Jewel # 102 (Jan 20, 2012)

"And they shall be Mine, saith the Lord of hosts

in that day when I make up

My Jewels."

(Malachi 3:17)

To my dear grandchildren,

The Unusual Opossum

"Let all the earth fear the Lord: let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of Him" (Psalm 33:8).

What is this strange creature coming down the forest trail that looks like a miniature gray trolley car loaded with passenger all hanging on the outside?  It turns out to be a mother opossum (often called possum), carrying eight babies who are clinging to her back and her long, bare tail that she arches over her back.  The mother opossum is very careful about her big family.

Female opossums are the only wild animals in North America that have pouches (like kangaroos).  Although the most common one grows to about the size of a house cat, baby opossums are no bigger that a bumblebee when they are born.  Within two minutes they smell their mother's milk located in her pouch in the outer skin of her abdomen and climb in, remaining there for two to three moths.  Then for a few more months they are given piggy-back rides while their mother introduces them to other foods - fruits, nuts, insects, fish, frogs and earth worms.  They mostly hunt for food at night.

One thing the mother doesn't have to teach them is how to "play possum."  This is an instinct the Creator gave them when He first placed them on the earth, and it is carried on from generation to generation.  When danger threatens, instead of trying to run away, they fall into unconsciousness and their bodies become stiff, their jaws drop open and saliva foams around the mouth, their teeth are bared, and their eyes are closed or half open.  They look just like a dead animal and even give off a dead animal odour.

A fox or coyote might come up to one, but the opossum is usually left alone because the attacker is not interested in dead meat.  Opposums remain this way for forty minutes to four hours before returning to consciousness and continuing their normal lives.  Isn't it wonderful how the Creator has given them this protection?  

As we consider the various habits God has given all His creatures, we are amazed.  One important provision He has given each of us is an intelligence to understand His precious Word, the Bible.  It is there we find that He loves us, and He knows all about us.  We also find that we are lost sinners.  Yet His desire is that we might live forever in His heavenly home, although we cannot go there with our sins.

Does the Bible provide a remedy for us?  Yes.  In Titus 2:13-14 we read of "the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ; who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from all sin."  If we admit to Him that we are sinners and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ who died to save us from our sins, God will then accept us as His very own sons and daughters forever and ever.  How important it is to do this right now!     

Love you,

Grandpa

Jewel # 101 (Jan 6, 2012)

"And they shall be mine, saith the Lord 

of hosts, in that day when I make up

MY JEWELS."

(Malachi 3:17)

To my dear grandchildren,

Whooooo is the Smartest?

Uncle Bob asked the children in Sunday School a question:  "Who do you think is the smartest - a mouse, an owl or Uncle Bob?" Two of the children thought Uncle Bob was the smartest.  One thought that maybe it was the owl. (Perhaps that child had heard about "wise old owls.")  The rest couldn't seem to decide who might be the smartest.  Then Uncle Bob said, "The story I'm going to tell you only took a few seconds to actually happen, and I can't tell it to you nearly that fast."  Here is his story,

One night well after dark, I was driving down a country road that had no streetlights.  Of course, my headlights were on, and soon I began to see little mice darting this way and that across the road.  Then one little mouse started running right towards my car!  Is that mouse crazy? I wondered.  Doesn't he know that this car could squish him in an instant?  You stupid mouse, I thought. Are you trying to attack me?  You better get out of my lane!

I had slowed down, but the mouse was still running right toward the headlights.  I'm going to hit him for sure!  Maybe I better run right over him and kill him: other wise the wheel will just injure him.  So I moved the car over a little so the wheel would line up with the mouse, when all of a sudden,  WHAM!  A huge owl crashed into the front of the car.  Feathers were everywhere!  I stopped the car but left the headlights on and got out.  The little mouse was safe and unharmed under the car, but the owl was dead.  Then I understood what I had not seen before.  To answer the question "Who is the smartest?"it was the mouse!  That mouse knew all about the owl that was chasing it.  If the owl caught the mouse, he would be the owl's dinner, so he raced toward the headlights for safety.

Maybe you boys and girls have learned about owls.  They fly and hunt in the darkness of night.  Our Creator God has given them amazing night vision and hearing and they fly almost silently.  He designed them to be creatures of the night, and they don't like the light.  Mice are one of their favorite foods since they scurry about at night.

Now our Creator God has given the little mice certain instincts to know that owls are their enemy and that they don't like light.  That little mouse racing towards the beam of the headlights was running to the safety of the light!  The mouse just made it, but the owl, intent on catching the mouse, couldn't change direction quickly enough to miss the moving car and its headlights.  There is a lesson here for all of us. Satan, our enemy, has the power of darkness in this world.  John 3:19 says, 

"Men love darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil."  

As sinners, we are under Satan's power and loving the darkness of this world that leads us away from God and His love for sinners.  But God loves us too much to leave us in sin and darkness, and so He sent His Son Jesus to save us from Satan's power.  When Jesus died on the cross and then rose from the dead, He won the victory over Satan and sin and darkness!  And now He says to you and me, 

"I am the light of the world: he that follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life" (John 8:12).

You and I no longer have to be under Satan's power if we will turn to the Lord Jesus to be cleansed from our sins and walk with Him in the light.

 "God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all. But if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, 

and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin" (1 John 1:5,7). 

That was a pretty smart little mouse that ran to the light.  And will you be a smart boy or girl and follow the Lord Jesus, walking with Him in the light?  Jesus said,

"I am come a light into the world, that whosoever believeth on Me should not live in darkness" (John 12:46). 

Are you walking with Jesus in the light?

I Love you,

Grandpa