Hello boys and girls,
This is Grampa writing to tell you another story about Cricket, our little dog. Gramma, Cricket and I were sitting outside at the front of our house this past summer. We were enjoying the shade from the sun and also watching the bees moving in and around all the flowers. Gramma has planted our flowers very close together in this area.
Cricket decided she had been sitting beside us long enough, so she got up and started to wander through the flowers. Gramma and I forgot about what she was doing.
After a while, Gramma asked, “Have you seen Cricket?” I said, “No, but she’s around here somewhere.” I happened to look to my right, and there coming out of the flower bed was a garter snake, about two feet long! (Just so you know, garter snakes are nearly harmless to people, but they are good to have in your garden because of the beetles, grubs and slugs they eat. They usually try to hurry away if a person comes near them.) So the snake stopped, turned around and was looking at the flower bed. It’s little tongue was darting in and out! And then, Cricket stuck her head out of the flower bed! So here we have Cricket and the snake looking at each other about 8 inches apart! They both were as still as could be!
The thought came to my mind that we read about in the Bible in Genesis, chapter 3, verse 1. This is when Eve, one of our first two parents, came face to face with our deadly enemy—Satan! God had told Adam and Eve that they could eat the fruit of any tree in the garden except for one. That tree was in the middle of this very special place called the Garden of Eden. God told Adam and Eve that if they ate the fruit of that tree, they would surely die.
Satan spoke to Eve in the garden, telling her it was okay to eat the fruit of the tree that God had said they should not eat. Satan said they would not die like God had warned them. So then Eve disobeyed God and ate the fruit that God had told them not to eat. Then she gave some to Adam, and he also ate the fruit and disobeyed God. They both had sinned!
Sin must be punished! Have you boys and girls ever disobeyed? Sure you have, and so have I and Gramma too. Our parents may have punished us for disobeying them, but that doesn’t remove the sin of doing wrong. The sin is still there, unless you have accepted the Lord Jesus as your very own Savior. It was the Lord Jesus Christ who took the punishment for sins on Calvary’s cross. His precious blood that was shed on the cross is what can wash our sins away forever. I’ll tell you more in a minute about how you can be saved from God’s punishment for your sins.
Now here’s what happened to Cricket and the garter snake. Both of them were as still as could be and watching each other closely. So I got up carefully out of my chair and told Cricket to “back off.” She slowly obeyed. Then I picked up the snake and carried it down to the other end of the flower bed and let it go. I came back to my chair beside Gramma and sat down. Gramma said, “Well done, Grampa!” The problem was solved.
But we each have our own sin problem that needs to be solved. We deserve God’s punishment for our sins, but the Lord Jesus loves us so much that He and God His Father made a plan to save us from that punishment. When the Lord Jesus gave up His life on Calvary’s cross for you and me, His blood that was shed there is what can wash away every one of our sins and make us ready for heaven! He is waiting for you to accept Him as your very own Savior. Will you do that today?
With love from Grampa, Grammaand Cricket
ML-02/12/2017