It has always been my desire to have a letter box of my own, perching somewhere close to our gate so that the postman could drop our mail in it any time. To my delight, my husband had already planned on making one even before I thought of asking him to do so. I learned of his plan when he asked me to come outside for a surprise, He showed me a nice red-letter box sitting on the post near our gate. He had even painted the words "Letter Box" in white on it. Not long after that, even the postman noticed it and dropped one letter in it for me. I then looked forward to receiving more letters from this pretty little box of my very own.
In the meantime, we acquired a dog. Even though it was a stray dog, it was a handsome one. He was looking for food and shelter and when we fed him one good meal, he decided to stay with us. He was a very good watchdog, However, he was so good he spoiled my new mail system.
One day when the postman came along to deliver our mail, he couldn't even drop the letters into our box because the dog frightened 'him to death! The dog thought he was doing his duty and did not allow the postman to touch the letterbox. He was guarding our property very seriously. So, since then, our letter box is sitting on its post, pretty but empty because our mail is delivered to the Mission Office!!
Sadly, our dog died. We informed the postman so he could begin delivering our mail once again to our letter box. However, he conveniently refused to believe us and found it easier to divert our mail to the Mission Office.
One day my husband called my attention to the letterbox. What did you think I saw through the glass door at the back of the box? To my amazement, a little squirrel was taking his afternoon nap in the box. Unfortunately for that animal, he didn't know of our attitude towards squirrels. We had tried our best to get rid of these destructive creatures because they had been eating most of our guavas. We knew we couldn't allow the squirrel to nest there so my husband got rid of it.
Not long after this incident, another small creature decided to occupy the letter box. This time it was a pretty little mouse. Thankfully it was not a rat because I do not care for them. But for some reason, I admire mice, and this little mouse was so cute. He had pearly eyes and round ears that were erect and alert. When he sat up he formed a cute little ball; even his tail curled up neatly by his side. I didn't have the heart to evict this little mouse, so my husband had to do the honors.
It's sad to say, but my letterbox still sits empty. I long for the eventful day when my letter box is filled with mail again. Unfortunately, my little letter box doesn't have only fierce dogs and furry little animals to threaten its usefulness, now there is E-mail!
In today's electronic age, almost everyone but me owns a computer. Even the computer language makes fun of the mail I love to receive. It calls it "Snail Mail." Though I agree that snail mail may be an appropriate name for it, I still prefer snail mail over E-mail anytime. Snail mail means more to me because such letters are written personally by my friends and the letters are just for me.
In 1996, I came across an example of snail mail reported in the newspaper. Even though the snail mail was not known by that name then, this particular piece of mail did travel at a snail's pace. I cut that bit of news and kept it in my file until today. I would like to share it with you.
POSTCARD TAKES 48 YEARS TO REACH DESTINATION
Berhampur, Orissa: Believe it or not, a postcard took 48 years to travel a distance of only 80 kilometers. Hagannath Rao, a lawyer, posted the card to one of his clients on March 3, 1948. It was posted to Saudagar Ayub Khan at Rasulkonda, a town that is now known as Bhanjanagar. The letter, however, reached it destination on October 7, 1996. The postcard has a stamp portraying King George V and was worth half an Anna when it set out on its 48-year journey. Both the sender and addressee are no more.
Both the client and lawyer were dead before the postcard reached its destination! I wonder what happened to the case! After reading this bit of interesting news, I couldn't help but think of God's mail system. His angels, the swift messengers make no delay in carrying God's messages to their destinations. Yet I sometimes wonder why the messages fail to enter our mailboxes.
We humans have a case pending and we desperately need a lawyer to help us out. Our only chance of winning the case depends on the lawyer, so no matter how high the fees he may charge us, we just have to pay, even if we run into debt.
I recognize that I, as a client and a guilty sinner, have a case against me for breaking the law. I am indeed grateful I did not have to look for a lawyer, nor do I even have to pay him. My lawyer, Jesus Christ Himself, took pity on me and came looking for me, bearing the full cost of the lawyer fees. The death sentence was passed against me, but Jesus came along to release me from the death row. He took my place, my death sentence and died for me. Oh, how grateful I feel.
This lawyer offers the same help to all guilty sinners, but why is it that this wonderful message, the news of salvation fails to reach us so many times? Could it he that we fail to open the door for the message to enter in? Could it be that a destructive squirrel is in our heart building its nest to stay there? Or sometimes even a pet sin as pretty and cute as a little mouse has taken captive of our hearts, and we do not want to part with it. Satan himself claims ownership of our hearts and threatens any messenger coining close to us.
The message is the Royal Mail written by the King of kings, stamped and paid dearly by the blood of Jesus. Our lawyer wants us to win the case. Our lawyer is also our judge, therefore the case is in our favor. Why not open our hearts wide and welcome this wonderful news, and thank our wonderful lawyer for making it possible for us to win the case. Let is do this before it is too late.
