Jewel # 68 (Sept 30, 2010)

To my dear grandchildren,

She Needed a Quarter 

Many years ago, a lady boarded a bus and a moment or two later the conductor asked for her fare.  Reaching for her wallet, she suddenly discovered she didn't have it!  She looked all through her purse, but the wallet wasn't there. She realized then that she must have left it at home on the table when she took out the quarter for her bus ride that morning.  The bus driver told her she would have to get off if she couldn't pay her fare.

It was a hot day, and she was miles away from home.  What could she do?  Seeing a park across the street, she went over to sit down on a park bench so she could think what to do. 

She was stumped, but then she remembered she had God to turn to for help!  She would tell Him about here problem.  Opening a pocket New Testament she carried, her eyes fell on Philippians 4:19, which was underlined:  "My God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus."

Her need at that moment was a quarter for bus fare for her ride home.  She closed her eyes and told the Lord Jesus about the problem, and immediately she was sure that her "need" would be supplied.  How?  She did not know, and that did not matter - God knew.

As she sat on the park bench, she began to trace letters in the gravel path with the point of her umbrella.  She traced the words, "God is love."  As she was writing the last letter, her umbrella point turned up a quarter in the gravel, and her heart gave a big thump - there was the quarter she needed!  She closed her eyes again and thanked God for showing her the quarter.  He had supplied what was needed for her bus fare home.

No need is too small and none is too large - the Lord is able to supply them all.  Whether you are a little person or a big person, do you have a problem in your life?  Talk to the Lord Jesus about it, and count on Him to supply your need.  

"This is the confidence that we have in Him, that, if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us" (1 John 5:14).

Jewel # 67 (Sept 17, 2010)

To my dear grandchildren,  

The Musical Cricket 

"God made the beast of the earth after his kind, and cattle after their kind, and everything that creepeth upon the earth after his kind: and God saw that it was good."  (Genesis 1:25)

For its small size the male cricket is a very noisy insect whose chirps can be heard a mile away on a quiet night.  Theses sounds are made in much the way as a musician playing a violin.   The upper surface of each wing is equipped with a scraper.  This is drawn over the lower part of the wing that has a hundred or more rough cross-ridges.  By moving its wings, the chirp sound is made.  This "music" is the way the Creator designed crickets to "talk" with one another.

Toward the end of summer, the female cricket makes a hole in the soil about an inch deep and deposits about three hundred little, banana shaped eggs.  The young crickets hatch the following spring and immediately begin searching for dead insects or tender plants to eat.

As the young cricket grows, its outer skeleton splits open and drops off.  This is called molting, and it is repeated sometimes a dozen times.  When the final molt takes place, the wings and other parts of the body are fully developed.  The common, black or field cricket is about an inch long when it emerges from its final molt.  It has two long antennae at the front of its head that act as feelers.  The cricket is able to fly but seldom does, preferring to move over the ground by jumping, like its cousin the grasshopper.  Mature crickets (which do not live through the winter) live a short but busy life, eating a variety of things.  They prefer tender, juicy plants, often doing great damage to farmers' crops.  However, they also move into houses and other buildings, eating clothing and book-bindings.

In cold weather crickets chirp less, and in hot weather they chirp more.  Do you want to know what the temperature is?  They say that if you count the chirps for 15 seconds and then add 40, you will have the temperature in Fahrenheit degrees.  Try it sometime.

Crickets represent part of God's creation and have their place among all that He has made.  He has not only provided special features for their way of life, but He also watches over them, providing for all their needs.

What does the Bible say about His care over you?  Acts 17:24-25 says, "God that made the world and all things therein . . . [gives] to all [people] life, and breath, and all things."  And in Romans 8:31-32 these wonderful words appear: "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?"  

Have you ever thanked Him for His wonderful gifts to you?