Ever since 1944 his message has been pretty much the same...
With his broad brimmed hat atop his furry head...
With his blue jeans covering his furry body...
With a shovel in his left hand...
And with a right index finger pointing right at us...
Smokey the Bear says...
"Only You can prevent Wildfires!"
I saw him again today on a billboard by the side of the highway.
My cousin Stephen (who's five days older than me) had a Smokey the Bear stuffed animal growing up that he used to sleep with every night. Then he got married about 10 years ago and now Smokey sleeps by himself (I think...)
My iWitness...
Have you prevented any "Wildfires" lately?
A better and yet more penetrating question might be... "Have you started any Wildfires lately?"
The book of James has this to say about our "tongues"...
"So also the tongue is a small member, yet it boasts of great things.
How great a forest is set ablaze by such a small fire! And the tongue is a fire, a world of unrighteousness. The tongue is set among our members, staining the whole body, setting on fire the entire course of life, and set on fire by hell. For every kind of beast and bird, of reptile and sea creature, can be tamed and has been tamed by mankind, but no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison." (James 3. 5-8)
I am sure I have said this before but it bears worth repeating...
Whoever came up with the phrase...
"Sticks and Stones may break my bones
But words can never hurt me."
The author of this little quip should be taken out to the streets and beaten with sticks and stones!
I don't know about you, but I have never had a bone broken by sticks or stones.
But, I do know this... My body, my heart, my mind, and my full emotional state of being have been crushed and squashed and burned by people's words.
Let's be careful with our words today...
Our tongues are just licking to start a fire...
"Only You can prevent Wildfires!"
And that's my iWitness...
Laugh often and Fear not!
David!
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