Ever thought about how many people are killed by animals every day? Steve Jenkins collects these kinds of statistics. Following is a list of the top nine animal killers on the planet—and how many they kill in an average day:

• Crocodiles, 3
• Roundworm, 5
• Tsetse Fly, 25
• Assassin Bug (Gotta love that name), 30
• Dogs, 150 (through physical attack or spreading disease)
• Freshwater snail, 275 (they spread many deadly diseases)
• Snakes, 275
• Mosquitoes, 2,500
• Ironically, sharks—among the most feared of all creatures—kill only one person every month or two. *

Were you surprised by that list? I sure was.

After all, who's afraid of a teeny snail? Probably not you. But in a given day, they kill as many people as snakes do! Ironically, the prize for the deadliest goes to the smallest: the mosquito, of which there are an estimated 110 trillion buzzing around the planet. And every last one of them is a potential carrier of that lethally infectious disease, malaria. 

Biblically speaking, the same idea applies to people like you and me. Though our fists might prove deadly in a fight, we kill far more with something much smaller—our tongue.

We’ve all heard that the tongue has the potential for great destruction. But that’s way too kind an assessment. The tongue—my tongue—is a killer. It’s a weapon for murder! Yours, too.

• Proverbs 12:14 warns us, "Reckless words pierce like a sword."
• Proverbs 12:18 calls the tongue “a scorching fire.”
• James 3:8 says, "it is a restless evil, full of deadly poison."

This is exponentially more serious than “mere” offense!

This is the stuff of murder!

So, if our tongues are so deadly, what's the answer? In Psalms 141:3, David prayed, "Set a guard, LORD, over my mouth. Keep watch over the door of my lips." Isn't that precisely what we need—a guard over our mouths and a sentry securing the "door of our lips"? 

Lord, we want this. We need this! And we need it today!

Set a guard over my mouth, Lord.

Keep watch over the door of my lips.

Amen!

*Source: Steve Jenkins, One Day By the Numbers, Clarion Books, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers. Copyright © 2022 

Image by Franco Patrizia from Pixabay

Ever hear of a lap chicken? Me, neither. But I met one this week.

“Betty” was born on a horse farm near Jacksonville, Florida. But somehow, this little chicken sustained an injury that left one leg broken. Unable to stand, she was vulnerable, having little hope for survival.

But Joslynn, a horse-riding high schooler with a heart for animals, noticed the chicken and began talking with the farmers. She explained how she had raised a chicken during the Covid pandemic—even taught it to hang onto the handlebars of her bicycle and go for a ride. Impressed, the farmers welcomed her offer of convalescent care for their broken bird.

Joslynn has nursed that chicken for a month. Long enough to observe that the thing has a personality! Example: Betty pecks and tweets if the family ignores her. And watching the way she interacts with people, you cannot help but conclude Betty loves to snuggle, eagerly nestling (or is that nesting?) into Joslynn’s lap. Hence the label, lap chicken.

For amusement, Joslynn bought a cat toy ball that jingles when moved. Betty actually bats (or is it beaks?) the ball back and forth with Joslynn. You have to see it to believe it.

But it's not all fun and games. Watching the little lame chicken flip on its side, vigorously flapping one wing to propel itself toward the food dish, is heartbreaking. That's why Joslynn's next move will be to create a custom-made wheelchair (with a PVC pipe frame and fabric) so Betty can practice standing on her feet. Hopefully, the thing will gain strength and eventually be able to stand up and walk.

Watching Joslynn’s kindness in action, I wondered how many of us would show that level of care to a chicken? More significantly, how many would extend that level of care to the broken people around us?

Today, every single one of us will pass by someone with a broken "wing."  Maybe it's a shattered dream, a crushed promise, or a broken heart. Such injuries are nearly invisible. Though hidden or intensely private, these lacerations of the soul are just as crippling as Betty's.

The question is, will we choose to notice these broken people? Will we value them, love them, and care for them? It doesn’t cost much. Maybe just a text or phone call. But couldn’t we—shouldn’t we—show the compassion of the Christ we claim to love?

Put on then, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience.  - Colossians 3:12

Silence is golden. Unless you have a toddler. Then, silence is very suspicious indeed! Truthfully, I should have been much more suspicious of myself last week at work. Let me explain.

At precisely 3:30 Wednesday afternoon, I walked out of my office, closed the door, and hiked the mile and a half to the train station in downtown Chicago. Getting off the train in the suburbs, I enjoyed a quiet evening with Diana.

At 6:35 the next morning, I stepped back into my office at Moody Radio—and soon discovered the problem. My soundproof office doubles as a recording studio, and the afternoon before, I’d done a bunch of recording. Apparently, though, after I finished my last segment, I forgot to hit the “Stop” button on the screen. 

Bottom line: the computer sat there recording silence—all night long and into the next morning. To be more precise, it recorded 15 hours, 17 minutes, and 45 seconds. That's a lot of silence! I was occupying a huge chunk of hard drive space—with nothing to show (or hear). Silence was not golden in this case.

There are other times when silence is not golden. In fact, silence can be deadly. Example? When we fail to speak the name of Jesus to friends and neighbors who need Him. That kind of silence has potentially fatal consequences.

What if we could somehow harness AI technology to review every word we’ve uttered this past year? What if every word we’ve spoken could be analyzed and tabulated?

What would such an analysis reveal about the amount of time that has passed since we mentioned the name of Jesus to someone who doesn't know Him? Would it be weeks? Months? Would it be years—decades, even?

The thing is, God is recording our words. In fact, Jesus said in Matthew 12:36-37, “But I tell you that for every careless word that people speak, they will give an account of it on the day of judgment. For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.”

Sometimes, silence is golden. But not when it comes to people who need Jesus.

• They need to hear His name.
• They need to hear our testimonies.
• They need to hear the way to Christ.

It’s time to end the silence about our Savior!

For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching?  -Romans 10:13,14

Are you a cultural crank?

We’ve all got opinions about what’s wrong with America. Our souls sag with the weight of them. Among my top cultural concerns:

• We kill babies—and call that “pro-choice.”
• We release criminals without bond.
• We force taxpayers to cover someone else's college debt.
• We label parents as "terrorists" when they speak out at school meetings.
• We liken Christians to the Taliban.

There’s a lot to be angry about. And we are!

• We’re angry about the moral decay around us.
• We're angry about the unfair treatment of believers.
• We’re angry about the indoctrination in public schools.

We’re good and angry. And sometimes more angry than good. To be clear, praying for—and working toward—biblical values is a great thing. After all, Jesus prayed, “Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”

What is not great is the fact that many of us have become little more than cultural cranks. We complain and yearn for the return of "the good old days."

Yet, this world was not good when Jesus visited our planet 2000 years ago. And it hasn’t gotten any better. But there’s a problem when you and I are better at sharing a grumble than the gospel. James 1:20 cautions, “For a man’s anger does not bring about the righteousness of God.”

It's easy to get spun up, amped up, and fed up. But in our daily trek through the shards of our broken culture, we're still called to love our enemies and do good to those who persecute us.

What this world needs now is not cultural cranks, but lovers of Jesus, who will love the unlovely.

Lord,

Keep us from being crusty, curmudgeonly, cantankerous, cultural cranks.

Amen!

Photo by Craig Adderley: https://www.pexels.com/photo/man-in-black-hoodie-3531839/

They say that a rut is nothing more than a grave with both ends kicked out.

But when it comes to praying for unsaved family members, friends, and co-workers, the easiest thing in the world is to fall into a rut. (Boy, do I fight this!).

Here's something you might find helpful. What follows are seven straightforward "Prayer Prompts" you can use in your own prayer ministry.

As you read through the list, you'll notice these prayers are written for someone who is out in their neighborhood doing a prayer walk. But you can easily edit/modify/adapt these for your unique prayer setting. The Scripture verses are what matter most, anyway. This is the true power—praying God's Word back to Him.

Because there are seven different prayer prompts in this collection—one for every day of the week—here’s hoping you’ll be on your way to prayers without ruts!

• Father, we pray that you might "open their eyes, so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified..." (Acts 26:18).
• Thank you, Lord, that you are a God "who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth" (1 Timothy 2:4). We pray that every family member in this home will become saved.
• Father, like Paul, "my heart's desire and prayer to God for them is that they may be saved' (Romans 10:1).
• Lord, we ask that every person in this home "may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, after being captured by him to do his will" (2 Timothy 2:26).
• Father, as we pray for the salvation of the people in this home, we ask "that God may open to us a door for the word, to declare the mystery of Christ (Colossians 4:3).
• Lord, I ask that "that words may be given to me in opening my mouth boldly to proclaim the mystery of the gospel...that I may declare it boldly, as I ought to speak (Ephesians 6:19,20).
• Lord, you have assured us you are "not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance (2 Peter 3:9). Would you bring every family member in this house to repentance, please?

Amen!