Lightnin’ Bugs & Crickets
Ξ May 27th, 2007 | → 0 Comments | ∇ My thoughts on... |
Despite what the calendar says, summertime usually makes its way to my neck of the woods here in southwestern Virginia right after “blackberry winter” has left its mark by bringing us the last chilly snap of spring, and such appears to be the case again this year. There are several sure signs that summer has arrived, and the two that I love the most are lightnin’ bugs and crickets. Well, tonight the crisp evening air is chock full of the wonderful sights and sounds of these tiny creatures!
Every time I see a field light up from the blinking taillights of thousands of lightnin’ bugs and hear the roar of chirping crickets as they provide the accompanying music, my mind takes me back to my boyhood home “up in the holler” in Widener Valley, Virginia. I remember spending countless summer days playing outside, eagerly waiting for dusk to descend upon our yard so the lightnin’ bugs would come out and start flying around.
We kids would chase the luminescent insects down, then catch them with our bare hands and place them in a mason jar - which would become a country-style nightlight at bedtime. After all these years, I can still smell the distinctive aroma that drifted out into the room from those old jars as we lay in bed watching the tiny lights blink on and off until the sandman had paid us our nightly visit. Those were special times, long before kids had video games and round-the-clock cartoons to occupy their time.
Sometimes I think today’s kids are really missing out by not having to create much of their own entertainment like we did back then. But then again I believe we’re all missing out in a lot of ways as we live our lives in the modern world.
The Tides Of A Christian’s Life
Ξ May 26th, 2007 | → 0 Comments | ∇ My thoughts on... |
The waters covering the surface of our planet find themselves locked in a constant gravitational struggle between the earth and it’s moon. As the moon revolves around the planet, the “pull” of its gravity attempts to steal earth’s precious water supply and make it its own. Of course the effort is in vain since the much stronger gravitational force of the earth holds the seas firmly within their terrestrial reservoirs, but some of the water is drawn towards the side of the planet facing the moon nonetheless. We refer to this daily shifting of the earth’s waters as “the tides”.
Even though the moon is relentless in its gravitational struggle with the earth, it can never win. As long as our Lord allows the earth to stand, the tides will ebb and flow but her waters will remain her own.
The tides of the seas are much like the tides of a Christian’s life. Satan is constantly trying to “pull” us away from God, but once we’re saved his devious struggle for our souls is forever lost…once a person is saved, he/she remains saved. Of course satan knows he cannot steal a saved person’s soul away from God, but he continues the struggle nonetheless. Why? Because he knows that even though he cannot ”unsave” a person, he can sometimes cause his/her testimony and ability to lead others to Christ to be lost.
It is satan’s desire to prevent as many people as he can from getting saved and spending eternity in heaven, and one of his most effective methods of achieving that goal is stealing the testimonies of those who are already saved. God expects us to stay within His will and fight the temptations of the devil as best we can by using His Word as our sword, but he knows we’ll falter from time to time because we’re nothing more than human beings - sinners saved by His grace. But our God is a merciful God who readily grants second chances (and third chances, and fourth chances….), and He readily accepts our humble pleas for forgiveness, allowing us to step right back into His will.
This constant ebb and flow of the tides of a Christian’s life is a reality that we’ll only be able to escape when we finally make it “home” to be with the Lord. But the good news is that the “gravity” of our Lord’s mercy and salvation is infinitely stronger than that of satan’s devious desires, and the shining light of Jesus’ precious gift of eternal life will win out over the darkness of satan’s evil every time.
Dive-bombed by a Bluejay
Ξ May 20th, 2007 | → 0 Comments | ∇ My thoughts on... |
What a way for the day to begin! As I was taking our dog Houdini for his early morning walk, I saw a small bird sort of half fly / half fall out of a tree almost directly in front of us approximately 20 feet away. We stopped in our tracks and just stood there for a few seconds, waiting to see if our feathered friend would fly away. Well, it just sat there looking at us, so…
With Houdini’s leash firmly in hand, I started walking very slowly towards the little bird. But instead of flying off, it just remained sitting there, chirping its little head off all the while. Thinking it was injured, I stopped in my tracks and just stood there, trying to evaluate the situation and see if I needed to help out in some way. I pulled Houdini in close to me because I didn’t know how he would react to our squawking acquaintance, and just kept standing there thinking the situation over.
All of a sudden I felt a hard “thump” on the top of my head and heard the frantic flapping of wings as a rather large blue jay left me standing there wondering what had just happened. Well, it didn’t take me long to realize that I had just been dive-bombed by a very protective mother!
At first, it made a me little angry. After all, I had had no intention of harming her youngster, I wanted to render assistance if I possibly could. But then I realized that momma bird was simply carrying out the awesome responsibility that God has assigned to mothers of all species: to take care of their young and protect them from danger. And from the momma bird’s perspective, I was potentially a serious threat to the life and health of her youngster.
The Lord blessed us with a gloriously beautiful morning on this late-May Sunday. The rising sun made the dew on the freshly-mown grass sparkle and shine while the crisp, fresh air rejuvenated my soul after having had a very long day yesterday. And of course the birds were singing, at least one of which was keeping a watchful eye on her beloved children. Now, if I can just get rid of this headache!
“Home”
Ξ May 16th, 2007 | → 0 Comments | ∇ My thoughts on... |
“Home was a back porch swing where I would sit and mom would sing Amazing Grace, While she hung out the clothes…
And its much to late to listen to the words of wisdom that my daddy said.
The straight and narrow path he showed me turned into a thousand winding roads, My footsteps carry me away, but in my mind I’m always going home.” —- Lyrics from the song “Home”, by Joe Diffie
They say that “Home is where the heart is!”, and over the years I’ve come to realize just how true that old saying really is. Like most youngsters, when I was growing up I simply couldn’t wait to “get old enough” to start making my own decisions and live my own life. After all, as a teenager I already knew everything I needed to know in order to make it big out in the world on my own. I didn’t need my daddy - or anyone else for that matter - giving me advice or telling me how to avoid the mistakes they’d made in life. I was a teenager - I knew it all!
Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, I found myself at that golden age where my life would forever be my own; I was finally free to rise as high as my know-it-all intellect would allow me to rise without having to listen to what dad and mom told me anymore. I was free, and the world was going to be my oyster! And so I set out upon a journey that I just knew would end in happiness and a life of leisure…
But something unexpected happened along the way. I found myself messing up at every turn, making many of the same mistakes that my “dumb” daddy had told me that he had made (and told me how to avoid). Of course it was all bad luck in my case, I had it all figured out. When my luck turned around, things would start going in the right direction and I would show dad that I really knew how to make it big - without his dumb advice thank you very much!
The funny thing was, my luck never turned around. It seemed that I kept making mistake after mistake, following in my daddy’s footsteps even as I was trying my best to take a different route. I couldn’t figure out why my path to the good life was taking me in circles. It all seemed so clear in my mind. Then one day it struck me: I was making the same mistakes my daddy did because I hadn’t been willing to listen to his stories and advice. You see, dad never really wanted to run his children’s lives at all, including mine. He just wanted us to learn from his mistakes so that we could avoid making our own - and have a better life than he had.
Now everything truly was crystal clear: My daddy was no dummy. He was in fact one of the most intelligent men I ever knew, but he had made mistakes in life that kept him from reaching his full potential. He gave us kids all of that “dumb advice” because he wanted us to be happy and do our very best best in life with the unique tools and abilities that God had so generously blessed us with.
My wonderful dad passed away almost seven years ago, and what I wouldn’t give to be able to sit down with him just one more time and talk about “the weather”, “those crooked politicians”, or just anything at all that happened to be on his mind. But most of all, I would love to be able to ask him for a little advice every now and then. And one day I’ll be able to - when I finally make it “home”.
“And its much to late to listen to the words of wisdom that my daddy said, The straight and narrow path he showed me turned into a thousand winding roads, My footsteps carry me away, but in my mind I’m always going home.”
Earth: The “Goldilocks” Planet
Ξ May 9th, 2007 | → 0 Comments | ∇ My thoughts on... |
Have you ever sat and contemplated how the universe and our solar system are configured? I have, and it’s really quite fascinating!
Our solar system consists of eight planets (nine if you’re reluctant to accept the recent demotion of Pluto) as well as numerous moons, all revolving around the star that we know as the sun. Each of the planets and their respective moons lie at varying distances from the sun. First you have Mercury and Venus, both of which have surface temperatures so high that the possibility of them being able to support life is virtually nil.
Towards the nether regions of the solar system lie the gaseous giants Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune. These massive planets are so far away from the sun that they receive very little light and heat, which makes the possibility of them being able to support life as we know it extremely unlikely as well. Mars lies close enough to the sun that it could possibly support life of various types, but we’re fairly certain that anything larger than microbes doesn’t exist there (at least right now).
And then we have earth, our home planet. It lies at a distance from the sun that isn’t too close or too far away - it is “just right”. This “Goldilocks” planet that we call home is approximately 93 millions miles from the sun, which apparently is the perfect distance to not only allow life to survive here, but indeed flourish. Unlike the rest of our solar system neighborhood, earth has been teeming with life of numerous types and complexities for eons!
Many people believe that this wonderful planet attained it’s perfect position in the solar system by mere chance. I do not. I believe that when God “created the heavens and the earth”, He had everything “mapped out” and that He carefully placed the earth exactly where he knew it needed to be in order to support the amazing variety of living organisms (creatures) that He would soon be creating.
It is my belief that the “Goldilocks” planet received its perfect location by design, not by chance. The greatest architect, mathematician, inventor and astronomer the universe has ever known had the blueprints for His magnificent “heavens and earth” tucked away in His mind, and during the creation period He simply spoke them into existence. And after completing each step, He admired His handiwork and “saw that it was good”.
Springtime in the southern Appalachians
Ξ May 5th, 2007 | → 0 Comments | ∇ My thoughts on... |
Spring is my favorite time of the year. After a long, cold winter it warms my soul to see a glorious sunrise create spectacular displays of light and color in the sky and the landscape around us. Throw in a few birds singing and you have the nearest thing to heaven that we’ll ever encounter during our earthly lives.
Springtime is God’s gift to all His creatures, a generous reward for our willingness to slog through snow, ice and slush while living our lives during the winter months. Many of my Picture of the Day posts highlight the beauty of spring in my neck of the woods, the southwestern Virginia region of the southern Appalachians. God has blessed this area with some of the most beautiful and interesting scenery in the world, and He gives it a fresh coat of “paint” every spring!
