Kuna children in Panama


This Saturday, on the anniversary of BJ's home going, Deanna will be speaking to a women's group. I would appreciate your prayer support for her as she does so. I am very excited for her opportunity!

Recently, I've written about idolatry and the difficulties we have letting go of things which have no eternal value, but have become so dear to us, that we cling to them at great cost. We cannot function as the Lord desires because of the power these things have over us.

My church is in revival right now. The evangelist who is here shared a story that captures what I have been trying to convey better than I have been able to. He told the story in brief, but piqued my curiosity. I came home and researched this story for more info and want to share it with you.

In Asia and Africa, tribesmen who survive by hunting, often choose monkeys as their food source. They have developed a method for trapping them that is highly effective.

They take a coconut and drill it out. The resulting hole is small and often conical in shape. It is narrower to the inside of the coconut than the outside. The hole is just large enough for monkeys to get their hands into. The coconut is then secured to a tree with wire or rope.

The coconuts have peanuts inserted as bait. The monkeys smell the combination of coconut and peanuts and descend from the trees to have a meal.

Once the monkey arrives at the trap and inserts his hand to grab a fist full of peanuts, he discovers he cannot get his hand out. His body is crying out for the food he smells. He cannot wait to get to it, and so continues to pull against the coconut.

The simple reality is that all he has to do is release the peanuts and slide his hand out. This thought does not occur to the majority of them. They are then trapped for harvesters to come in and collect them. Their little hands are filled with that which they do not consider letting go of, because of the promise of filling that comes with clutching it. They are said to scream wildly before capture, but will not let go.

To us this sounds foolish.

However, the reality is that many of us cry out to God to set us free from some form of difficulty, while we are guilty of the same thing. We are hanging on with white knuckle grip to that which has claimed our affection and/or attention. We want set free but not at the expense of surrendering whatever we are holding on to.

Our security must be found in Christ alone. It will not come through money, or things or relationships or whatever else we tend to hold dear.

These things we cling to, slow us down. They keep us from attaining God's best. Seldom do we appear to clue in to this reality. Most of us continue to cry out to God for release while we won't do so ourselves.

There is a reason Jesus told the disciples to drop their nets and follow Him.

Once again, we need to consider what is in our clutches that is preventing us from being useful to our Savior and the Kingdom work that needs to be tended.

I'm a little weary of being compared in an evolutionary way, to monkeys. I guess I need to stop thinking like one, if I want to help this change.

God bless!

dad