CLOSED DOORS Author Unknown

We need to learn to praise the Lord as much for a closed door as we do an open door. The reason God closes doors is because He has not prepared anything over there for us. If he didn't close the wrong door, we would never find the right door.

God directs our path through the closing and opening of doors. Once a door closes, it forces you to change your course. Another door closes, it forces you to change your course again. Then, finally, you find the open door and you walk right into your blessing.

The Lord directs our paths through the opening and closing of doors, but instead of praising him for the closed door (which keeps us out of trouble); we get upset because we "judge by the appearances. "

You have an ever-present help in the time of trouble that is always standing guard. Because He walks ahead of you, He can spot trouble down the road and set up a roadblock or detour accordingly. But through our lack of wisdom, we try to tear down the roadblocks or push aside the detour sign. Then the minute we get into trouble, we start crying, "Lord, how could You have done this to me?"

We have got to realize that the closed door can be a blessing. Didn't He say that no good thing would He withhold from them that love Him?

If you get terminated from your job, praise God for the new opportunities that will manifest themselves: it might be another job, it might be school.

If that man or woman won't return your call, it might not be them, it might be the Lord setting up a roadblock (just let it go).

One time, a person had a bank they had been in business with for many years tell them "No!" to a $10,000 loan. The Lord put in their spirit to call another bank. That bank gave them $40,000 at a lower interest rate than the first bank was offering.

We can sometimes trap ourselves in doubt and discouragement through judging by appearances. Be grateful for the many times our Father has closed doors to us just to open them in the most unexpected places.

The Lord won't always say in spoken words: "Go to the left, now to the right" ... sometimes He will just close the doors that are wrong for you.

God Bless You Always!

DRIPPY & DRIZZLY By Sally I. Kennedy

Sounds like the two dwarfs who didn't make the cut for the Disney movie. Drippy and drizzly. That is how it's been for the past 2 days. When you are on vacation, that's the last thing you want: rain. But you know what they say, "can't do much about the weather".

I watched the clouds drip onto the water, making hypnotic little circles that merged into other circles. How the years melted, and I was transported to a place far away.

At a remote spot, at the end of a long dirt road, was the clearing with a pretty spring-fed lake and a sprinkling of cottages; one of which my parents honeymooned in, then later purchased.

I spent summers there as a child. Rustic hardly describes it. Today, I believe camping would be more sophisticated than life at our cottage was back then.

It was the best time of my life. Well, one of the very best, for sure.

Life was so simple. We enjoyed reading stories and books; we put together lots of puzzles. Outdoors there were limitless opportunities for creative play and on sunny afternoons, we could swim.

Every summer we would borrow a farm dog, and he'd be our friend for the months we were there. He, my sister, and I had many an adventure in the old rowboat, scouting bullfrogs on lily pads.

Today I am thankful for time to be still, like those days. To just "be", and not "do". I am too often guilty of operating as a "human doing" and not a "human being".

God can really use our drippy, drizzly days, to quiet our minds, minister to our souls, and settle our spirits.

That is good news.

Psalm 46:10 (NIV) Be still, and know that I am God Psalm 55: 6-8 (MSG) Get me out of here on dove wings; I want some peace and quiet. I want a walk in the country. I want a cabin in the woods. I'm desperate for a change from rage and stormy weather. Psalm 4:4 (ASV) Stand in awe, and sin not: Commune with your own heart upon your bed,
and be still. Ps 131:2 (NKJV) Surely I have calmed and quieted my soul.

APPRENTICE By Marion Smith

The day we put our house on the market for sale, a real estate agent came by to view it. With her was a young girl- her apprentice, she said. They walked all around the house, and the seasoned agent showed specific attributes and features to her apprentice. She was training and molding this apprentice in the finer points of her profession.

In certain skilled crafts, an apprentice spend his time with the master before going out on his own. The same is true with the teaching profession but the apprentice time is called student teaching. Many times a mentor will take a yearling under his wing, helping and guiding him along the way in his chosen profession. The medical
profession, too, have apprentice times called internship and residency.

In the realm of spirituality, each person has an opportunity to be an apprentice. We can stand under the awesome guiding hand of Jesus, allowing Him to teach us how to live. He exemplified God's love through actions and words, telling us about the way God wants us to live and love.

Just reading about Jesus and His teachings will not equip us for the abundant life, however. We must first personally ask Him to abide in our hearts, and accept Him as Lord and Savior. Then... we are open for all He has to teach us. We will be life long apprentices to Jesus, ever learning and growing. On the day we leave this earth, we will come into full perfection, to abide with Him for eternity.

Being an apprentice to Jesus is a wonderful position to have. If you have never done so, ask Him to be your teacher today. Invite Him into your heart, and start to learn about and live the abundant life.

THE MONASTERY Author Unknown

A man is driving down the road and his car breaks down near a monastery.

He goes to the monastery, knocks on the door, and says, "My car broke down. Do you think I could stay the night?" The Monks graciously accept him, feed him dinner, even fix his car.

As the man tries to fall asleep, he hears a strange sound. A sound not like anything he's ever heard before. The Sirens that nearly seduced Odysseus into crashing his ship comes to his mind. He doesn't sleep that night. He tosses and turns trying to figure out what could possibly be making such an intriguing and seductive sound.

The next morning, he asks the Monks what the sound was, but they say, "We can't tell you. You're not a Monk."

Distraught, the man is forced to leave.

Years later, after never being able to forget that sound, the man goes back to the monastery and pleads for the answer again. The Monks reply, "We can' t tell you. You're not a Monk."

The man says, "If the only way I can find out what is making that beautiful sound is to become a Monk, then please, make me a Monk."

The Monks reply, "You must travel the earth and tell us how many blades of grass there are and the exact number of grains of sand. When you find these answers, you will have become a Monk."

The man sets about his task.

After years of searching he returns as a gray-haired old man and knocks on the door of the monastery. A Monk answers. He is taken before a gathering of all the Monks.

"In my quest to find what makes that beautiful sound, I travelled the earth and have found what you asked for:

By design, the world is in a state of perpetual change. Only God knows what you ask. All a man can know is himself, and only then if he is honest and reflective and willing to strip away self deception."

The Monks reply, "Congratulations. You have become a Monk. We shall now show you the way to the mystery of the sacred sound."

The Monks lead the man to a wooden door, where the head monk says, "The sound is beyond that door." The Monks give him the key, and he opens the door.

Behind the wooden door is another door - it is made of stone. The man is given the key to the stone door and he opens it, only to find a door made of ruby. And so it went that he needed keys to doors of emerald, pearl and diamond.

Finally, they come to a door made of solid gold. The sound has become very clear and definite. The Monks say, "This is the last key to the last door."

The man is apprehensive to no end. His life's wish is behind that door!

With trembling hands, he unlocks the door, turns the knob, and slowly pushes the door open. Falling to his knees, he is utterly amazed to discover the source of that haunting and seductive sound......

THE ROAD OF LIFE Author Unknown

At first, I saw God as my observer, my judge, keeping track of the things I did wrong, so as to know whether I merited heaven or hell when I die. He was out there sort of like a president, I recognized His picture when I saw it, but I really didn't know him. But later on when I met Christ, it seemed as though life were rather like a bike ride, but it was a tandem bike; and I noticed that Christ was in the back helping me pedal. I don't know just when it was that He suggested we change places, but life has not been the same since.

When I had control, I knew the way. It was rather boring, but predictable. It was the shortest distance between two points. But when He took the lead, He knew delightful long cuts, up mountains and through the rocky places at breakneck speeds. It was all I could do to hang on! Even though it looked like madness, He said, "Pedal!" I worried and was anxious and asked, "Where are you taking me?" He laughed and didn't answer, and I started to learn to trust. I forgot my boring life and entered into the adventure. And when I'd say, "I'm scared," He'd lean back and touch my hand.

He took me to people with gifts that I needed, gifts of healing, acceptance and joy. They gave me gifts to take on my journey, too, my Lord's and mine. And we were off again. He said, "Give the gifts away; they're extra baggage, too much weight." So I did, to the people we met, and I found that in giving I received, and still our burden was light.

I did not trust Him, at first, in control of my life. I thought He'd wreck it; but He knows bike secrets, knows how to make it bend to take sharp corners, knows how to jump to clear high rocks, knows how to fly to shorten the scary passages. And I am learning to shut up and pedal in the strangest places, and I'm beginning to enjoy the
view and the cool breeze on my face with my delightful constant companion, Jesus Christ.

And when I'm sure I can't do anymore, He just smiles and says... "Pedal."

HEART PRINTS Author Unknown

Whatever our hands touch-
We leave fingerprints!
On walls, on furniture
On doorknobs, dishes, books.
There's no escape.
As we touch we leave our identity.

Oh God, wherever I go today
Help me leave heartprints!
Heartprints of compassion
Of understanding and love.

Heartprints of kindness
And genuine concern.
May my heart touch a lonely neighbor
Or a runaway daughter
Or an anxious mother
Or perhaps an aged grandfather.

Lord, send me out today
To leave heartprints.
And if someone should say,
"I felt your touch,"
May that one sense YOUR LOVE
Touching through ME.

I WILL MOVE THE ROCK By Sheilah Manuel

A man was sleeping at night in his cabin when suddenly his room filled with light and the Savior appeared. The Lord told the man he had work for him to do, and showed him a large rock in front of his cabin. The Lord explained that the man was to push against the rock with all his might.

This the man did, day after day. For many years he toiled from sun up to sun down, his shoulders set squarely against the cold, massive surface of the unmoving rock, pushing with all his might. Each night the man returned to his cabin sore and worn out, feeling that his whole day had been spent in vain.

Seeing that the man was showing signs of discouragement, Satan decided to enter the picture by placing thoughts into the man's mind such as: "You have been pushing against that rock for a long time, and it hasn't budged. Why kill yourself over this? You are never going to move it."

Thus giving the man the impression that the task was impossible and that he was a failure, these thoughts discouraged and disheartened the man even more. "Why kill myself over this?" he thought. "I'll just put in my time, giving just the minimum effort and that will be good enough."

And that he planned to do until one day he decided to make it a matter of prayer and take his troubled thoughts to the God. "Lord," he said, "I have labored long and hard in your service, putting all my strength to do that which you have asked. Yet, after all this time, I have not even budged that rock by half a millimeter. What is
wrong? Why am I failing?"

To this the Lord responded compassionately, "My friend, when I asked you to serve me and you accepted, I told you that your task was to push against the rock with all your strength, which you have done. Never once did I mention to you that I expected you to move it. Your task was to push. And now you come to me, with your strength spent, thinking that you have failed. But, is that really so? Look at yourself. Your arms are strong and muscled, your back sinewed and brown, your hands are callused from constant pressure, and your legs have become massive and hard. Through opposition you have grown much and your abilities now surpass that which you used to
have. Yet you haven't moved the rock. But your calling was to be obedient and to push and to exercise your faith and trust in My wisdom. This you have done.

"I, my friend, will move the rock," says the Lord.

At times when we hear a word from God, we tend to use our own intellect to decipher what He wants, when actually what God wants is just simple obedience and faith in Him...

"By all means, exercise the faith that moves mountains; but it is still God who moves the mountain."

APPLYING AND REMOVING By Marion Smith

Each morning and evening I have the same routine. Yours may be similar. I apply my make up each morning and remove it at night. I take off my night gown and put on my work clothes. I remove my bite guard in the morning and replace it before bed. I even have these cycles in other areas of my life. I take off weight, then put it on
again. I shed my life of extra activities, then take them back on again. Off and on, off and on.... What a routine!

God tells us there is something we need to take off, and we only need to do it once. That sounds really good to me! It is our old nature (called our sin nature in the Bible). It leads us into nothing but trouble and is rotten through and through. (Ephesians4:22) When we take that off, God gives us a new nature. One where we have a
spiritual renewal of our thoughts and attitudes. We will display this new nature because we are made new people after we have learned the truth that is in Jesus. Attributes of this new and wonderful nature are righteousness, holiness and truth, for our new nature displays that we have been created in God's likeness.

I am glad I have shed the old nature and received the new. And, I am thankful it is a one time swap! God is so good!

10 RULES FOR A BLESSED DAY Author Unknown

1. TODAY I WILL NOT STRIKE BACK . . .
If someone is rude, if someone is impatient, if someone is unkind, I will not respond in a like manner.

2. TODAY I WILL ASK GOD TO BLESS MY 'ENEMY'
If I come across someone who treats me harshly or unfairly, I will quietly ask God to bless that individual. I understand "enemy" could be a family member, neighbor, co-worker or stranger.

3. TODAY I WILL BE CAREFUL ABOUT WHAT I SAY . . .
I will carefully choose and guard my words being certain that I do not spread gossip.

4. TODAY I WILL GO THE EXTRA MILE . . .
I will find ways to help share the burden of another person.

5. TODAY I WILL FORGIVE . . .
I will forgive any hurts or injuries that come my way.

6. TODAY I WILL DO SOMETHING KIND FOR SOMEONE, (BUT I WILL DO IT IN SECRET . . . )
I will reach out anonymously and bless the life of another.

7. TODAY I WILL TREAT OTHERS THE WAY I WISH TO BE TREATED . . .
I will practice the golden rule. "Do Unto others as I would have them do unto me"- with EVERYONE I encounter.

8. TODAY I WILL RAISE THE SPIRITS OF SOMEONE WHO IS DISCOURAGED . . .
My smile, my words, my expression of support, can make the difference to someone who is wrestling with life.

9. TODAY I WILL NURTURE MY BODY . . .
I will eat less . . . I will eat only healthy foods. I will thank God for my body.

10. TODAY I WILL GROW SPIRITUALLY . . .
I will spend a little more time in prayer today. I will begin reading something spiritual or inspirational; I will find a quiet place (at some point during this day) and listen to God's voice.

Luke 10:27
He answered: " 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind'; and, 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'"

Luke 10:27
We learn three principles about loving our neighbor: (1) lack of love is often easy to justify, even though it is never right; (2) our neighbor is anyone of any race, creed, or social background who is in need; and (3) love means acting to meet the person's needs.

Wherever you live, there are needy people close by. There is no good reason for refusing to help.

Remember, today is a gift from God so treat it preciously.

ANTIQUES By Marion Smith

There is a television show called The Antique Road Show. The t.v. show sends professional appraisers from one city to another, rent large meeting facilities and set up shop. Camera, lights and ....action! The show is ready to be filmed.

When an announcement is made in a city that the show will be filmed there, people get busy. They scurry to their attics to seek out hidden treasures, hoping that they will have that "special and very valuable" antique. They take what they have discovered to one of the professional appraisers and the stage is set!

Some of their finds are lovely to look at, and I would think they have great monitory value. Others look old and worn, and just plain strange. I wouldn't give two cents for them..!

The interesting thing is that the professional appraiser can look for certain identifying marks to let them know if a particular item is a valuable find. It may be a small engraved date, a certain style of craftsmanship, or another clue that the ordinary person would not recognize. They inspect the item, then make the announcement the owner is waiting for. I usually make my personal assessment before the professional one is given. More times than not, I am totally wrong! I think a piece is pretty or looks good to me, and it is a replica or a forgery. I think something looks old and grungy, and it is very worthy!! I am not a very good judge of antiques, that's for sure.

Christians are like antiques, you know. Some are shiny and pretty on the outside-looking well put together, and others are really old and worn; scruffy and shabby. How quick I am to judge someone by his appearance or by his works. I could be as far off base as I am about the antiques. It's a good thing God sees the heart of each person and knows the intent of each ones' actions. People can fool others, but NO ONE ever fools God. I think I had better just live my life and walk in love, not condemning or judging anyone. I believe I will just leave that up to God.. for He is the great appraiser of each one on this earth.

TO SEE IN THE DARK By: Bro. Andrew Maria

A boy and his father are walking through a large forest. To cross to the other side, they have to pass through a long dark tunnel. The boy hesitates at the entrance.

"Father," the boy says, "how can I walk in there when it is so dark? I will not see where I am going. We have neither candles nor torches to light our way."

The father calmly tells his son, "Once inside, close your eyes for several minutes to give them a chance to get accustomed to the dark. When you open them again, I assure you that you will be able to see the way through the tunnel."

The boy does what his father has told him. After closing his eyes for sometime, he is able to see inside the tunnel. Through it is very dark, he and his father are able to cross safely to the other side.

"Son," the father tells him, "if you don't have anything with which to light the darkness, use darkness to see in the dark."

FAITH is that darkness....

GETTING WHAT YOU WANT By Steve Brown

I saw another senseless thing under the sun: a man alone, without son or brother, working endlessly, his greed never satisfied with wealth ' For whom do I work and deprive myself of pleasure?' This, too, is nonsense and mistaken investment." (Ecclesiastes 4:7-8)


I was in a bookstore the other day and a clerk came up to me and said, "Can I help you?"

"I don't know what I want," I answered. "But when I find it, I'll let you know."

Most of us are like that. We're really not sure what we want. And even if we stumbled onto what we thought it was, we would probably find out that it wasn't what we wanted anyway.

The most unhappy person in the world is not someone who didn't get what he or she wanted. The most unhappy person is the one who got what he or she wanted and then found out that it wasn't as wonderful as expected. The secret of a happy life is not to get what you want but to live with what you've got. Most of us spend our lives
concentrating on what we don't have instead of thanking God for what we do have . Then we wake up, our life is over, and we missed the beauty of the present. You think about that.

What do you really want out of life? In your pursuit of it, are you missing anything along the way? Could you even be missing greater joys? Don' treat these questions flippantly. Your answers will reveal a lot about what you hold most dear, and what your answers don't include may tell you what you're missing in the process.

Is this pursuit really worth the process?

WHAT ABOUT ABSTINENCE? Author Unknown

I was holding a notice from my 13-year-old son's school announcing a meeting to preview the new course in sexuality. Parents could examine the curriculum and take part in an actual lesson presented exactly as it would be given to the students.

When I arrived at the school, I was surprised to discover only about a dozen parents there. As we waited for the presentation, I thumbed through page after page of instructions in the prevention of pregnancy or disease. I found abstinence mentioned only in passing. When the teacher arrived with the school nurse, she asked if there were any questions. I asked why abstinence did not play a noticeable part in
the educational material.

What happened next was shocking. There was a great deal of laughter, and someone suggested that if I thought abstinence had any merit, I should go back to burying my head in the sand. The teacher and the nurse said nothing as I drowned in a sea of embarrassment. My mind had gone blank, and I could think of nothing to say. The teacher explained to me that the job of the school was to teach "facts," and the home was responsible for moral training.

I sat in silence for the next 20 minutes as the sexuality course was explained. The other parents seemed to give their unqualified support to the materials.

At the break time, the teacher announced that there were donuts in the back of the room and requested that everyone put on a name tag and mingle with each other. Everyone moved to the back of the room. As I watched them affixing their name tags and shaking hands, I sat deep in thought. I was ashamed that I had not been able to convince them to include a serious discussion of abstinence in the educational
materials. I uttered a silent prayer for guidance.

My thoughts were interrupted by the teacher's hand on my shoulder.

"Won't you join the others, Mr. Layton?" The nurse smiled sweetly at me. "The donuts are good."

"Thank you, no," I replied.

"Well, then, how about a name tag? I'm sure the others would like to meet you."

"Somehow I doubt that," I replied.

"Won't you please join them?" she coaxed.

Then I heard a still, small voice whisper, "Don't go." The message in my head was unmistakable: "Don't go!"

"I'll just wait here," I said.

When the class was called back to order, the teacher looked around the long table and thanked everyone for putting on name tags. She ignored me. Then she said, "Now we're going to give you the same lesson we'll be giving your children. Everyone please peel off your name tags and look at the back of the tag."

I watched in silence as the tags came off. "Now then, I drew a tiny flower on the back of one of the tags. Who has it, please?" the teacher asked.

The gentleman across from me held it up. "Here it is!"

"All right," she said. "The flower represents disease. Do you recall with whom you shook hands?" He pointed to a couple of people. "Very good," she replied. "The handshake in this case represents intimacy. So the two people you had contact with now have the disease." There was laughter and joking among the parents.

The teacher continued, "And whom did the two of you shake hands with?" The point was well taken, and she explained how this lesson would show students how quickly disease is spread. She concluded by saying, "Since we all shook hands, we all have the disease."

It was then that I heard the still, small voice again. "Speak now," it said, "but be humble." I wryly noted the latter admonition, then rose from my chair. I apologized for any upset I might have caused earlier, congratulated the teacher on an excellent lesson that would impress the youth, and concluded by saying I had only one small point I wished to make.

"Not all of us were infected with the disease," I said. "One of us ... abstained."

GET YOUR RIGHT ATTITUDE By Tim Stafford

Earlier this year, I went through a time of great frustration in my job. It was partly due to fatigue, I think. We'd had some deaths in my family, which left me worn down. And then I went through a patch where nothing I did seemed right.
I proposed projects which got shot down, and when I wrote on assignment, editors scraped away at my prose until only scraps were left. That's normal, part of the process, but I felt frustrated and unappreciated.

I had to go back and relearn the right attitudes.

I need the right attitude to work hour to hour and long term.

Hour by hour, it's simple: do the work. I had to stick my rear in my chair and not get up until I had finished a major chunk of work. That meant resisting distractions from phone calls and emails and news reports.

If you don't stick to it hour to hour, your discouragement will build. But if you work hard in the short term, you'll accomplish something. You'll find the work itself meaningful - and there's a good possibility your failures will turn around. That happened to me.

Long term, I had to remember why I was working in the first place. I had to believe in my vocation all over again. In the deepest sense, I needed to know that I do the work because God wants me to do it.

Why are you in your job? Maybe you're there to fulfill a special gift. Maybe you're there to make a living for your family. Maybe you're there because the work needs to be done for the good of society. To overcome discouragement, you need an attitude that takes the focus off your sense of frustration. You need to remember why your work is valid. You need to remember that God is behind it.

Both these attitudes, long term and short term, reflect what Paul wrote to the Philippians: "Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus." He goes on to describe how Jesus became a humble servant, obedient even to the point of death (Phil. 2:5-8).

Hour by hour, a servant's focus is very limited. Servants listen for directions, and they do exactly what their boss expects. In the longer term, servants know why they are working: because they have a master who has called them to service.

We are meant to be servants of God.

Listen to your Boss, he'll tell you what to do. Believe in your vocation because you know who called you to it. And do your work because God is behind it.

MAGIC MIRROR By Sally I. Kennedy

Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.1 Corinthians 13:12

"Mirror, mirror on the wall, who is the fairest of them all?"

In the Disney children's classic, the magic mirror always told the wicked queen that she was the fairest in the land. Until Snow White, that is. Then the magic mirror became a reflection of truth.

What if we had a magic mirror like that? It might reveal things about us we'd rather not see, and face up to. Perhaps we would view things as they really are, not as we want them to be.

I've a long list of questions to ask in heaven. I suspect many others do, too. One day the questions will be answered. We will understand.

Meantime, while on this earth, we can be a mirror, and "magically" supernaturally reflect the love of God.

St. Paul says, in 2 Corinthians 3:18, "And all of us, as with unveiled face, [because we] continued to behold [in the Word of God] as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are constantly being transfigured into His very own image in ever increasing splendor and from one degree of glory to another; [for this comes] from the Lord [Who is] the Spirit. " (AMP)

Lord, today, may others see Your kindness and Love, mirrored in me, through Holy Spirit. In Jesus' name. Amen.

IT'S NOT ENOUGH By Bob Perks

It's not enough to want better things for yourself. You must find ways to make things better.

It's not enough to say the world is in turmoil. You must find ways to bring peace into it.

It's not enough to point at someone else and blame them for what is wrong. You must welcome them in and ask how you can help them make it right.

It's not enough to say "Someone ought to do something about it!" You are someone, do it!

It's not enough to pray and ask for God's help. You must thank him for the challenge and the opportunity to learn from it.

It's not enough to tell a child what is right. You must be what is right so they learn from your example.

It's not enough to blame your government for what is wrong. You must participate in the process to make it right.

It's not enough to wish. You must work to make it so.

It's not enough to ask. You must give to earn the right.

It's not enough to say "I tried!" You must try and try again.

It's not enough to want to be loved. You must learn how to love first.

It's not enough say "I care." You must show how much and why.

It's not enough to wake up. You must thank God you did.

It's not enough to just earn a living. You must create a life.

It's not enough to begin. You must always follow through.

It's not enough to have a friend. You must learn to be one, too.

It's not enough to believe in someone. You must tell them so. "I believe in you!" and "I wish you enough!"

Bob Perks
Bob@BobPerks.com

ALLIGATOR By Marion Smith

As I sat in our rental townhouse in the Landings on Skidaway Island, Ga., I was mesmerized with the sight before my eyes. The lagoon behind our place seems so peaceful and serene, drawing me to sit on the bank and enjoy the beauty of the surroundings. Then I notice a ripple in the water- maybe it was a turtle surfacing to get some air. But, no! All of a sudden I am able to distinguish 2 big eyes.

This is definitely no turtle! I ran to my husband saying, an alligator! There is an alligator right in our back yard! I rushed back to continue my viewing, never taking my eyes off the rather large reptile. He moved through the water with grace and ease, barely making a ripple at all. His eyes were alert, looking for prey to devour. He would come upon his next meal as it was totally unaware of his presence ,gobbling it up and satisfying his hunger.That is one way Satan attacks people. He is such a smooth operator- sneaky and almost completely disguised, as he swims his way over to the unsuspecting prey on the bank of life. He makes no big ripples in this instance, but just eases himself closer and closer until he can attack us. Then he grabs us in sin and devours us, licking his massive jaws afterwards. He uses his huge teeth which are made of lies, corruption, greed and self absorption to lock around our hearts with an unrelenting grip.

There is only one way for this death grip hold to be broken, and that is through Jesus Christ. He can take that sneaky Satan and turn him right over on his back- completely immobilizing him just the way a professional alligator wrestler can do with an alligator. Jesus is victorious and sin is defeated! I am thankful I have asked Him to be there for me. To live in my heart and wipe away my sin - once and
forever. Jesus IS my champion!