited too long.
Perhaps it did not believe the warning; maybe it didn’t care or thought the warning was a joke. We do not know. But when this dove realized the other birds were all gone, it was too late for him. The hawk grabbed the dove in his sharp talons and flew away to eat it.
How sad. Just a split second too late!
Children, and grown-ups too, Satan is your Number One Enemy! Don’t let him cheat you out of going to heaven. One of his favorite lies is, “Don’t worry ... Jesus won’t be back for a looooooong time! Tomorrow there will be time.” Jesus tells us that Satan “is a liar, and the father of it” (John 8:4444Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it. (John 8:44)).
The Lord Jesus lovingly tells us in John 14:33And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also. (John 14:3), “I will come again, and receive you unto Myself”! And He will come again, faster than that hawk that caught the dove!
Children, you can be late for a bus, late for dinner, late for a lot of things ... BUT ... don’t be late for salvation! You will not have a second chance!
Seek the Saviour early, Jesus says TODAY,
While you’re young and tender, choose the narrow way;
Lest when you get older, Satan snares your feet —
And you miss the way to heaven’s golden street!
Lots of love,
Grampa