The Devotional - 055 - Landmines

A Thought for the Day – 055 – Landmines

False or true are common words in our daily activity this fact is more than we realize. How many times do we eat at those fast food places during the week? It is true we become hungry, but it is false to eat what is advertised. This is not a true or false quiz, but a matter of health. Bad eating habits are profane to ones self and a gluttonous sin in the face of our Creator. Proverbs 30:7-9

Comments and challenges

I have used Proverbs for a number of months as the thought for the day but after tomorrow I will be selecting thoughts from Ecclesiastes for a season.

Many years ago and before I served on my first destroyer in the Navy; the USS Forrest Sherman DD-931 made a trip to India. During that trip the King of India gave the ship a dog named Suki; here is an insert from a web site about the ship and the trip.

Suki, a Pembroke Welch Corgi, was given to the ship while in port at Bombay, India from the American Embassy, late 1962/early 1963.  Suki was of royal stock from a litter of pups from the Queen of England (or so the story goes).  He was a pure bred but was not of show quality and that is part of the reason he was given to ship. The reason he was not show quality is that one ear is slightly lower than the other (believe it or not).  Yet, Suki lived like a king with a good run of the ship as shown by the pix below and news article. Sorry the picture did not transfer.

 

One had to look for land mines in the middle of the night when you walked barefoot.  Suki's legs were so short that he had to be carried up the ladders.  His short legs also earned him the nickname of zero-zero.  Won't go into details; just suffice to say he kept getting hung up on the hatches of the ship when he wanted to go into the next compartment.  Thanks to James Magraw and John Rossy, I have learned that Suki retired and left the navy with a retiring Gunners Mate who retired and went back to Kentucky.  Little by little we will piece the puzzle together.  More pictures of him are coming and as soon as I get them y'all will be able to see them.

 

Okay I'm writing again; I got to know Suki very well and is the reason that I have owned two Corgis since retiring from the service but here is the rub (that is; if you consider this memory a rub). It does not matter if you are of a royal family or a poor one and it does not matter if you have a leg or an ear that doesn’t match the other side of your body. Your life experience will still be surrounded by people who love and care for you and it will always be your responsibility to love them in return.

 

In Second Samuel 4; 9; and 19 you will find the events of King David and a lame man Mephilosbeth the son of Jonathan, this is a good read about kindness when kindness was not appreciated. Suki often left “landmines” near the bunks of sailors who treated him poorly and this trait of messing up seems to be the nature of most of us who say we fear God and who are by faith are His adopted children, we drop a landmine and expect God to clean it up.

 

By grace we are saved (adopted) Romans 8: 12-17; by faith we believe (justified) and by grace through faith we are (sanctified) Ephesians 2:1-9 and by the power of God; we will be (glorified) 1 Corinthians 15:50-58. When we sin we resemble Suki or Mephilosbeth, (our ear fails the royalty test or our legs hang limp at the table of blessing) Hebrews 12:12-17, we should not take our relationship with God for granted as many do, but we should hold fast our confession of faith in God by entering into His promise of Rest, Hebrews 4:1-9. We can sum this up with 1 John 4:7-11.

 

For scripture references please CTRL+ click on the following website: http://www.biblos.com

Hebrews 9:28 - so Christ was offered to bear the sins of many, and unto them that look for Him shall He appear a second time without sin unto salvation.  Jesse <><