Stuff It In

 

Saturday, I raked my driveway; not my yard.  My driveway is steep going up to the back door, and it was covered with so many pine needles that the car was sliding around.  Not good.  So, I raked and bagged the pine needles.  I got a huge pile but was able to squash all of those pine needles into 3 tall kitchen garbage bags.  I pushed and pushed, and it seemed like I could always get just one more handful of pine needles into the full bag.  Those pine needles remind me of the hard times in my life.  Sorrow seems to grow out of control.  Grief often overwhelms me.  But God is faithful and powerful!  The dear Lord can take those sorrows and bury them in the depths of the deepest sea!  Hey, there is coming a day when God will resolve all of my problems!  Revelation 21:14, “And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away."  What a day that will be!

Deceived

 

When I was a kid, we went to see the Baltimore Orioles play about once a year.  That was about all that my dad could afford.  But we watched the orioles on TV most weekends.  I had a little transistor radio with a single wired earbud that I used for the west coast games.  I had to go to bed at eight o’clock, but my dad would let me listen to the baseball games as long as I was in bed.  In the early sixties, Baltimore had a relief pitcher named Hoyt Wilhelm.  He didn’t pitch very fast, and he wasn’t very clever, but he had a knuckle ball that was incredible.  Paul Richards, the manager of the orioles, would use Wilhelm in later innings as a relief pitcher.  “Old Sarge” as he was known as, would come into a game, and if the orioles had the lead, he was unstoppable.  The catcher, Gus Triandos, had a special catcher’s mitt with a 41” circumference to corral the knuckle ball.  When Old Sarge pitched his knuckle ball, batters just couldn’t tell where the ball would go.  But neither could Wilhelm or Triandos.  The knuckle ball was slow, but so deceptive that batters would swing at what they thought was an easy pitch only to find that they had struck out.  Hey, that’s how Satan deceives us.  He comes at us with his sucker pitch, and we fall for his trick every time.  Satan’s temptations are so slick and so enticing that we are fooled into ignoring God’s warnings.  Paul said in Galatians 6:7, “Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.”  Just like batters thought Old Sarge’s slow-moving knuckle ball was an easy hit, we fall for Satan’s lies.  But don’t be deceived.  Satan will lie every time.  Trust God.  He will never let you down.

Moulding

 

I have a pair of shearling slippers that were a gift to me 3 years ago Christmas.  They are fleece lined and started out fitting kind of tight.  But, as time went on, my foot began to mold the fleece slippers, and they felt better and better.  After a year, they fit perfectly.  And after 3 years, they fit like an old pair of comfortable gloves.  My slippers and feet are a perfect example of Romans 12:1&2, “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.”  My feet are doing the transforming and the slippers are being conformed.  May I be conformed to the image of the dear Lord today, is my prayer.