Jewel # 79 (Feb. 16, 2011)

A Few Facts About Bats

To my dear grandchildren,

"The Lord is good to all; and His tender mercies are over all His works." (Psalm 145:9)

Most of us have heard how a bat can fly about in total darkness and never hit an object that might be in its way.  Experiments were tried, blindfolding these creatures and turning them loose in rooms strung with piano wire, twine and other things.  The bat just flew all around these obstacles and never once touched them.

God has furnished the bat with a "radar system" far more sensitive than any that man has invented.  A bat produces a sound with its mouth that is so high pitched that humans cannot hear its full range.  These sound waves strike objects in its path of flight and send back echoes to the bat's ears.  The echoes tell the bat how it must turn to avoid colliding with objects or with each other.

After spending perhaps 30 minutes cleaning itself, this furry little mammal usually sleeps hanging upside down with its wings draped around its body like a cloak.  (They are not dirty creatures as many people think.)

God has given bats a sense of approaching winter with its scarcity of food.  Some migrate to warmer climates, up to a thousand miles away.  Others gorge on insects and put on a layer of fat, and then they find a dark place, often a cave, where they hang by their hind feet and hibernate for three to six months.  During this time, the fat stored in their bodies sustains them until warm weather returns.  Then they become active once again and are able to find insects to eat that also have become plentiful.

Although bats are rather strange-looking creatures, they are beneficial to man in destroying vast quantities of of harmful insects.  It is estimated that they eat half their weight in insects in one night.

Bats are not able to question and understand their ways of life, and they are not able to develop such wonderful abilities by themselves.  God is the One who has created them, and He watches over them, providing their skills and caring for them in all their unusual ways.  They carry on many of their activities in the dark, and they are well equipped for this.  We, too, by nature love a form of darkness that shuts us out of God's blessings:  "This is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil" (John 3:19).

When the Lord Jesus came into the world, He was "the light of the world" (John 8:12), and He invites everyone to come out of darkness into His wonderful light.  When we accept Him as our Saviour, He delights to give us a new title - "children of light" (1 Thessalonians 5:5).  Then we have the privilege of shining for Him. 

Jewel # 77 (Jan 31, 2011)

Mickey the Macaw

To my dear grandchildren,

Mr. & Mrs. Morgan really valued Mickey their macaw.  Not only was he a family pet, but he cost lots of money!  A macaw is a long-tailed parrot with beautiful blue, red, yellow and green feathers.  These birds come from the warm climates of Mexico and South America, so Mickey had to live indoors at the Morgans' home in Illinois.

One summer day Mickey escaped from the Morgans' house.  No one seemed to know just how he got out, but there he was at the top of a tree!  Mr. & Mrs. Morgan called the fire department, which arrived with a snorkel truck to try to capture Mickey.  The snorkel lifted a fireman right up to the top of the tree.  But each time the  fireman would get within reach of Mickey, he would fly off to the next tree.  It certainly looked like an impossible job to catch Mickey.

Have you ever thought of your value to God?  Matthew 10:30 tells us that God values us so much He knows exactly how many hairs we each have on our head!  We also know that God's love for us is so great that He sent His only Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, to die on the cross to wash away our sins.  Have you let the Lord Jesus wash away your sins and be your Saviour?  Those who have done this belong to Him and are called "HIS JEWELS".  Are you one of His valuable jewels?

After several attempts to capture Mickey had failed, a fireman came up with a great idea, and it worked!  The fireman hooked up the fire hose and sprayed Mickey lightly with water until his feathers were soaked.  Mickey was now so heavy with water that he could not fly anywhere.  Now it was an easy job to raise the snorkel and catch Mickey.  How glad the Morgans were to have Mickey safe indoors again, even if he was all wet!

The Morgans would not leave Mickey in the treetop, and the Lord Jesus will not leave His own children in this world.  He values His children so much that He has prepared a wonderful home for them in heaven.  Very soon He will come to take those who have accepted Him as their Saviour to that home. 

 "I go to prepare a place for you." 

(John 12:2)  

"I will come again, and receive your unto Myself; 

that where I am, there ye may be also." 

(John 14:3)

Will He take you to His home in heaven? 

Jewel # 76 (Jan 17, 2011)

To my dear grandchildren,

Attacked by an Octopus!

The storm was finally over.  It had almost been a hurricane; the wind and waves had caused much damage in the harbor.  The most serious damage appeared to be to the ship, the S.S. Dunvegan Castle, which had collided with the pier.  There had been damage to both the ship and the pier, but it was hard to tell how bad the damage really was.

To learn how much damage had been done to the ship, an underwater diving company was hired.  John Palmer was sent to make the inspection dive.  With him was his support crew who stayed on the ship to assist him during the dive.  John reviewed with his crew the signals he would use during the dive, especially in an emergency.

John went overboard in his diving suit with attached air hoses and with ropes to pull him back to the boat.  The sea was calm, and he was able to make a good inspection of both the ship and the pier.  He was about to signal his crew to pull him back to the surface, when suddenly something darted out from a crevice in the rocks and gripped his arm as if it were in a vise.  In a moment of awful horror, John realized that he was in the grip of an octopus!  Then another tentacle flashed around his chest, and he was held in a deadly embrace!  

John was helpless.  There was nothing he could do to get free.  He knew his only chance was to get help from his support crew!

Are you still being held captive by your sins?  Sin is deadly!  Only the Lord Jesus Christ can save you and break you free from its tentacles of power.  If you have never come to the Lord Jesus to have your sins taken away, you have no more power to free yourself than John had.  Call to the loving Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ, and He will set you free.  "Whosoever shall call (on) the name of the Lord shall be saved" (Acts 2:21).    

Help from the deck was John's only hope to get out of this alive!  With all his might he desperately puled the emergency signal.  Almost immediately he felt himself rising . . .  they had gotten his signal and were pulling him up.  But his enemy, the octopus, was going up with him!  Still, he didn't lose hope - he would soon reach help.  Up, up, up he went.  It seemed to take forever, but finally he could see daylight.  He soon reached the surface of the water.

"An octopus!" yelled the first man to see John.  "Quick!  Get a knife!"  Using the knife and a small axe, they worked at releasing John. It was not an easy job since octopus tentacles are lined with hundreds of tiny suction cups.  But at last John stood free - no longer the captive of an octopus.  What a relief!

Would you like to be free from your sins and no longer a captive of Satan?  Jesus is able and willing to save anyone who comes to Him.  "If the Son therefore shall make you free, you shall be free indeed" (John 8:36).

Jewel # 75 (Dec 21, 2010)

To my dear grandchildren

The World's Largest Snakes

As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up: that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish,

but have everlasting life."

(John 3:14-15)

Of the world's more than 2,500 kinds of snakes, the largest are anacondas and boa constrictors, living in the swamps and tropical forests of South and Central America, and pythons found in southeastern Asia, Africa and India.

The twelve foot boa constrictor is smaller than the thirty to forty-foot anaconda and python.  All kill their prey by coiling around the animal's body and constricting it to death, and then swallowing it whole.  They do not actually"eat" their food, but draw their hinged mouths over it, and their fangs then pull it into their bodies an inch or two at a time.  After a big meal, the snakes may not eat again for three or four months.

The long, flat head of these snakes has no ears.  Vibrations and a keen sense of smell, received partially through a flicking tongue, make them aware of what is nearby.  They never stop growing, although their skins do.  Twice a year a new skin replaces the tight old one, which is rubbed off - a startling thing to come upon lying on the ground.

Anacondas and boas give birth to live babies, but pythons lay eggs that are incubated by the mother coiling around them.  Either way, as many as six dozen (70+) babies, as long as two feet at birth, immediately know how to squeeze small victims to death.

The boas spend a great deal of time in water, often with only a small part of their heads showing, waiting for animals to come near.  At other times they climb trees to rob birds' nests or stretch out on a low limb to dart down and catch animals passing below.  Pythons have similar habits, sometimes tangling with tigers or other big animals.  Once they get their coils around their prey, they are almost sure to win these battles.  But these victims are too large to eat, and these contests only happen when, for some reason, they attack one another

These reptiles have a place and purpose in God's creation, but most people find them repulsive, especially when remembering that in the Bible Satan is called"that old serpent, which is the Devil" (Revelation 20:2).

When the Israelites spoke against God in the wilderness  (Numbers 21:4-9), He sent fiery serpents among them and many died.  But the Lord did provide a way of escape.  He told Moses to place a brass serpent on a pole, and any who simply looked on it were healed.  This is a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ who later died for sinners on Calvary's cross, with the wonderful promise that"whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life."

Have you confessed that you are a sinner and looked in faith to Jesus to save you?

Jewel # 74 (Dec 6, 2010)

To my dear grandchildren,

A Harbor Seal's Brush With Disaster

The Strait of Juan de Fuca is an inlet of the ocean dividing Canada from the State of Washington.  Passengers on two ships in this inlet were able to view a life-and-death drama between a pod of Orcas, which are killer whales, and a harbor seal.

.. 

Earlier in the day, twelve passengers and a boat pilot set out in a large, inflatable boat, called a Zodiac boat, from the Canadian side on a whale watching tour.  They got to see more than they expected when they finally located a pod of the black and white Orcas by their tall dorsal fins.  These killer whales had spotted a lone harbor seal and were chasing it.

.. 

In the open water, the seal didn't have much chance of escaping the whales.  Orcas are 30 feet long, and seals are 5 to 6 feet long. Orcas weigh 16,000 pounds, and seals weigh 300 pounds.  Orcas swim at a top speed of 30 miles per hour, and a harbor seal's top speed is 13 miles per hour.  The Orcas certainly had a big advantage over the seal; however, the Orcas were chasing a very resourceful seal!

.. 

With the Orcas close behind, the seal realized it needed a refuge or a hiding place, and it needed it fast!  The seal swam towards the inflatable boat at full speed, leaped out of the water and onto the rounded end of the Zodiac boat.  It then squirmed down onto the deck.  The passengers backed away from the seal, giving it plenty of space.  The whales circled the area for a short while, and then their dorsal fins disappeared, as they appeared to swim away.  After twenty minutes, the seal must have felt that it was safe to shimmy over the side of the boat and reenter the water.

.. 

But it wasn't.  The Orcas reappeared, and this time they cut off the seal's path back to the Zodiac boat.  Another boat had slowed to a stop to watch the whales.  This boat was the Victoria Clipper, a high-speed ferry boat that carried hundreds of passengers.  The sides of this boat were high and made out of metal.  Even as the seal swam for the ferry boat, with the Orcas close behind, there was no chance the seal could jump over its sides to get away from the whales.

.. 

The Victoria Clipper is powered by two turbo jet engines.  As the ship sat still in the water, these engines were only partially under-water.  To the seal, they were perfect little caves of refuge.  The seal jumped out of the water and pulled itself up onto one of the jet engines.

.. 

Again, the seal had escaped the whales.  This time they lost interest and swam off in search of easier prey.  After waiting a while, the seal slipped back into the water and swam off.

.. 

When the Orcas first began chasing the seal, it knew it was in trouble and had to find a hiding place and find it fast!  It found safety in two unusual places and lived to see another day.  A long time ago, King David wrote about God:  "Thou art my hiding place; Thou shalt preserve me from  trouble; Thou shalt compass me about with songs of deliverance" (Psalm 32:7).  For all of our troubles, God is a sure refuge or hiding place.  This is especially true for our problem of sin.

.. 

Over two thousand years ago, God provided a place of safety for sinners when  His beloved Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, died on the cross.  "God commendeth His love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us" (Romans 5:8).  Sin is hateful in the sight of God, and since He is holy and a God of justice, He cannot let it go unpunished.  Those who never repent and come to the Saviour in this life will be lost forever in the darkness and terrors of hell.  To make a way of escape for sinners, the Lord Jesus came to earth and died in our place.  He is the Son of God, and because of the sacrifice  He made at Calvary, all who believe on Him receive the forgiveness of sins and the gift of eternal life.  God hates our sin, but He loves sinners and has done every thing possible so we might be saved.

.. 

There is no other way to be saved from the punishment we deserve for our sins but through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and His finished work on the cross.  Those who come to Him find the one hiding place that will keep them safe for time and eternity.   "A man shall be as a hiding place" (Isaiah 32:2), and that man is Christ Jesus.  Will you accept Him as your place of safety - your hiding place?     

Jewel # 73 (Nov 23, 2010)

To my dear grandchildren

At the Count of Three . . .

We were two little girls full of fun and foolishness, that day many years ago when Mother sent us to the spring for a pail of water.  The dirt around the spring had been dug out about four feet deep to make a pond from the spring water, and then it was lined with smooth stones.  The water level was down about two feet, but it was still about two feet deep.

We had been acting silly, as I carelessly stooped to fill the pail.  Oops! . . . Slipped!

After my big splash, I looked up expecting to see my sister's laughing face. Instead, I saw a huge diamondback rattlesnake slithering up on the rocks just a few feet from me.  He had come for a drink, too, and maybe wasn't too pleased that I was there.  I knew that I must stay just as still as possible, and also that I could never get past that snake.  In a quiet voice I told my sister about the rattlesnake and said, "Go get Mother."

It was only a matter of minutes until the two of them came up quietly.  Mother had Dad's double-barreled shotgun.  Speaking softly, my normally timid mother cooly and firmly gave me instructions:  "At the count of three, drop flat into the water and stay down until I pull you up."

I knew that I must obey exactly.  My eyes tightly shut, heart pounding, I heard the clicks as she cocked the old gun.

"One, two, three!" 

Believe me, I dived as flat to the bottom of those two two feet of water as possible.

Even underwater the boom from that shotgun was deafening.  I was sure that the whole pool also had been blown up!  Mother wasted no time grabbing me up in her arms.  There wasn't much left of that snake!

What a mercy God showed to me that day!  A strike in the face from that huge poisonous snake might well have meant death to a small child like me.  I had been so careless - so foolish not to watch for danger when we knew there were poisonous snakes around.

The "old serpent," as the Bible calls the devil, quietly came onto the scene in the very first chapter of Genesis, and he is still in the world today.  He is the smartest, most deadly enemy of all.  Many boys and girls and men and women go along being deceived by him, living only to find and follow fun when suddenly, as as I did, they come face to face with the "king of terrors." Death is that"King of terrors" (Job 18:14).  "The sting of death is sin,"we read in 1 Corinthians 15:56.  God says, "It is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment" (Hebrews 9:27).  

Here is that terrible "sting" - judgment for all those sins you and I have done.  (Would you dare say, "I have never sinned"?) God, however, loves us and is not willing for us to come to the point of judgment.  There is hope.  "Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many" (Hebrews 9:28).  He bore the punishment, so that in Hebrews 8:12 God can say,"Their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more." You can be one of the "many" whose sins He suffered for if you will receive the message by faith, believing that He suffered for your sins.

As God held back the strike of death for me that day long ago, so also He is still holding back the day of judgment for you, so that you might be rescued from sin and the devil.  Follow God's instructions: "Believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life" (1 John 5:13).  Don't fool around.  God expects and honours the sincere, urgent cry to Him.

Jewel # 72 (Nov 11, 2010)

To my dear grandchildren,  

Stop for Red Lights

Mr. Peters lived in New York City.  Usually when he was driving around town, traffic was so heavy that he did not bother to check if the traffic lights were red or green before he crossed an intersection.  He just pushed his way through the crowd of cars and taxis along with everyone else.

One day Mr. Peters was driving in the suburbs with Mr. Grant, a friend.  Mr. Peters was talking excitedly to Mr. Grant, telling him a story.  Mr. Grant suddenly interrupted, "Hey," he shouted, "you just went through a red light!"

Mr. Peters looked in his rear view mirror.  Sure enough, he had just driven right through a red light.  Rather embarrassed, he apologized to Mr. Grant, "I'm so sorry   . . . this is the first time I've ever done that!  I don't ever remember going through a red light before!"

It was true that Mr. Peters did not remember, since he hardly ever noticed what colour the traffic lights were.  Then he went on with his story he had been telling.

Suddenly Mr. Grant broke in again.  "Uh - you just went through another red light!"

Horrified, Mr Peters looked back again.  Yes, he certainly had driven right through another red light!  He shook his head.  "I can hardly believe this," he said seriously.  "The first time I've ever gone through a red light, and now I've done it twice in one day!"

Mr. Peters was mistaken.  He had gone through many red lights, but he did not realize it because he never paid attention to them.  Going through red lights is sin - its illegal.  God says, "Every way of a man is right in his own eyes: but the Lord [carefully examines] the hearts" (Proverbs 21:2).

Sometimes we need someone to point out our mistakes, especially sinful ones.  We like to think that others have made worse mistakes and that they are the ones who need the help.  We need to remember that God looks at each of us differently than how we see each other.  He sees and knows all about you and me and our sins and says, "The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked" (Jeremiah 17:9).  He also says, "[How] shall a young man cleanse his way? by taking heed thereto according to Thy [God's] Word" (Psalm 119:9).  The Bible tells us that the Lord Jesus Christ died and shed His blood to wash away sins.  He is patiently waiting in love for all who will turn to Him in faith and accept Him as their Saviour.

Are your sins washed away?