Jewel # 66 (Aug 30, 2010)

To my dear grandchildren,

Discovered

Greg Johnstone yawned and stretched.  The morning sun shining through his window had wakened him after a good night's sleep, and now he was ready to get up and go to work.

Suddenly, he noticed something and jumped out of bed.  Something was wrong!  His clothes were not neatly folded as he had left them.  In fact, some of them weren't even there.  He hurried from room to room, checking to see if anything else was gone.  Yes, his watch was gone, and his wallet and several other small, valuable items also were gone.  Greg knew that he had carefully locked the doors before he went to bed, and he did not see how anyone could have gotten in.  Continuing his search, he found that one of the windows at the back of the house had been broken.  He also noticed that there was blood on the glass.  Looking more closely, he found spots of blood in the different rooms where the thief had been,

Greg called the police who came quickly.  He showed them the broken glass and the blood, and told them about the things that had been stolen.  Then he showed them the  trail of blood on the driveway.

Two of the policemen set off together to follow the trail of blood.  They followed the drops up the steps of a house to a side door.  The policemen knocked loudly on the door, called several times and finally pushed the door open and went in.  Inside they found a man with a bandaged hand.  The policemen questioned the man, but he claimed he knew nothing about any robbery.  Noticing a large bag under a bed, the officers pulled it out and opened it.  There was Greg's watch, his wallet, and all the other things that had been stolen from his home.  The thief had been discovered!

I doubt that you have ever broken a window and stolen from anyone.  But you don't have to be a thief to be a sinner.  God tells us in Romans 3:23 that "all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God."  He also says, "Be sure your sin will find you out" (Numbers 32:23).  God can see the stains of sin on your heart which no one else can see.

The thief who stole from Greg Johnstone was put in jail for his crime, but God has good news for you and me.  Although we are sinners, God offers us forgiveness through His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us. 

 "The blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleans us from all sin" (1 John 1:7).

You cannot hide from God.  Admit that you are a sinner and need forgiveness for your sins.  Trust His Word, the Bible, which says, "Their sins and iniquities will I remember no more" (Hebrews 10:17).

Jewel # 65 (Aug 16, 2010)

To my dear grandchildren

The Comical Puffin 

"Hast thou not heard, that . . . the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary?"  (Isaiah 40:28)

The colorful bird called the puffin lives in the Arctic waters of the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.  It has a comical look because of its bright-orange, high, flattened bill with blue and red stripes.  Its white, puffy face is topped with a black skullcap.  Add to this a body with a black collar and cape and stubby, orange legs and feet.  Though it seems to be a strange-looking bird, it is well-suited to its environment.

The puffin is an expert swimmer and diver and is skillful at catching seafood to eat.  Its beak can hold several fish crosswise while pursuing and catching others.  How does a puffin manage this?  The answer is spines on its tongue and on the roof of its mouth that spear the fish and hold them firmly.  They usually catch about ten fish during each dive.

Some colonies of puffins contain hundreds of thousands of birds.  Sometimes they make their homes in burrows or they may build nests on cliff ledges where the female lays one white egg.  The eggs are a remarkable example of the Creator's special care.  Instead of being oval like chickens or round like other birds', puffins' eggs are round on only one end and pointed on the other.

Why do you think the Lord God made their eggs such an odd shape?  When He created puffins, He knew that their eggs would be laid on rocky ledges.  A round or oval egg  would easily roll off the ledge if left unattended even for moment.  However, a pointed egg just turns in a small circle and can easily be returned to the nest.

It takes almost a month for the chick to hatch.  While the chick remains in the nest, it is fed a continual diet of fish.  When the tired parents leave the fat chick after about six to eight weeks of care and constant feeding, the young bird eventually goes to the edge of the cliff and flies down to the water.  Soon it is diving for its own food.  It later migrates north with the colony, returning south in the spring to the same rock on which it was born.

These birds live in the northern oceans of the world but are not forgotten by the One who created them.  The Lord God once said, 

"Consider the ravens [and other birds]: for they neither sow nor reap; which neither have storehouse nor barn; and God feeds them: how much more are ye better than the fowls?" 

(Luke 12:24).  

He is making it plain that He thinks more highly of human beings than of the rest of His creatures.  He has shown this by giving us a never-dying soul and a home in heaven for those who trust in Him.