Jewel # 125 (Nov 16, 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,

A Bear Causes a Big Problem

George drove his old station wagon down the unpaved forest road towards his favorite fishing hole. Fishing was one of the things he loved most.  The winding road led through thick forests, until at last he saw the deep, blue lake ahead of him.  What a happy sight!

The road sloped down right to the water's edge.  He stepped on the brakes twenty feet away from the water, shifted into park and turned the engine off.  Reaching over the seat, he grabbed his fishing pole and tackle box and left his bag of sandwiches and donuts on the passenger seat.

George walked to the water's edge and down a shoreline trail a short way to to his favorite spot.  Then he baited his hook with a fat nightcrawler.  The worm wiggled on the hook - nothing like a wiggly worm to attract the fish.  Soon George was busy reeling in panfish, and by midday his stringer was full.  Not a bad morning's catch. He decided to call it quits, and, picking up his things, he began hiking back to his station wagon.

On the way back he heard a commotion - groans and grunts - coming from what sounded like a large animal.  What's making those noises? he wondered as he neared the car.  Then he saw it!  A black bear had stuck its head and upper body into  his car window and was struggling to pull its fat lower body through the window.

George knew immediately: It's after my lunch!  he also wisely decided that it was to late to do anything about it.  He set his stuff down and sat down on a tree stump a safe distance away to watch what the bear would do next.

The bear gave up trying to pull its whole body thorough the window and decided to eat the lunch with half his body squeezed into the car.  He grabbed the bag with his paw and scattered the contents all over the car.  Bit by bit, the bear gobbled up what it could reach.  Then, not seeing any more food, the the still-hungry animal began rummaging, through all the nooks and crannies of the car with his paws, looking for more to eat.  While rummaging, the bear bumped the gearshift lever and knocked it from "P" for park into "N" for neutral.  The car began to slowly roll down hill, gathering speed as it went and heading straight for the lake.

The front bumper of the car hit the water first, then the grill, then the front tires and then water started to fill the inside of the car, rising to the height of the front seat. When it came to stop, the entire car, except for the brown top, was under water.  The bear made a furious tug and pulled himself free and ran off, splashing through the shallow water.

What a commotion the bear had made, and what a problem George had now! It all could have been avoided if only he had closed the car window.   He had a long way to walk to find help.  Then he had to hire a tow truck to pull his station wagon out of the water and tow it back to a car repair shop in town.  Then a mechanic charged him a lot of money to get his engine running again.

How George wished he hadn't been so careless in keeping his car safe.  All he needed to have done was just close the window.  He would have saved himself a huge amount of trouble and money.

Are you being careless with your soul?  God wants you to let the Lord Jesus save your soul so you don't suffer loss - a loss far greater than George's.  The only way your soul can be saved is to come to the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation.  "If thou shalt confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you shall be saved" (Romans 10:9).

What is the result of believing on the Lord Jesus?  Those who believe in their hearts receive the forgiveness of their sins and a wonderful new life that makes them ready for heaven.  "God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life" (John 3:16).  He doesn't want you to wait until you think you can become a better person.  That won't help - you'll still be in your sins.  He wants you to come right now just as you are.  He is the only Saviour because of the mighty work He did on the cross, bearing the punishment for sin and shedding His blood that has the power to wash away your sins.  "The blood of Jesus Christ HIs Son cleans us from all sin" (1 John 1:7).

Once you are saved, God wants you to keep you heart fresh in His love by staying close to Him.  Of course, someone who loves God will love His word and keep His commandments.  To keep God's love fresh in our hearts, we should be careful to keep sin out.  Sin makes the love of God grow cold in our hearts.  It has the ability to sneak into our lives if we are careless, just as the bear sneaked into the open window of the car.  That is why we need to store Bible verses in our hearts.  "Thy Word have I hid in my heart that I might not sin against Thee" (Psalm 119:11).  Only by hiding God's Word in our hearts can we have victory over sin.

Poor George was careless.  As a result his lunch was stolen and his car got a dunking in the lake.  Don't be careless with your soul.  Won't you be sure that your soul is safe by admitting to the Lord Jesus that you are a sinner and accepting Him as your very own Saviour?  Then if you will hold tightly to His precious Word, you will enjoy God's rich blessings and avoid much unhappiness.

Love you all,

Grandpa

Jewel # 124 (Nov 2, 2012)

Did you know?  Bee-eaters bathe in dust to protect themselves from parasites.

"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

Birds That Eat Bees

"The Lord is good to all: and His tender mercies are over all His works."

(Psalm 145:9)

There are many varieties of bee-eater birds, ranging in size from six to fourteen inches.  All have pretty feathers in various colour combinations of bright red, yellow, blue, brown and purple.  All of them have a black mask over their eyes.  These unusual birds live in Mediterranean countries, Africa, Australia, India and other tropical areas.  The European bee-eaters migrate south in the winter.

Bees, wasps and hornets make up 80% of the bee-eater's diet, along with a few other insects.  These are captured in the air.  Even the young birds can do this without any lessons from their parents.  Their food being caught this way explains why the Creator gave them long pointed wings and swallow-like tails.  These features enable them to fly swiftly and make quick turns in their flights, so that they rarely fail to capture their prey.

Another special feature about these birds is their long, pointed beaks.  What purpose do these serve?  If they only ate flying ants and and termites, a short, wide beak like a swallow's would do very well.  But catching bees and wasps is another matter, since a sting in the mouth or throat would not only be painful with swelling, but would probably mean death to the bird.  So God gave it a specially designed beak.

Overtaking a bee in mid-air, this bird skillfully catches the bee across its middle, holding it just tightly enough until the bird returns to its perch where it beats its captive against something solid to kill it.  Then the pointed beak is carefully used to remove and discard the stinger and to squeeze out any remaining poison from the stinger end of the bee.  Not until all this has been taken care of does it eat the bee or give it to its babies.  Isn't that an amazing feature of this bird!

We can easily believe that when God Himself created these pretty birds, He gave them their knowledge of how to capture and eat these poisonous insects safely.  This instinct and skill has been inherited by each generation ever since.  If they had had to learn on their own how to safely catch the bees, carefully kill them, skillfully remove the stingers and remaining poison, their mistakes would have caused their deaths, and the species would have died out.

The Bible tells us, "Known unto God are all His works from the beginning of the world" (Acts 15:18).  It also tells us, 

"The LORD searcheth all hearts. . . . If you seek Him, He will be found of you" (1 Chronicles 28:9).

What does He see when He searches your heart?  

Love you all

Grandpa