Fwd: Gems From My Reading

Be of good cheer. And thine ears shall hear a word behind thee, saying, This is the way, walk ye in it, when ye turn to the right hand, and when ye turn to the left.    Isaiah 30:21 This is the season when migratory birds are winging their way toward warmer climates.  What is it that prompts them to fly for hundreds of miles each year to the balmy southland and to return again in the springtime to the exact spot which they left in the autumn?  For want of a better term, we call it instinct.  One authority states that the word means "inward impulse"; "a natural propensity that incites animals to the actions that are essential to their existence and development"; or, "a propensity prior to experience and independent of instructions." The authorities in charge of one of the oldest missions on the Pacific Coast state the swallows, which make their homes in the walls of this historic institution, migrate with the utmost regularity.  During a record of sixty-eight years, it is said they have never been a day late or early in their arrival at this mission.  One press reporter affirms that "For the first time in the known mission history, the swallows were several hours late in arriving."  This was supposed to have been due to a storm at sea. How can man doubt that there is an all-wise God who has placed within these tiny creatures such mysterious powers?  It is only because of the taint of sin and deception of Satan that men do not obey a higher instinct and seek protection and rest "under the shadow of the Almighty" (Psalm 91:1).     Mountain Trailways  "I like to watch the swallow turn its face to the ocean and set fearlessly over the waters.  If I had no other proof of lands beyond the sea, the instinct of the swallow would satisfy me."