TRAPPED

TRAPPED  

That's right.

This raccoon was caught in the act and trapped,

caged, locked in - where it should not have been.

[For you animal lovers I hauled it so far off it could

not find it's way back and released it in the woods.]

What was the bait used to catch it.  The same bait

that catches you, food.            

That is about where the human race began.

After God created the first humans he told

them not to eat from that one tree.  But you

know as well as I what happened.  He said

"don't" so they did.  "When the woman saw

that the tree was good for food,...".   You

know the rest of the story.  The human race

has been in trouble ever since.

When I was a young man (many decades ago.)

they used to say, "The way to a man's heart is

through his stomach."  And I remember the 

batch of  chocolate chip cookies in the bottom

of my foot locker in the Navy.  TRAPPED.

Or consider how many an obese person has

died a premature death.   Am I picking on 

food.  Not really.  I like to eat as well as you

do.  If we don't keep eating we will be in 

serious trouble.

But right now I am  thinking of food more

as a temptation.  Or some other temptation

could just as well be the bait that traps us.

Is it any wonder that Jesus Christ said;

"Keep watching and praying that you

may not enter into temptation; the

spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak."

(Matthew 26:41 NASB)  

I like the way John Dryden said it;

"Better shun the bait than struggle in

the snare."   

TODAY'S PROMISE

"And those who know Your name

will put their trust in You,

For You, O LORD, have not 

forsaken those who seek You."

(Psalms 9:10 NASB)

DISTRACTIONS

You have seen the advertisements;
"New life for old computers".

Well, I just happened to have a few old
computers laying around. Sounded good to
me. Also something to try or play with.
So, I ordered one.

I pulled one of the old computers off of the
shell along with an old monitor.  Brought it
into the office and set it up.  It was an old
windows XP.  I found it kind of fun to play
with.

But, but, but.
Would you believe it, it was too old for the
device that speeds up old computers.  In
other words that old computer was even
older than old.  So, I'll have to try the neat
device on one of my newer old computers.

But I was enjoying having another computer
on my "computer bench or desk",  so I decided
to keep it in the office and give it a special
task. [That only makes four computers in the
office.]

After down loading a lot of stuff on the poor
little computer I decided to eliminate a lot of
the programs in the computer that have
nothing to do with the task I gave it.

Would you believe it, the old thing seems
to work a lot faster than it did before.  Why?,
it has less to do.

What is my point?
Our life is like that old computer, loaded down
with a lot of unnecessary clutter.  Look at all
the stuff you have around you.  You spent a lot
of hard earned money and time in acquiring it,
and now you have to take care of it.

Or you have wasted a lot of time and effort on
things that really do not matter to life.

Soon every one of us will be at the end of life.
Then we are going to stand before God and
answer for everything we did in life - whether
we like the idea or not.

I don't know about you.  But I want to get rid

of a lot of the useless things and activities of

life and concentrate on the thing that matters -

Standing before God himself.

TODAY'S QUOTE

Image courtesy of: www.Pixabay.com   

"The vigor of our spiritual life will be

in exact proportion to the place held by 

the Bible in our life and thoughts."

- George Mueller

THE STORMS OF LIFE

If you are old enough to read this, you know that life is

full of storms.  The weather kind, of course.  But even

worse the personal storms that come up in your life.

At my age I have been through the storms of child hood, 

adolescence, courtship, mariage and failed mariage, life

threatening sickness and now old age.  But the question is

how to survive.

One of the storms I see facing all of us right now is the 

world conditions.  Things are headed in a direction that

if continued will completely destroy every one of us.

This morning while reading in my Bible I was reading

a passage written by King David many years ago.  It

reflects my attitude often.  See if it does not express the

way you often feel when life's problems confront you.

"My heart is in anguish within me.

And the terrors of death have fallen upon me.

Fear and trembling come upon me,

And horror has overwhelmed me.

I said, 'Oh, that I had wings like a dove!

I would fly away and be at rest.

Behold I would wander far away

I would lodge in the wilderness.

I would hasten to my place of refuge

From the stormy wind and tempest."  

(Psalms 55:4 - 8 NASB)  

I have found that what worked for King David

works for me too.

First he was in relationship to God Almighty.

That is the only place that we can get any real

peace.  Then when David closes out his Psalm

he says;

"Cast your burden upon the LORD and He

will sustain you;" (v. 22)   

Every time I have turned to Jesus Christ with

my problems - He has brought me through.

Even to old age.

TODAY'S PROMISE

"Ask, and it will be given to you;

seek, and you will find; knock,

and it will be opened to you.  For

everyone who asks receives, and

he who seeks finds, and to him

who knocks it will be opened."

(Matthew 7:7,8 NASB)

A WOMAN'S INFLUENCE

Ladies please I am not trying to pick on you one way

or the other.  In fact growing up without sisters I thought

that girls and women were angels.  I think that it was my

wife who told me that not all females are angels.

But one morning while reading my Bible I noticed what an

influence one woman had on her husband.  Then my mind 

began to wonder over the influence of a number of the women

mentioned in the Bible and their influence, either good or bad.

Consider:

Eve.  She influenced Adam to eat the forbidden fruit and the

entire world has suffered for it since.

Sarah.  She influenced Abraham to have relations with a 

woman he should not have.  The result is hard feelings 

and war between two races of people ever since.

Ester.  Here is a good one.  She simply melted king

Ahasuerus's heart.  That saved the Jewish people.

Solomon's wives.  They influenced him to worship

foreign gods to his hurt.

Jezebel.  She influenced Ahab to live an evil life.

King Herod's step daughter influenced him to have

John the Baptist's head cut off.

Here is a more modern day woman.

Susan Wesley.

If memory servers me right, she had 14 children.

She spent time with every one of those children

every day.  In the process she raised John and Charles

Wesley who greatly influence the world you and I 

live in.

I guess what I am trying to say is that it bothers

me in our modern world that women are trying to

be every thing but a woman.  In their God given

position women have one of the most influential

positions on the face of the earth.  Why lower it?

Most of my life I have heard the expression,

"The hand that rocks the cradle rules the world."

Having never read the poem before it is included

below.

Blessings on the hand of women!
    Angels guard its strength and grace.
In the palace, cottage, hovel,
    Oh, no matter where the place;
Would that never storms assailed it,
    Rainbows ever gently curled,
For the hand that rocks the cradle
    Is the hand that rules the world.
Infancy's the tender fountain,
    Power may with beauty flow,
Mothers first to guide the streamlets,
    From them souls unresting grow —
Grow on for the good or evil,
    Sunshine streamed or evil hurled,
For the hand that rocks the cradle
    Is the hand that rules the world.
Woman, how divine your mission,
    Here upon our natal sod;
Keep – oh, keep the young heart open
    Always to the breath of God!
All true trophies of the ages
    Are from mother-love impearled,
For the hand that rocks the cradle
    Is the hand that rules the world.
Blessings on the hand of women!
    Fathers, sons, and daughters cry,
And the sacred song is mingled
    With the worship in the sky —
Mingles where no tempest darkens,
    Rainbows evermore are hurled;
For the hand that rocks the cradle
    Is the hand that rules the world.

by William Ross Wallace (1819-1881)