One sunny Saturday, Mac and Meg’s father took them with him to the beach where he was going to mend his nets. Their father, Cecil, was a salmon fisherman, and sometimes his nets would get damaged or tangled with seaweed. He would spread his nets out very carefully on the beach, then clean them and mend any holes. This would take several hours. This was a time of fun for Mac and Meg to play on the beach.
Out at the point of the cove, there was a rock formation known to everyone as “The Old Woman.” The fishermen had named this rock, because when they were returning home through the mists, it looked very much like an old woman standing there to welcome them. As soon as they arrived at the beach, Mac would say to Meg, “Race you to “The Old Woman”! Away they would fly, leaping from rock to rock, being careful not to jump on any slippery ones. After tagging “The Old Woman,” they would again race back to the beach.
This beach was a rocky one, not a beautiful, smooth, sandy one like many of you might be familiar with. The rocks were all different sizes and colors. Many of them were very smooth and had different colors and patterns running through them. You know, dear boys and girls, that God took great pleasure in making all the different designs in the rocks. The Bible tells us that “He hath made everything beautiful in his time” (Ecclesiastes 3:1111He hath made every thing beautiful in his time: also he hath set the world in their heart, so that no man can find out the work that God maketh from the beginning to the end. (Ecclesiastes 3:11)). Mac and Meg would search for rocks with special markings to take home with them.
Then when the tide was out, they would search the tidal pools in the rocks for sea creatures. They would find little crabs, which they could pull up by putting a stick in the pool. Sometimes they would find a starfish, a sea anemone or sea urchin. There were lots of barnacles too. All these little creatures would live in the pools until the tide came back in and covered them up again. Mac and Meg returned home after a fun day at the beach never thinking that it would not always be the same.
“The Old Woman” was a sentinel that had stood for generations of fishermen. Many years later, a terrible storm struck that coast. Huge waves rolled in and right up over the cliffs to the edge of the people’s homes! Great damage was done to the beach, and when the fishermen looked out at their cove the next morning, they noticed some-thing looked very different. “The Old Woman” rock was gone without a trace, and the point was completely flat! The sentinel that had welcomed them and their parents and grandparents home was gone forever!
This reminds us that there is One who never changes: “Jesus Christ the same yesterday and today, and forever” (Hebrews 13:88Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever. (Hebrews 13:8)). Have you put your trust in the Lord Jesus for salvation? John 10:2828And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. (John 10:28) says, “I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of My hand.” There may be things or people that you are counting on to always be there for you, but we know that the Lord Jesus Christ is the only one who will never let us down. “He only is my rock and my salvation: He is my defense; I shall not be moved” (Psalm 62:66He only is my rock and my salvation: he is my defence; I shall not be moved. (Psalm 62:6)).
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Messages of God’s Love 8/2/2020