March 2021 Newsletter

Some of the Amish around here still cut the ice on their pond to fill an ice house so they have refrigeration all summer. I haven’t seen it for quite a while, but last year I did see a team of horses pulling a wagon load of ice near Fredericksburg, so I know it still happens. And just last week someone posted a picture of ice cutting day on Harrison Road just north of here.

Which reminds me of a story I just read recently: It was ice cutting day and men were on the pond cutting ice while others were loading the wagons and hauling ice to the insulated ice house between the house and the barn. When the day was done and the ice house was filled, one of men who had been in the ice house discovered that he had lost his pocket watch. He went back to look for it along with several other men who could squeeze themselves in the limited space, but after ten minutes they gave up. The only way to find a watch would be to take all the ice out. They weren’t going to do that. They gave up and headed for the house. Then a young boy entered the ice house after they left and in three minutes came out with the watch in his hand!

“How did you find it?!” they asked, astonished.

“I just sat real still until I heard the ticking. Then I reached between some blocks of ice toward the ticking sound and there was the watch!”

Be still and know that I am God…” Ps. 46:10

In our modern fast paced world with meetings and schedules and electronics and so many concerns and distractions, I find myself more like the men who quit looking for the watch than the young boy who sat still until he heard the ticking.

I read through the Bible every year and pray every day, but when it comes to prayer, I seldom hear the “ticking.” I know prayer works, but I am reminded of Elijah when he “ran for his life” from Jezebel (I Kings 19:3) and ended up in a cave. God told him to get out of the cave and “stand on the mountain before the Lord.” A great and strong wind tore into the mountains and broke the rocks in pieces before the Lord, but “the Lord was not in the wind;” and after the wind, and earthquake, but “the Lord was not in the earthquake;” and after the earthquake, a fire, but “the Lord was not in the fire;” and after the fire, “a still small voice.”

It was this “still small voice,” (the ‘ticking’?) that spoke instruction and encouragement to Elijah. He heard the “ticking.”

We need prayer. Our country needs prayer. Last week in the US House of Representatives, Florida Rep., Greg Streube, stood up against the evil Equality Act, saying that transgenderism is contrary to scripture. NY Representative, Jerry Nadler, said, “What any religious tradition describes as God’s will is no concern of this Congress.”(!) Mr. Nadler, it was a concern of the founding fathers. What has changed? When is the last time we saw one of our leaders kneel in prayer for our country like George Washington did at Valley Forge (in the snow!)?

I (we) need to pray. Until I (we) hear the ticking, the still small voice. I’m concerned about our country, but my main concern should be my own prayer life. “Lord, teach me to pray.” Lk. 11:1

“Pray for great things, expect great things, work for great things, but above all, pray.”

R.A. Torrey