The Boy and the Lost Sheep

The little boy fidgeted in the church pew as any normal, active boy would do without something to occupy his mind. As the service dragged on, the boy wound up. Out of quiet exasperation, the mother gave the boy a bulletin to draw on.

The boy stared at the picture on the bulletin. It was a beautiful portrayal of Jesus looking for the lost sheep. Jesus was peering over a ledge, while the sheep stood on the crag beneath.

The boy noticed the sadness of the picture.

"Why is that sheep down there mommy?" he inquired.

"The sheep is lost and Jesus is trying to find it," she said half-heartedly. Thinking that the answer had settled the spinning wheels of a 5 year-old mind, she focused her attention back on the sermon at hand.

The day drove on toward the travels of lunch. As usual, on a normal Sunday, the lunch was large and memories of the service was small.

But this was to be a special day. For a little angel had sprinkled a wisp of insight into the mind of a little boy.

About the time the mother began to wonder where he was, he bounded down the stairs with a prize in his hands and a smile taped on his face.

"Look mommy," he beamed. He handed a picture to his mom with obvious pride. There, on a sheet of paper was the cut-out picture of Jesus and glued in His arms was the lost sheep.

"I helped Jesus find the lost sheep, mommy."

And with tender humility, the mother drew her son to her and cried. For on an ordinary day, in an extraordinary way, a truth had been born through the eyes of a child.

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Animal Instinctz: Fire Ants

If any of you have lived in the south, there is a little nuisance that lives in your back yard. They create mounds of dirt and live in them and it is a really good suggestion to stay off of those mounds. They may be little, but they are mean and nasty. They are not to be messed with. These pests are called fire ants

A typical fire ant colony produces their large mounds in open areas, and feeds mostly on young plants, seeds, and sometimes crickets. Fire ants work together in everything they do. They have a single purpose, that of supporting the colony and the queen. Fire ants are fiery in their dedication to one another and to the colony and even attack in concert with one another.

I remember being at a farm one time and me and my kids were standing beside a fence, petting the cows. In a short time, I began to feel twinges of pain going up and down my legs. I looked down and noticed that I was covered in fire ants. I know it is kind of funny watching a grown man jump up and down, but this was not funny. I literally had to pull my shoes, socks and pants off, to the pleasure of my kids and, I think, the cows to get away from the critters. I had to pick them out of the weave of the clothes and it took every bit of a half hour before I could put my pants back on.

Ants have been digging through the dirt for eons; tunneling out of jungles and forests and into human’s back yards on every continent except Antarctica. Ant fossils date back to the times of dinosaurs. They are one of the strongest animals on Earth, with the ability to lift a seed five times its weight. Elephants are only able to lift objects one fifth their weight.

There are more than a million different kinds of insects in the world, most of them solitary insects. Fire ants are social insects. They live in communities and depend on one another to gather food, help build the nest, raise and care for their young, and protect themselves from enemies. Without the support of their colony, a single fire ant is disabled and cannot survive for very long. [1]

We as human beings are also disabled without human touch. It is the encouragement of others that can help us get through life. When humans are isolated from others, they struggle. We truly need each other, whether we like it or not.

Philippians 2:1-2 says: “1If you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, 2then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose.” Fire ants, as a group, are a good example of those who are like-minded, of one spirit and purpose. They survive because of their like mindedness. As Children of God, we can learn from the fire ant and work harder in our efforts to be of like mind. Remember, we need each other, just like the fire ant.

[1] http://www.fireant.net/

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The Clockmaker

In an era gone by lived a clock maker. His name was Luciano.

Luciano was not an ordinary clock maker. He was a master. People would come from around the country to watch him work on his clocks. Every day Luciano worked, tinkering and fiddling with the ticks and the tocks, to make sure each clock would run like they should. And they almost always did.

One day, Miss Charm, the school marm, walked through the door with a broken clock. Miss Charm almost always seemed in a tizzy about any little thing. This day was really no different. (Rumor has it that Tom, the class clown, had pinned a dead spider onto a hat of Miss Charm's. The kids thought that the spider added some well, charm, to Miss Charm's otherwise drab hat. So when she took off her hat and went to place it beside her at the beginning of school, she took one look at the spider and had one big hissy fit in front of all of her students. Though she has always been a bit off center, the kids say that she hasn't been the same since.)

Miss Charm plunked the broken clock onto the counter and sighed.

"This clock won't work," she said, with a lilt and a tilt of her head.

"What's wrong with it?" Luciano inquired.

"It goes click clock instead of tick tock."

"Hm, interesting." Luciano wound it up. Just when he thought the clock was dead, it perked up and did what she said.

'Click clock, clickety clock clock clock,' it went.

"This clock needs fixed," she said with finality.

"That it does," Luciano replied. "I'll have it ready by Thursday."

Miss Charm nodded her head and bid good day.

It was on a beautiful day in the full of the year in the village of an era gone by that Luciano finally could not fix a clock.

Oh, he fiddled and whittled, and yanked and pulled. He spoke to it firmly and kindly cajoled. But no manner of fixing could be done to change the click clock to a normal tick tock.

And Miss Charm, having not been her usual self, forgot that she had ever taken the clock to Luciano.

Luciano set the clock on the shelf for everyone to hear. From then on, people would walk in the door and immediately hear click clock in the midst of all the tick tocks.

Some would say, "What an awful racket?"

Others would say, "Won't you smash it or smack it?"

Luciano would reply with a poem that went like this: "Do you ignore the beauty of a rose because it has some thorns, or the power of a beastly bull whose head is sharp with horns. A clock can ring or tick or chime as long as it can give good ime. The tick or click that it expresses is the personality it possesses. A clock is likened to a friend. To seek to fix or condescend, may bring a friendship to an end."

Some would nod and agree.

Others would say, "I see."

But of all those who came to see the master at work on his clocks left knowing that he had also done a little work on their heart.

2009©Kent Robson

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Boonie the Goat Gets a New Leg

Animals with prosthetics? The word prosthetic means 'an artificial substitute for various body parts'. So, if someone has lost a leg, they might receive and artificial leg or prosthetic leg. There are many different types of prosthetics that people can get to replace the body part that they have lost.

Recently, there have been many stories about animals who have need prosthetics. Below are some very interesting links to stories about animals who are alive today because they received prosthetics. Read about:

1. Tonka, the turtle on wheels
2. Molly, the pony with a prosthetic leg
3. Motala, the elephant with a new front leg
4. Fuji, the dolphin with a rubber tail
5. Uzonka, the stork with a prosthetic bill
6. Stumpy, the kangaroo with a jumping leg

All of these animals can be read about at: http://www.oddee.com/item_96482.aspx. Just click on the link.

If you would like to read more, you can read about:

1. Andre, the mutt who has two new paws
2. Winter, the crab who has a new tail
3. Beauty, the bald eagle with a brand new beak
4. Allison, the sea turtle with three new flippers

All of these animals, you can read about at: http://www.people.com/people/archive/article/0,,20306431,00.html. Just click on the link.

Or you can see pictures of more animals at this link: http://www.time.com/time/photogallery/0,29307,1655147_1433716,00.html.

Or read these stories:

1. http://www.popularmechanics.com/science/health_medicine/4274626.html
2. http://www.mentalfloss.com/blogs/archives/14968
3. http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2009/07/photogalleries/animal-prosthetics-pictures/index.html
4. http://www.pawnation.com/2009/08/20/thai-elephant-receives-prosthetic-leg-10-years-after-tragic-acci/

Below are also some really neat videos of animals with prothetics. Watch Sallie, the dog and Boonie the goat with their new legs.

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Shiloh Pepin

Shiloh Pepin was a little girl that was born with a very unusual body. Called "mermaid syndrome" or Sirenomelia, a very big word, her legs were born fused together. This condition is so rare that there are only three people in the world that are alive.

Some children go through surgery to have their legs separated, but Shiloh's legs weren't able to be separated. She was never expected to live very long because of all of her medical problems, but she lived for 10 years. She lived a lot of life during those 10 years and seemed to make everyone happy who was around her.

You would think that having something like this would make you very sad, but not Shiloh. She was everybody's friend. She always seemed to be smiling and because of her ability to handle her situation with joy, she became very well known. People like Oprah Winfrey interviewed her to ask her what it was like to be her. Even other children with disabilities were inspired by Shiloh's spunk.

Below are some videos of Shiloh. She was a very special little girl.

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Animal Instinctz: The Three-Toed Sloth

Sloths cannot walk on the ground at all; they must dig in their fore claws and pull themselves forward, very slowly, inch by inch. These animals are not called sloths for nothing. In each twenty-four hours, the sloth spends nineteen resting. It is very solitary and frequently spends its life in a single tree. (The three-toed sloth is not any faster than the two-toed sloth.)Sloths are very ugly. They kind of look like a cross between Chewbacca (in Star Wars) and Big Foot. Sloths sometimes eat insects, small reptiles and birds, when they are able to catch them. Most of the time, however, ‘they eat buds, tender shoots and leaves, mainly from the Cecropia tree’ [1]. Sloths only live in South America in the rain forests.

Sloths are disabled in that their bodies can only function in trees. They can hang for up to 20 hours on end, but they can’t walk on the ground. Yet, they somehow have been able to adapt and seem very content and live many years.

Sloths are surprisingly good swimmers. Sometimes, they will drop right out of the tree and into the water. To avoid getting eaten, they will often climb right out of the water and into a tree.

The word ‘adapt’ means ‘to make suitable or fit for a specific use’[2]. God has created us in his image. Our bodies are designed in such a way that it can adapt to circumstances and difficulties that may come our way. If we have a relationship with Him, He can help us walk through those difficulties and give us the ability to adapt.

Maybe you are going through something that makes you feel like a sloth. Maybe you feel like you are hanging upside down in a tree. Are you disabled by your circumstances? The Lord can help you learn to adapt so that you will be able to go along swimmingly. Psalm 46:1 says: 'God is our refuge and strength; a present help in times of trouble.' If you are experiencing trouble, ask God to help you adapt today.

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sloth
[2] http://www.answers.com/topic/adapt

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