Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect. [Romans 12:2 (NLT)]
Whenever I saw the swamped canoe at the swamp/bird sanctuary, I remembered the old aluminum canoe we had at our cottage. Because it remained down at the lakefront all year long, the canoe served as winter home to the chipmunks and mice. After decades of rodents taking refuge there, the critters eventually chewed up all the foam flotation blocks in both ends of the craft. Since a boat will float only as long as it weighs less than the maximum amount of water it displaces, those empty chambers didn’t affect the canoe if it remained upright and relatively dry. But, if the craft capsized, its empty chambers would rapidly fill with water and, with the extra weight, sink. Knowing how easily the canoe could sink made us extra cautious—it was used only when the water was calm, no one deliberately tipped it, and lifejackets were required.
Sometimes, however, we’re closer to sinking than we know. Several years ago, we were camping by a small lake when my son, husband, and father-in-law decided to rent a small row boat and go fishing. At noon, they pulled the boat ashore and returned to our campsite to eat. After lunch, the fellows returned to their boat and rowed out onto the lake. When their feet got wet, they realized the boat was taking on water and started bailing. The water poured in faster than they could empty it, the boat sunk lower into the water, and they quickly rowed back and pulled the boat ashore. While gathering their fishing gear, my husband discovered that the boat’s drain plug was missing. My father-in-law, who’d been hesitant to leave the boat unattended during lunch, had decided to outsmart any would-be thieves by removing its plug and sticking it in his pocket. Unfortunately, he’d forgotten to reinstall the plug after lunch. Rather than any would-be thieves, they were the ones who got wet!
Boats don’t sink because of the water around them—they sink because of the water that gets into them. In the same way, Christians are meant to live in this sinful world without any of the world’s sins seeping into us. When the world finds its way into our lives, things like fear, anxiety, immorality, deceit, anger, pride, envy, selfishness, and greed do their very best pull us down and drown us. Like the boat’s plug, God’s word can keep the world from getting into our lives and affecting us. Like the buoyancy blocks in a canoe, our faith in Jesus will keep us from sinking even when our lives turn upside down. And, like a life jacket, the Holy Spirit will keep us afloat until we safely reach shore.
Let us always remember that Simon Peter only began to sink when he took his eyes off the Lord!
In the years that followed our first maze experience, we continued the pumpkin patch/corn maze tradition but at a farm with a smaller and easier maze. While there were no arrows on stakes to assist the totally confused, there was a larger and better map. Since my daughter and husband have a far better sense of direction than do I, they carried the map and led the rest of us through the maze.
Believing that God’s spirit would not enter into something flawless, various Native American people intentionally strung a wrong-colored bead (the spirit bead) into an otherwise perfect pattern of beadwork so to create an opening through which God’s spirit could flow. In a similar way, believing that a perfectly woven rug or carpet would be an offense to Allah, followers of Islam would make an intentional small mistake in their weaving. Concerned that a perfect quilt would encourage pride, imperfect squares called humility squares or blocks, are said to have been deliberately placed in quilts by Puritan women as their acknowledgment that only God is perfect.
Since my 18-year-old grand is a new driver, I was surprised when her parents purchased a new car for her. Remembering the many dings, scrapes, and dents our teens left on their cars, I asked why they’d replaced the 15-year-old car on which she learned to drive with a new one; “safety features” was their simple and logical explanation. This new car offers things like forward collision warning, automatic emergency braking, adaptive cruise control, blind spot monitoring, lane departure warnings, lane-keeping assist, backup cameras, active park assist, rear cross traffic alert, and a whole variety of air bags (front, side, seatbelt, knee, foot, and curtain along with rollover sensors to deploy them.) Knowing that accidents happen to even the best drivers, damage to a new car is far more acceptable than any damage done to their daughter!
No respecter of early mornings, an annoying woodpecker was busy drumming on the gutters of a nearby house. A few streets later, I spotted a woodpecker determinedly drilling into the stucco of another house. As it excavated a roost hole in the decorative trim, the determined little bird was doing as much damage with his beak as a heavy sledge hammer. A plaster patch nearby told me this wasn’t the first time the wall has been under attack! Throughout our community I see reflective streamers, children’s pinwheels, life-sized plastic owls, and strips of aluminum foil hanging from the eaves of houses. Nothing, however, seems to deter these birds from their drumming and drilling.
Along with proclaiming the Word of God, the young Church was committed to ensuring that there were no needy among them. As a result, many of the early believers voluntarily sold their property and shared their wealth with the rest of the church community. Barnabas, for example, sold a field he owned and generously brought the money to the apostles for those in need.
Devotions of the Heart 