The Chimney Sweep

 

The Chimney Sweep

A young boy lay awake in the darkness of a bedroom at Mamaw's house. It would be the first of many nights he would sleep there. On this occasion he lay in fear. An open chimney to the room’s fireplace was a new experience for him. He cried out to his grandmother with a trembling voice of fear: “Grandma, what’s the noise in the chimney that I hear?” She called back “don’t be afraid, it’s only chimney sweeps building their nests.” Local colloquialism word for chimney swifts is chimney sweeps. (The chimney swift is a bird belonging to the swift family Apodidae. The chimney swift is a medium-sized, sooty gray bird with very long, slender wings and very short legs. It is incapable of perching, and can only cling vertically to surfaces; as inside a chimney.)

There is a song that also describes a little boy’s sleepless fears: In part - “One dark night in Egypt, a dreadful time had come for one little Hebrew boy, who was his fathers first born son. As the angel of death passed low, It was hard to fall asleep for one little lamb stood out in his mind as he lay there counting sheep. He wondered why the little lamb had to die, why the blood was on the door. Through the wind and the rain it still remained but he wanted to be shore. So he cried out to his earthly father with a trembling voice so scared. Crying, father will you look and see if the blood is still there. His father said son now don’t you worry the blood is there to stay...” (pen name- coupongir)

The lamb of God, His first born son, hang on a cross of death. His shed blood stained the old rugged cross on Golgotha Hill. It was applied with care so death would not come to the children He so loved. As Jesus hang there dying, he cried out to His Father above. “Father forgive them, they know not what they do.” Now we know what we do and what we must do. To gain His forgiveness for sin, we must call out to Him with a broken heart and contrite spirit. The blood is on the cross to stay. The wind may blow and the storms rage but that can't wash His blood away. It’s in our hearts to stay.

Luke 23:45-46 “And the sun was darkened, and the veil of the temple was rent in the midst. 46 And when Jesus had cried with a loud voice, he said, Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit: and having said thus, he gave up the ghost.

John 19:34But one of the soldiers with a spear pierced his side, and forthwith came there out blood and water.

That blood that stained the cross washes us clean of sin. Know God, know peace. Amen. 04/06/21 BLL