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The Warning
Devotional for Saturday, September 11, 2004 by Elaine Ingalls Hogg
Proverbs 5:21-23 - For the Lord sees clearly what a man does, examining every path he takes. An evil man is held captive by his own sins; they are ropes that catch and hold him. He will die for lack of self-control; he will be lost because of his incredible folly. (NLT)Several years ago, as a young wife and mother of two children, I moved with my husband to Cape Breton. In so doing we made our first trip as a family across the Canso Causeway. After living on the island for nearly thirty years, I noticed that this link became the common thread in many interesting stories. Some were of the construction, while others were of leavings and homecomings. With the fiftieth anniversary approaching next year, I decided to record some of these stories for a book.
One I found to be of particular interest happened during the construction when, just days before the causeway's completion, a 2200 ton Norwegian freighter, the M.V. Lionne, sailed through the Strait of Canso, going full steam ahead. Despite attempted warnings from a ferry crew crossing the strait at the time, a short time later, the freighter crashed into the nearly completed causeway.
When questioned by authorities about this serious mistake, the captain gave a lame excuse and said, "If I go real fast, I yump over it." The inquiry revealed that going through the strait saved 130 miles of travel and the captain was trying to take a shortcut. If he had read updated Admiralty charts, rather than his outdated chart that did not show the new construction, or if he had heeded Canadian Coast Guard warnings, he'd never have been travelling through the strait in the first place, as it had been closed for through traffic for two weeks.
Too often we fool ourselves into thinking that we can take a shortcut and still find our way into God's kingdom. We run fast and hard, and try to jump over life's obstacles by doing things our own way. We neglect to look at God's updated chart, the Bible, to show us the right way to heaven, and we ignore the warnings of God's people who tell us that we should be following His plan for our lives. However we may think we can "jump" into God's kingdom by taking a shortcut, there is a day coming when we must face the fact that no lame excuse will stand when we are called to answer why we didn't heed His directions for our lives.
Prayer God, we have tried to find our own way in this world, and we have failed miserably. We ask for Your forgiveness and Your guidance so that we may find our way through the obstacles of life and join You in heaven. Amen.
Elaine Ingalls Hogg <authorhogg@yahoo.ca>
Smiths Creek, New Brunswick, Canada
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Today's Music:
All Through The Night.