Leave the Window open and you never know what might come in here in Brazil. I already told you about the rhino beetle attack (click here if you missed it). Last Tuesday I was sitting at the truck stop (that’s where our only internet connection is right now) and they had the windows open because there isn’t air conditioning in Brazil... at least not in any business or residence we’ve been to. And out of nowhere this dog just shows up and stands on his back legs while putting his front paws up on the ledge of the window so she could look in (you can see her in the pic up top). Then she just stared at me. And stared. And stared. She could have looked at a number of other people there but for some reason she was only looking at me. And she had these piercing blue eyes that almost seemed to be saying to me, “give me your food then I’ll leave.” She (I knew it was a she because I saw her walking through the parking lot later and it looked like she had just had a litter of puppies... you know the look, right? No? Let’s just say she wasn’t lacking in the milk department. lol!) anyway, she just stared at me, as I was sitting there typing on my computer, sending me these telepathic messages to give her food for what seemed like forever. What made it really weird is that nobody else either saw her or was recognizing the fact that a dog was looking in the window. It was just so surreal.
Then on Friday I walked into my bedroom only to find a bird sitting inside my bedroom on the window ledge on the inside of the screen. We have 2 windows in our bedroom. One has a screen and one doesn’t. Both windows were open and this bird came in through the one without a screen and was trying to exit through the one with a screen... that wasn’t working out very well (you can see it in the pics). Then when the big white guy walks into the room, the bird freak-out ensues! I tried to shoo the bird toward the open window with no screen but it insisted on trying to get out through the one with the screen. I was just wanting it out ASAP. This thing probably had some sort of disease (like the bird flu) or was releasing little bird parasites all over our stuff as it was fluttering around! I finally got it to exit through the open window (only after it crashed into the glass). A bird isn’t that big of a deal though, right?
The other day Matthew was telling MJ and I that he was laying in bed, the night before, with his window open and something black flew in. He also has a window with no screen in it and he had it open so that it wouldn’t be so hot in his room. Well, something flew in and kept flying back and forth overhead but he just thought it was a bird. It wasn’t. It was a bat! And it was diving back and forth right over his bed. He yelled (we never heard him) and Maryssa just laughed at him and offered no help at all. So he said he threw a tennis ball at it and it flew out. Bats are just nasty. They’re like rats with wings (and rabies) and are definitely not something we want in the house.
But if you have an open window (with no screen in it) that’s just to be expected... stuff WILL come in. It’s the same with our life. Some of you, who are reading this, want to see change in your life but don’t know how. Well, think about this... Jesus said in Matthew 6:22-24
“The eye is the lamp of the body. So if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light, but if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!”
If we don’t filter (or have a screen on) what we let enter our lives/minds then we’re gonna have all kinds of unwanted things coming in. Here, let me make it simpler for you... we’ve got to guard ourselves and our families from what we’re watching on TV, what we’re looking at on the computer, what we’re listening to on the radio, what we’re reading... because anything can and will enter our minds and our lives if we’re not “closing the window” on them. If you read Romans 12:1-2 then think about the window analogy, it just makes total sense. Real change can and will take place in our lives when we change the way we’re thinking. And that only comes through eliminating the input of the world and replacing it with what God says. So if you’re tired of the bugs, dogs, birds and bats that are coming in... either put a screen up or close the window: )
Looking for Screens,
Jim
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