FOODFORTHOUGHT

A true story by Josh and Karen Zarandona

Brenda was a young woman who was invited to go rock climbing. Although
she was scared to death, she went with her group to a tremendous
granite cliff. In spite of her fear, she put on the gear, took a hold on the
rope, and started up the face of that rock. Well, she got to a ledge
where she could take a breather. As she was hanging on there, the
safety rope snapped against Brenda's eye and knocked out her contact
lens.

Well, here she is on a rock ledge, with hundreds of feet below her and
hundreds of feet above her. Of course, she looked and looked and
looked, hoping it had landed on the ledge, but it just wasn't there.

Now far from home on a ledge, her sight blurry, she was feeling
desperate and began to get upset. She prayed to the Lord to help her
to find it. When she got to the top, a friend examined her eye and her
clothing for the lens, but there was no contact lens to be found.

She sat down, despondent, with the rest of the party, waiting for the
rest of them to make it up the face of the cliff. She looked out
across range after range of mountains, thinking of that Bible verse that says,
"The eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth." She
thought, "Lord, You can see all these mountains. You know every stone
and leaf, and You know exactly where my contact lens is. Please help
me."

Finally, they walked down the trail to the bottom. At the bottom there
was a new party climbers just starting up the face of the cliff. One
of them shouted out, "Hey, you guys! Anybody lose a contact lens?" Well,
that would be startling enough, but you know why the climber saw it?
An ant was moving slowly across the face of the rock, carrying it!

Brenda told me that her father is a cartoonist. When she told him the
incredible story of the ant, the prayer, and the contact lens, he drew
a picture of an ant lugging that contact lens with the words, "Lord, I
don't know why You want me to carry this thing. I can't eat it, and
it's awfully heavy. But if this is what You want me to do, I'll carry
it for You."

At the risk of being accused of being fatalistic, I think it would
probably do some of us good to occasionally say, "God, I don't know
why you want me to carry this load. I can see no good in it and it's
awfully heavy. But, if you want me to carry it, I will."

"God doesn't call the qualified, He qualifies the called."

PRAYER
"Lord Jesus, our Savior, let us now come to you: Our hearts are cold; Lord, warm them with your selfless love. Our hearts are sinful; cleanse them with your precious blood. Our hearts are weak; strengthen them with your joyous Spirit. Our hearts are empty; fill them with your divine presence. Lord Jesus, our hearts are yours; possess them always and only for yourself." (Prayer of Augustine, 4th century)