Mark Spruill

The fire ants have invaded my driveway. They have dug their way down through one of the many cracks in the concrete and begun to excavate. The little buggers are almost unstoppable.

We treated the yard this past Spring, which has proved effective for keeping them out of the ground and grass around the house. Unfortunately, we didn’t treat the driveway.  We didn’t think we needed to. We were wrong. The ants have found the nice clean dirt beneath my driveway and are now busily moving it from under my driveway to the top, as they excavate their hidden tunnels. Treating all the dirt under the driveway would be a major effort, so I opted for Plan B.

Plan B basically involves using the ants natural instinct against them. Plan B, implemented this morning, began when I sprinkled a little Amdro Fire Ant Killer around the top of the ant city.  The greedy little food collecting workers check out the granules and think it’s food, so they grab it and take off back down the hole and under my driveway to store the “food.”  Plan B is so effective because what the ants think is food, is really a poison.  Plan B is lethal to fire ants and the queen deep inside the mound because the ants take the poison inside themselves.  I don’t have to pour it down the hole.  I just put a little near their home and watch the greedy ants grab it and pull it into their lair where they eat it, feed it to the queen, and all die.

I smiled this morning as I watched the ants start hauling the poison down their hole. It’s fun to watch them bring about their own demise.  With Plan B, I don’t have to do much.  Plan B uses the victims own instincts against them. I like plan B. It’s easy. Sometimes I feel a little guilty though. Plan B does seem a bit devilish. I think it’s because Plan B is one of the devil’s favorite plans too.  I wonder what poison he will sprinkle out today?

“For I see that you are poisoned by bitterness and bound by iniquity.”
   – Acts 8:23  NKJV

Having recently survived another birthday, I am reluctantly reminded of my age and the fact that I am getting older.  What I also realized is that I will forever be getting older.  Someday, I may die.  Someday, I may get a new body.  Someday, I may live in a different realm.  But I won’t get a new “me.”   This “me” is an eternal being.

We often speak of people who have died saying they would have been some number years old if they were still alive.  That’s not exactly right.  It’s the wrong way of thinking about a being that has an eternal spirit.  I shouldn’t say my grandfather would be 107 in a couple of weeks if he were still alive because, my grandfather WILL BE 107 years old on August 12.  He, just like me, will forever be getting older.

We all are getting older every minute of every day, and the process will never stop, so we might as well get used to it.  Besides, there are some advantages to having a birthday.  There’s parties and presents and hearing how much you are loved.  It’s a time for celebrating.  I wonder what kind of birthday parties they have in Heaven?  I bet my granddaddy is gearing up for one right now.  Maybe a big old angel will blow a horn to start the party, and God Himself will tell the story of how much He has loved my granddaddy since the day he was formed in his mother’s womb.  I would love to see it.   Who knows.  Maybe someday I will.  Perhaps we’ll celebrate his 150th birthday together.

Time is limited. You can’t do everything.
Space is limited. You can’t keep everything.
Want to do something different? Maybe you need to give up something you are doing now.
Want to get something different? Maybe you need to give up something you have now.

Our Recycle Bin

On trash collection day, we have two trucks that come by.  One picks up the trash, the other comes later and picks up the recycle stuff.  Earlier this week, I went for a walk down our street right after the trash pick up truck had gone by.  The full recycle bins were all still sitting out, so I had some fun just looking at the contents and speculating about how it might indicate something about the lives of the people who left them out.

As I walked, I noticed some people recycled very little, and some a lot.  Some people recycled only one or two kinds of things. Some people might have a few aluminum cans in their bin and not much else.  Others seemed to recycle almost everything.  I passed one house that had set out extra bins full of paper, cardboard, cans, plastic cartons . . .  most of the stuff that would fill my trash can, they had determined to recycle, even if it meant having to find extra bins to put it all in.  It made me feel a little guilty, since we recycle very little.  Perhaps I toss out many things as trash, when they might be recycled into something valuable.

A little later in the week, I was talking with a friend who had recently had some “trash” tossed into his life.  It was ugly, smelly stuff that someone had dumped on him even though he didn’t deserve it.  It occurred to me that we all have trash come into our lives.  Often, we just hold our nose and try to deal with it until we can get rid of it.  But God has called us to have a different attitude.  God has promised that He can use it to make something good if we will only let Him.  God has a giant “recycle bin” for all the trash that would come into our lives.  The question is, will we just hold our nose and live with it while we wait for the trash man to pick it up?  Or will we put it in God’s recycle bin and allow Him to use it to make something good?