We had a bee infestation a week ago. In a small Pin Oak tree that I had planted, a mass of honey bees took up a nest. They were swarming all over each other in a mass larger than a basketball. The top of the tree swayed over almost to the ground. Our grand-kids were visiting and we had to keep them out of that part of the yard.
Two days later the swarm was gone, all but a small mass about two inches in diameter. They’ve been in that spot for about a week now. So, Anita called the County Extension office to see if there might be a bee keeper who might want them. She was advised to just let them alone and they’ll either die or leave on their own; they were no threat. The agent told us that the Queen bee had been there initially, and the others followed. When the queen left, all the others followed her.
These remaining were bees that were out of the tree when the queen left. They were lost and didn’t know where to go. That reminds me that there will be a time when Jesus comes back for His own. Then those who are left behind will have to function on the earth in very difficult circumstances. And I don’t want to be alive on the earth in those days! Don’t be left behind.
Tags: bees, left behind, second coming
This week we shared on The Cry of Desperation from Mark 10:46-52. Although we may be able to see OK with our physical eyes, many of us are blinded spiritually. God will show up when we become desperate enough to reach out to God and not be silenced. We must start where we are, with whatever handicaps we find ourselves with. And we must believe that we can change.
What are you desperate for in your life? Speak it out.
A sailor was shipwrecked on one of the south sea islands. He was seized by the natives, hoisted to their shoulders, carried to the village, and set on a rude throne. Little by little, he learned that it was their custom once each year to make some man a king, king for a year. He liked it until he began to wonder what happened to all the former kings. Soon he discovered that every year when his kingship was ended, the king was banished to an island, where he starved to death.
The sailor did not like that, but he was smart and he was king, king for a year. So he put his carpenters to work making boats, his farmers to work transplanting fruit trees to the island, farmers growing crops, masons building houses. So when his kingship was over, he was banished, not to a barren island, but to an island of abundance.
It is a good parable of life: we’re all kings here, kings for a little while, able to choose what we shall do with the stuff of life.
Jesus said, “Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal. But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through and steal” (Matthew 6:19-20).
Tags: heaven
Some inventors work many hours or days to invent a product. Thomas Edison, for example, hired a staff of inventors to test all the possible methods to make artificial electric light in a vacuum bulb. He suspected it was possible, but had to experiment until he found the correct filament. The Wright brothers spent several years experimenting on vacation time before they first flew.
Other inventions are accidents. Such was the case with Sarah Wheeler of Connersville. Sarah was the operator of Wheeler Creamerie Exchange at Connersville. She found that her filling for cream pie had burned and, as a result, tasted like butterscotch candy. She repeated the “mistake” for other pies and this helped build the Wheeler restaurant chain. The first published recipe for butterscotch pie was entered in a Methodist church cookbook in1904.
Mistakes just may be the guidance of the Lord. What have you discovered through a mistake?
“While I draw this fleeting breath, When my eyes shall close in death,
When I rise to worlds unknown, See Thee on Thy judgment throne,
Rock of Ages, cleft for me, Let me hide myself in Thee. Amen”
This final verse of ‘Rock of Ages’ may seem a little morbid and distasteful to some, but I think the author had a good balance in his belief system. The gospel isn’t just about what we can get from God down here in this life, but its about dealing with the sin that separates us all from God. And, when we finally breathe our last, its about our eternal destiny in either heaven or hell. This author pleads, when that Day comes, “Let me hide myself in You!”
Thomas Hastings was the one who wrote the tune behind ‘Rock of Ages’. In its day, this tune touched the hearts of many learning to trust in Jesus. Here is verse three of this old hymn:
“Nothing in my hand I bring, Simply to Thy cross I cling;
Naked, come to Thee for dress, Helpless, look to Thee for grace;
Foul, I to the fountain fly, Wash me, Savior or I die!”
There is nothing we have to offer that God desires (except our hearts), so we must cling to what He did on the cross for us. Stripped of all spiritual covering, we come to Jesus, the Rock of Ages, for that spiritual covering, received by grace. In my nature, I am foul, so I run to the cleansing fountain where my sins can be cleansed. Wash my sins clean or I’ll die in them! What a cry of desperation!
‘Rock of Ages’, verse 2: “Not the labors of my hands Can fulfill Thy law’s demands;
Could my zeal no respite know, Could my tears forever flow,
All for sin could not atone; Thou must save and Thou alone.”
This hymn was written in a time when the protestant Church of England had broken away, or split off, from the Roman Catholic Church. Roman-ism taught that deeds of repentance were necessary for sin to be forgiven. Toplady correctly noted that none of the works of my hands can satisfy the law’s demands. No matter how much zeal I can muster or how many tears of remorse I may shed, they have no effect on my sin that holds me in bondage. God and His grace are the only hope we have. “You must save, and You alone!”