The carpenter ants 10/17/08

Good Friday morning! The weekend is ahead which means Sunday is coming. I look forward to being in the house of the Lord on Sundays. My prayer is that the scriptures you have read daily will cause you to get excited about being in God's house also. Beginning on Monday you will find another devotion in Morning Glory. I will begin this Monday with a weekly devotional. This means you will find a new one each Monday morning. I encourage you to ponder the scriptures that will be given and do your own searching of the scriptures for a broader view and a better understanding of God's word. Getting into God's word is true joy! Jane Ann
THE CARPENTER ANTS
I’ve only seen "carpenter ants" once in my life. They are about 3/4 of an inch long and black. I’ve seen big black ants in the dirt and always felt that they could and would bite. I’ve seen tiny black ants that we called "grease ants" and they usually were found in the house in cupboards and around the sinks. They were difficult to get rid of. Red ants were also something to be careful around. Don’t know why, but that was what I was told. I have never met an ant that I liked!
Jim retired in 2000 and I retired in 2001. We decided that when we both were retired we would sell our house and move to where Dan & Faye lived to be closer to our grandsons. We finished all the up grades we were going to make to our house and so it was time to put it on the market. Our realtor made arrangements for an open house for realtor’s only. Upon returning home, one of these realtor’s was still looking around and suggested we should have an inspection because of the "carpenter ants" that were seen in our bedroom. I was shocked and perplexed! "What is a carpenter ant"; I asked.....She told me they were big black ants that eat wood. Sort of like a termite! I went into the bedroom and sure enough I saw a big black ant on my mirror above the bathroom sink. Then I found one on the dressing table in the bedroom. I began to inspect the whole room and found three more. One on the drapes, on the bed and on the floor. Where did these come from?
When Jim arrived home I told him about the ants. He called the name of the inspector that the questioning realtor left with us. The inspector came out the next day and found no carpenter ants but he did find a little dry rot on one of the corner eves of the house. We made arrangements to have that fixed but what about the carpenter ants. He had no explanation about the ants and how only five made it in. Within a couple of weeks our house sold and the rest is history.
Every once in a while I think about the carpenter ants. I still wonder about how they got into our bedroom if they did not penetrate the walls. Did they come in on someone’s clothes or were they carried in another way. I am probably a more suspicious person than Jim is but even he has wondered about the surreptitious appearance of the carpenter ants. Did someone bring them in purposely? After all the realtor gave us a name to call for the inspection. Were they in cahoots with each other?
Obviously the house needed the inspection because of the dry rot, but the idea of someone wanting to trick us into having this done is a questionable business tactic. We are all aware of advertisements which bring you in and when you get there they are out of the product but have this available which probably is not really want you want and costs more. I remember when buying a car, that was one of the things I was warned about.
In Matthew 7:15-17 this type of person is referred to as a wolf in sheep’s clothing. "Beware of false prophets who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruit. Good trees bears good fruit but bad trees bears bad fruit". Matthew 10:16-17 continues with; "Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves. Therefore be shrewd as serpents and innocent as doves. Beware of men, for they will deliver you up to the courts and scourge you in their synagogues". Even if we are called His sheep and follow wherever He leads, let us remember that many will dress up in sanctified costumes in order to cause us to stray. Know your shepherd! Know His voice! Pay attention! Be sure! Hold fast! For He will not lead you astray! By Jane Ann Crenshaw 2/1/08