A Fowl Experience! (reprint from 2014)

"Be of sober spirit, be on the alert.  Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour" (I Peter 5:8)

Hey Gang:  As you all know from previous morning messages, I spent the first six year of my life way back in the Pennsylvania mountains.  It was said  that we lived so far back in the sticks even the hoot owls carried knapsacks.  I must admit I do not recall much from those days but I do remember an incident that scared the living hebegebies out of me.  Anyone out there know how to spell hebegebies?

Thanksgiving was just around the corner and dad had left the old Tom turkey out of the pen to roam and pick up a few extra pounds for the dinner table.   Well, Tom Turkey did not like me and tended to nip at me when our paths crossed.  That day he decided the nipping time was over and it was time to move to the all out attack mode. 

Fortunately dad came around the corner about the same time that Tom hit me and I hit the ground. Dad picked up a pick-handle and abruptly separated Tom’s head from his body.  I must admit I have had a deep respect for Tom turkeys ever since.

Now, how in the world does a Tom turkey attack fit into the morning message mode?  I am not sure I would compare a Tom Turkey to Satan, but in this case their modus operandi were similar.  He is always on the prowl, seeking those who do not have their armor in place, so that he can "devour".  Satan is a chronic picker, continually firing darts into those areas of our lives when we tend to put our guard down. 

And then one day he turns all of his minions loose and fires his best shot.  I do not find Scriptures that tell me God used a pick-handle to drive Satan from us, but I have found many Scriptures that tell us that God will never forsake us or allow us to be tempted beyond that which we can endure.

Peter went on and gave us the good news: "Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same experience of suffering are being accomplished by your brethren who are in the world.  After you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace, who called you to His eternal glory in Christ, will Himself perfect, confirm, strengthen and establish you" (vs. 8-9).  

Soooo, my young buckaroos, there is probably not much chance you will be attacked by a Tom turkey today, and, be advised, pick-handles do not work on the evil ones.  James 4:7-8 is our pick-handle "Submit therefore to God, Resist the devil and he will flee from you.  Draw near to God and He will draw near to you". 

Oh, incidentally, I still do not like turkey!

Blessings,

Gramps

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