The Past

 

I have been going to cardiac rehab for three years this coming September, and all of those years have been post-covid.  One of the last covid reminders was the “dirty” and the “clean” pencil containers on the counter.  I was pleasantly surprised this past Friday morning to find that the “dirty” and the “clean” containers were gone and a single pencil container was there.  Just pencils.  Nothing to remind me of those terrible covid days.  Hey, I’m still trying to remember to cough into my sleeve and not into my hand, like I learned in Miss Gagean’s class in 1960.  My old, “good habit” was no longer proper in 2020.  My, my, how things have changed.  And the simple pencil container was a back-to-normalcy reminder that brought a smile to my face.  I’m glad to forget covid!  And I’m even more glad to forget my sins.  I’m so glad that Jesus took my sins away, and now I can get on with life in Him.  Oh. I still struggle with sins, but the dear Lord has given me a new purpose and a new life.  I’m glad that the old life is gone!  Micah 7:18&19, “Who is a God like unto thee, that pardoneth iniquity? … he retaineth not his anger for ever, because he delighteth in mercy. He will turn again, he will have compassion upon us; he will subdue our iniquities; and thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the sea.”  And like those dark covid days, my odious sins are in the past to be remembered no more!

Internal Time Clock

 

I have an internal time clock, and last night, I put it to the test.  Let me explain.  Yesterday was a busy day.  Marleen made supper and invited me over (Yummy!).  And afterwards, we went to church to install carpeting in her Sunday school classroom.  We worked a little too long in the evening, so I got home late.  But when I started unloading the contents of my pockets onto the dresser, I discovered that I had left my cellphone at church.  Bummer!  It was late and too far to drive, so I decided just to get my cellphone Friday morning.  But alas, my phone is also my morning alarm clock.  I was so tired that I thought: If I wake up on time, I wake up; if I don’t, I’ll just skip exercise and sleep in.  But This morning (Friday morning), I woke up at 4:18 am instead of my usual 4:15 am.  Not bad timing!  My internal clock was within 3 minutes!  The apostle Paul spoke of good timing in Romans 13:11, “And that, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed.”  Hey, it’s time to get busy for the Lord, because the coming of Jesus Christ is nearer than it was when Paul wrote those words almost 2,000 years ago.  So, good advice Paul.  Get busy for the Lord before it’s too late!

Ants! Yikes!

 

I got back Friday evening to my little home from a week in Parkersburg West Virginia to find ants all over the kitchen counter.  Now, I keep my kitchen clean (most of the time), but those tiny invaders were looking for any tiny morsel of food that they could find.  And I like all of God’s creatures, but only outside of my house.  I got out a vial of ant bait, snipped off the end, and set it out.  I’ve used this bait effectively, and I knew the process.  But the first time that I used it I was worried.  The ants were attracted to the bait like it was candy.  And for a day or two, my ant infestation actually increased!  Word got around to the rest of the ant colony that Whitely had a giant trove of food right on his kitchen counter!  But the word on the street was only half true: the food was laced with poison.  And after feasting, the ants took the bait back to their home and fed everyone else in the whole colony.  But within 2 days, the entire colony was wiped out.  And what a great lesson for us!  Hey, sin has consequences!  Sin is fun … for a season, but afterwards it destroys!  Proverbs 14:12, “There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death.”  Don’t take the bait!  Think before you fall for Satan’s lies.  God’s way is always the best way; Satan’s way is the way of death.