Those Nasty Ticks

I saw a good political cartoon the other day. Two dinosaurs are standing in the midst of the Capital buildings (Washington, D.C.). One has a part of the Washington Monument in its grasp with a big bite taken from it. The other is eye-balling the rotunda of the House of Congress. The dino holding the monument is looking toward the other dino and says, “You know you can’t eat that – it’s full of nuts!” I thought, yeh, you can make a lot of good products out of nuts, but good government ain’t one of them. I wonder; were most of these nuts planted by the peanut farmer?

A little silver-haired lady phones her neighbor and says, “Come on over and help me a few minutes. I’ve have a new jigsaw puzzle and I can’t figure out how to get started assembling it.” The neighbor asks, “What’s it suppose to be when it’s finished?” The silver-haired lady in need answers, “According to the picture on the box it’s a rooster.” Her neighbor decides to go help her with the puzzle. The helpful neighbor is invited in and escorted to the kitchen. There on the kitchen table she observes the puzzle pieces spread out over its surface. The neighbor studies the pieces for a moment, then looks at the box, then turns to the silver-haired lady and says, “First of all, no matter what we do, we’re not going to be able to assemble these pieces into anything resembling a rooster.” The helpful neighbor takes her by the hand and says, “Secondly, I want you to relax. Let’s have a nice cup of coffee, and then” the neighbor said, while patting her on the hand and drawing a deep sigh, “let’s put all the Corn Flakes back in the box.”

[1Corinthians 15:33-34] Have you ever found a tick on your body? Ticks spend a good bit of time just waiting in the bushes, grass and woods for a victim – you or your dog – to pass by. They jump on you then quickly crawl to a protected spot on your body. They sink their mouth parts into your skin to feed on your life’s blood. You wonder how you never felt it and it’s even scarier if it’s been there long enough to be all puffed up, engorged with your blood. They’re hard to remove and unfortunately, parts of the tick could stay under the skin causing infection and the tick itself may infect your blood with disease. The tick is a lot like sin: * It gets on you when it’s small and almost undetectable. * It doesn’t demand much sacrifice, but it may cause a little irritation. * Once imbedded, it’s hard to get off! * It gets bigger the longer it stays on you. * It can leave you very seriously ill. Some advice for dealing with ticks and sin: > Don’t walk in places that are known to be infected. “Be very careful, then, how you live - not as unwise but as wise” (Ephesians 5:15). > Examine yourself daily. “Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves. Do you not realize that Christ Jesus is in you - unless, of course, you fail the test?” (2 Corinthians 13:5). > Have others examine you, and help examine them too. “But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called Today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness” (Hebrews 3:13). > If one gets on you, get it off immediately! “…confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The pray of a righteous man is powerful and effective” (James 5:16). > If you realize you are getting sick, see the doctor! “…Jesus said, ‘It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners’” (Mark 2:17). “Come back to your senses as you ought, and stop sinning; for there are some who are ignorant of God.” Just saying.