Early this sunday morning as I was about to dispose of the garbage, including leftover cake and icing from yesterday's desserts and bits of the varied skinned ingredients of my aunt's saturday soup, I saw a fat cockroach scamper to freedom. I did not pursue him to eradicate him, although with the speed and dexterity of his movements and manoeuvres I probably would not have been able to. I had actually glimpsed him there from yesterday. I knew in his mind, he thought he was in cockroach paradise with a smörgåsbord of delicious cockroach delicacies to feed on and thinking he had this cockroach delicatessen all to himself. Some of us are like this cockroach delighting in the leftover things of this world and not seeing that we are actually feeding from a garbage heap that will ultimately lead to our own imminent destruction, sometimes physically, but definitely spiritually, maybe in this life but definitely in the life to come. The same place in Mark 9:44 that Jesus equates with Isaiah's place "where their worm does not die" (Isaiah 66:24⁠), that is, Gehenna (Greek γέεννα), Gehinnom (Rabbinical Hebrew: גהנום/גהנם), literally the Valley of Hinnom (Ge Hinnom in the Hebrew), which we understand to be an analogy Hell, is actually the place of a garbage dump outside Jerusalem, where refuse was constantly burnt and the fires there supposedly never extinguished, hence Jesus's statement "Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched." Sometimes God will open our eyes and shed some light on our situation, like I did for the cockroach this morning by lifting the lid of the garbage pail. Unfortunately, however, unlike the cockroach some of us do not see the oncoming doom and therefore, instead of trying to escape, continue to feed on our rotting, rotten junk, on the things of the world. Do not wait on God to open our eyes, step back from it all and take a look at it from a distance, and see that it indeed is a garbage heap we are feeding on; come to our senses, like the prodigal son, say like him, "I will return unto my Father"; return to your Father, for the scriptures say "Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him." -1 John 2:15-17 (KJV). The Lord says "Set thine heart toward the highway, even the way which thou wentest: turn again (Jeremiah 31:21)". Let us say now unto the Lord, like Ephraim: "Thou hast chastised me, and I was chastised, as a bullock unaccustomed to the yoke: turn thou me, and I shall be turned; for thou art the Lord my God. Surely after that I was turned, I repented; and after that I was instructed, I smote upon my thigh: I was ashamed, yea, even confounded, because I did bear the reproach of my youth. (Jeremiah 31:18-19)" The garbage heap maybe a heap of fame, stardom, wealth, excessive, abused and misused, similarly power, addictions of all sorts, giving us false and wasteful pleasures, adultery and fornication, the stolen waters that seem so sweet until we realize the end of it is bitter; I don't know what your garbage heap is, but whatever it is, take a little time right now, step back from it, even in your mind, and with your mind's eye see it as what it is: a garbage dump, that is Gehenna, the broad road that leads to hell, death and destruction. When your eyes are open, turn, like Ephraim, run, return, like the prodigal son, run; the Father is waiting with loving and open arms to welcome you back. Televangelist Richard Roberts oftimes referred to God as a God of Second Chance, (and even wrote a similarly titled book) and I too have been given my second chance, and that's the reason I did not pursue, hunt down and exterminate that cockroach today. When the light fell on him, like a greater one on Paul, he turned from his ways and escaped imminent doom. Do the same. "God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise" -1 Corinthians 1:27 (KJV) Gehenna:http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/GehennaIsaiah 66: http://mobile.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Isaiah+66&versi... must have seen a number of cockroaches in your surroundings. Ever wondered what they eat? Read on to know...http://www.buzzle.com/articles/what-do-cockroaches-eat.htmlWhat do cockroaches eat?http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_do_cockroaches_eatJoin WapMinistry's Yahoo Grouphttp://groups.yahoo.com/group/wapministrySend e-mails and prayer requests to wapministry@yahoogroups.com http://wapministry.tumblr.com/post/23417217941