Never give up!

I wanted to give an update on my last post about my favorite chicken, Dot. She's able to stand up with a little more strength today and has, in fact, revealed her intuitive nature and desire to survive. Being immobile and finding it difficult to make it to the food dish she decided to conquer her problem in a direct manner.

She sat in the food dish! Go Dot!

She reminds me of a famous poster that I have seen many times of a Stork trying to eat a Bullfrog (not knowing the difference between species of animals in general and birds, reptiles and amphibians specifically, I would appreciate any corrections of the name of the species I labeled from whatever Zoologists, Ornithologists and Herepetologists who happen to come across this post).


This picture reminds me of Matthew 10:16 where it is written, "I am sending you out like sheep among wolves. Therefore be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves."

So, even in a lighthearted manner, it is good to encourage those believers who come across this post. There will come (or has come) a time for many of us in this life when we will be called to persevere in the face of extreme trials and in the face of death. I have searched up some of the words of God and man that speak to the heart of these troubles. God bless!

Psalm 44:18-22

Our hearts had not turned back; our feet had not strayed from your path. But you crushed us and made us a haunt for jackals and covered us over with deep darkness. If we had forgotten the name of our God or spread out our hands to a foreign god, would not God have discovered it since he knows the secrets of the heart? Yet for your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.

Philippians 2:5-8

Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature^a]"> God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death—even death on a cross!

Revelation 22:10

Do not be afraid of what you are about to suffer. I tell you, the devil will put some of you in prison to test you, and you will suffer... Be faithful, even to the point of death, and I will give you the crown of life.

Eight Christians burnt to death in Pakistan after Koran is ‘defiled’

In the face of death it is necessary to inject the hope of the good news that saves us. Before posting the actual story of the murder of at least eight innocent Christians I will give some scriptures that the Lord has given as our promise of comfort.

Romans 8:35-39

Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written:
"For your sake we face death all day long;
we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered."
No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Hebrews 11:24-27

By faith Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be known as the son of Pharaoh's daughter. He chose to be mistreated along with the people of God rather than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a short time. He regarded disgrace for the sake of Christ as of greater value than the treasures of Egypt, because he was looking ahead to his reward. By faith he left Egypt, not fearing the king's anger; he persevered because he saw him who is invisible.

The article from www.timesonline.co.uk:

Paramilitary troops patrolled the streets of a town in eastern Pakistan yesterday after Muslim radicals burnt to death eight members of a Christian family, raising fears of violence spreading to other areas.

Hundreds of armed supporters of Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, an outlawed Islamic militant group, set alight dozens of Christian homes in Gojra town at the weekend after allegations that a copy of the Koran had been defiled.

The mob opened fire indiscriminately, threw petrol bombs and looted houses as thousands of frightened Christians ran for safety. “They were shouting anti-Christian slogans and attacked our houses,” Rafiq Masih, a resident of the predominantly Christian colony, said. Residents said that police stood aside while the mob went on the rampage. “We kept begging for protection, but police did not take action,” Mr Masih said.

Police and local officials said that at least eight people, including four women and a child, were killed in the fires. Two others died of gunshot wounds. Residents said that the casualties were much higher; one claimed that the number of dead could be in the dozens as many bodies were still buried under the rubble.Shahbaz Bhatti, the Minister for Minorities, said that 40 Christian homes were torched in rioting. He said there was no truth to allegations that a Koran had been defiled, and accused the police of ignoring his appeal to provide protection to Christians.

Tension started mounting last week after Muslims accused three Christian youths of burning a copy of the Koran. They denied the allegations, but clerics called for their death. On Saturday hundreds of supporters of Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, an outlawed Sunni sectarian group, poured into the town from surrounding districts. The group is believed to have close links with al-Qaeda and has been involved in several terrorist attacks targeting security forces in recent years.

Television footage showed armed men running through the streets, gunfire, and women and children wailing. Blackened furniture lay outside burning homes, while a group of people rushed a man suffering from burns on a cart through the streets. Rehman Malik, the Interior Minister, said that the paramilitary troops were sent after police and the local administration failed to control the situation. Security forces were also placed on high alert to prevent violence from spreading to other towns of Punjab.

Security in Gojra, which has a Christian population of about 50,000, was tightened yesterday as funerals were held for the eight victims. Christians make up a small minority of Pakistan’s 160 million people and have been the target of attacks by Islamic extremists before, particularly in eastern Punjab.

Christians also face intimidation because of discriminatory blasphemy laws, including one that carries the death penalty for defiling the Koran and images of the Prophet Muhammad. The law is often misused to settle personal scores.

Just as the world was not worthy of Christ, the world is not worthy of those who suffer like Him in anticipation of the promise that awaits them at the resurrection. The Christian's hope is not in this world but is stored in Heaven where it cannot be defiled or destroyed. Those who store up their treasures there will be rewarded with an eternal life that does not fade with the passing of time. We are safe only in the hands of Him who loves us.

Freaking ants (part one)!

There's an ant problem underfoot! They're also in the walls, in the ceiling, on the counters, in the food...you name it and they are there. The slightest crumb...NO, even the slightest rumor of a crumb and they scurry from their hiding places to obtain the prized possession! For years we have blasted them with Raid, dusted their walkways with diatomacious earth, rinsed them into the disposal, washed them with the dishes, stepped on them, slapped them, poisoned them with Terro baits and STILL they continue to come! As Kyle Reese says in Terminator (slightly modified), "They will not stop, ever, until you are dead!" And even then I am certain they won't stop haunting me.

One particularly feisty group of them is coming into the house from behind a light switch plate; I caulked behind the plate. They started coming in from from the actual switch; I caulked around the entire wall mount. They started coming in from a hole in the mount; I gave up.

Even the ancients considered the wise ways of the ants. Remember Aesop's fables and the story of the Ant and the grasshopper? The synopsis given on Wikipedia is this:

The fable concerns a grasshopper who has spent the warm months singing away while the ant (or ants in some editions) worked to store up food for winter. When winter arrives, the grasshopper finds itself dying of hunger, and upon asking the ant for food is only rebuked for its idleness. The story is used to teach the virtues of hard work and saving, and the perils of improvidence. Some versions of the fable state a moral at the end, along the lines of:

Idleness brings want
To work today is to eat tomorrow
It is best to prepare for the days of necessity

Proverbs 6:6-11 speaks of the relentless creature in terms of laziness as well:

6 Go to the ant, you sluggard;
consider its ways and be wise!

7 It has no commander,
no overseer or ruler,

8 yet it stores its provisions in summer
and gathers its food at harvest.

9 How long will you lie there, you sluggard?
When will you get up from your sleep?

10 A little sleep, a little slumber,
a little folding of the hands to rest-

11 and poverty will come on you like a bandit
and scarcity like an armed man.

We see what the perseverance of the ant can do in the parable of the persistent woman when Jesus speaks of her in Luke 18:

"In a certain town there was a judge who neither feared God nor cared about men. ³And there was a widow in that town who kept coming to him with the plea, 'Grant me justice against my adversary.'

⁴"For some time he refused. But finally he said to himself, 'Even though I don't fear God or care about men, ⁵yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will see that she gets justice, so that she won't eventually wear me out with her coming!' "

Thus, will I continue in my quest to learn the perseverance of the ant...in order to destroy the ant! MUWAHAHAHA! ::evil laughter::

What's the application in all this? Well, if there is Scripture then it must speak of the Lord! So, do not tire in seeking the Lord while He may be found; call on Him while He is near for He is our portion in the land of the living. Trust in Him and He will carry you through all of life's trials for God is our refuge and strength, an ever present help in trouble.