Thank You, Father, for a very productive day – got through a good portion of my sermon for Sunday, along with the PowerPoint to go along with it. I also was able to ready myself for a funeral service tomorrow for a dear lady of our church. I am so grateful that Your hand is in it all!
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For whatever reason, I didn’t realize that we had wild lizards in Ohio. In my mind I thought they were more indigenous to warm climates; be they dry arid areas or more tropical regions. Well, this summer, when we started mowing at my one church, I discovered that around our front entrance ramp and steps there is at least one lizard and maybe more!
After a little research, it wasn’t too difficult to narrow down what kind of lizard it was. In Ohio, we only have 4 indigenous lizard species. (A fifth one was introduced into Southwest Ohio in 1951 and seems to be doing pretty well!) The one living around Beulah is a Common Five-lined Skink and is found through most of central and southeastern United States.
The Common Five-lined Skink can measure up to 8.5 inches in length and are considered large lizards. They have short legs with long bodies and tend to be brown, black, or gray with five white to yellow stripes. Their stripes run two on either side of the body with one down the center of the back. Also, juveniles have bright blue tails that fade as they age with males often losing their stripes with an orange to red-colored head.
Yesterday’s post got me thinking about the skink in that when I first looked it up I learned something very interesting that ties in very well to how we should respond when we are tempted to yield to sin.
When threatened, the skink can make a quick getaway – they are very fast. If, for some reason, it is caught by its tail…the tail falls off! And that remnant, while detached, will keep quivering – to distract its attacker – as the lizard makes a run for it. (By the way, its tail grows back!)
Even though the Apostle Paul targets a specific audience – youth – 2 Timothy 2:22 applies to us all.
Run from anything that stimulates youthful lusts. Instead, pursue righteous living, faithfulness, love, and peace. Enjoy the companionship of those who call on the Lord with pure hearts. NLT
1 Corinthians 10:13 is another great passage.
The temptations in your life are no different from what others experience. And God is faithful. He will not allow the temptation to be more than you can stand. When you are tempted, he will show you a way out so that you can endure. NLT
Lord Jesus, may we learn from the excellence of Your creation. Like the skink, when needed help us to drop tail and run!
Aug 11th, 2021, Wed, 8:36 pm
