December 26th
Staked
This morning just before 8:30 when I was getting ready to go to the office the door bell rang. When I answered the door I discovered a man from the Maintenance Department of our city. He said he was here to "re-stake" the corner tree.
A few days earlier I had e-mailed a request to the City of King to fix the "leaning tree" at the corner of our lot. (We live on the corner.) Seems that through the past 2 years the tree's prop had given away and the tree was really LEANING. I thought that this would be a good time to correct the problem before the tree got too large. Now the trunk was only 4 inches or so. Well, mission accomplished and by applying a lot of "muscle power pressure" the tree has been straightened and re-staked.
I thought - wow - how the winds of life push us over and make us lean. And speaking of LEANING. To those reading from Italy I want to refer to one of your great tourist attractions...the Leaning Tower of Pisa. I understand it is the bell tower for the Cathedral of Pisa. Obviously from pictures, or seen in person, it is shaped like a cylinder and is a real beautiful site of white marble with its eight arcades one over the other. Someday I would love to take the spiral staircase.
Anyway, I am told that shortly after its completion, it was observed that the tower was not truly vertical and was beginning to lean. The ground below was beginning to sink. Well, through the years indeed it has sunk and today it is stated that the vertical is more than 14 feet off. Experts say it is impossible to make the correction now.
So with problems that come against our "life's tower" we do tend to lean. I feel that if we can keep our eyes on what is scripturally vertical, we will stand straight. We do have a guide to which we can be propped. It is found in Amos 7:8 "The Lord said unto me, Amos, what do you see?" "A plumb line," I replied. Then the Lord said "Look, I am setting a plumb line among my people..."In the Bible Demas loved the world and leaned toward it. Peter sat down (with the enemies) among them. Both were leaning towers, instead of being towers of strength. If you find yourself "leaning a little off center" accept the grace of God to zero in on the vertical part of the cross ... looking up!
My prayer for you!
Lord, my prayer for myself and for this friend is simply this. PROP US UP ON THE LEANING SIDE in the name of Jesus.
Amen