The Spider and the Saint

By Ron Gallo

When was the last time you or your friend looked at a spider or an ant, and learned principles that you can apply to your Christian life? Or even read it in another Christian book? Here, Ron as a former park ranger shares his experience of what God has shown him over the years when exploring nature.

Did you know when you see an object like a cigarette butt, piece of paper, or twig on a web, the spider is telling God’s saint’s aspects on Christian living from Proverbs chap. 30? Just constructing the web, its perseverance, stewardship, and adjustability will tell God’s saints how to live the Christian life. Like in Ron’s other books, Balance (Volume 2) and the children’s book Charlie the Spider and Friends, God uses the most “unlikely” to unveil his principles of walking with him as his saints.

Other gems Ron shares for Christian life’s principles is about “the garden,” the seed, learning from darkness, God’s vitamins, and many other fantastic wisdom and understanding emeralds in short bullet points. Whether in quotes, jokes, or commentaries, Ron does not sugarcoat anything so that the reader can get the truth about God.

This is a must book for the sinner, the saint, and society.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Nov 21, 2021
• ISBN: 9781664196995

Book preview

Copyright © 2021 by Ron Gallo.

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without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

Scripture quotations marked NKJV are taken from the New King James Version.

Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

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Rev. date: 01/25/2022

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CONTENTS

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Preface

Great Gems from the Vault

Introduction

Chapter 1 God’s Multivitamin and the Start

Chapter 2 God Uses the Small Things

Chapter 3 God Uses Everything and Everyone

My life has no purpose, no direction, no aim, no meaning, and yet I’m happy. I can’t figure it out. What am I doing right? (Charles M. Schulz)

If you rent something, let’s say a vehicle, a machine, furniture, etc., who knows more about the product—you or the renter? If it is the renter you say, you’re right. Now we rent God’s body, which includes his heart, lungs, liver, brain, etc. Yes, the brain is included too. We don’t own anything. So who knows more about the product? As Paul Harvey used to say, And now you know the rest of the story.

Chapter 4 The Darkness Is When He Works Best

When kids are young, they play doctor, firemen, and police officer. When did you ever see a kid play accountant even though he may be one years later? (Comedian Jackie Mason) source: http://www.jokes4us.com/peoplejokes/comedianjokes/jackiemasonjokes.html

There are no failures, just delays. (Ron Gallo)

God is not in the maybe or the might; he is in the now. Nothing alters his plans, even though man tries each day. God has a plan for you, so stop trying to be someone else or what people are trying to change you to. This will alter God’s plans for you. Be the piece of the puzzle that is cut out for that particular shape, that will fit into his plans for your life. We will not see the picture of the finished product of the puzzle on the box until we understand that God works one piece at a time.

Chapter 5 The Spider and Great Spiritual Tips/Quotes

God uses the spider to teach us about life. Yes, I said it correctly; the most hideous thing on earth, many would say. Not a beautiful swan, a spring robin, or a cute puppy. Once you understand that God works in the opposite, like he said, Look and be childlike; he never said be like an adult. Even the Lord mentions to man to look at one of the smallest creatures, the ant. See this and other supertips and quotes that I wish will bless your days.

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Thoughts for Today

My father used to tell me do one thing in life and be the best at it versus twenty different things and only have time to be just good.

Do you want to enrich your child even more? The library is good, but also bring them to an assisted living center. Let them just sit there and listen to the wisdom of others who have hundreds of years of invaluable experiences.

When I go fishing for largemouth bass, I learn more from the fish I don’t catch than from the ones I do. In life, God will teach you from your fears more than your fans, more from your tragedies than your triumphs.

When I was growing up, we used our imagination as many of you adults can remember. Few can afford much, so we used whatever we had on hand to play sports, play outside, etc. We also learned to listen to our elders and learned wisdom from them. Many of today’s kids use a cell phone and are used to pressing buttons to get what they want at the touch of a button. This not only diminishes their social skills but also their reasoning/thinking, problem-solving especially later in life, when they face issues that cannot be solved with the touch of a button.

Chapter 6 Spider Wisdom and other Treasury Gems

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Thought for Today: It doesn’t matter what the world does today. I know of only one who spins the top (world) each night, for another day tomorrow. I rest in that. (Ron Gallo)

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Thought for the Day: The spider teaches us patience as well as perseverance. We need to be patient and wait on God for all our matters.

PREFACE

I wrote this book to give the reader more wisdom to God’s challenges to us in our daily life, to become the best we can be. How the saint can learn from the spider, how God picked the smallest creature, the ant, and the most hideous, the spider, and tells man to look to them for wisdom, that’s incredible. But remember, God always uses the smallest, the weakest, the simple, the outcast, the sick, heavily downtrodden, the lowly, the rejected, the child, the things or people we cast to the side, those are the things he uses the most. This is a sequel to my first book called Balance, which I dedicate to my wife Joanne who gave it its name. I bless this will also enrich you in God’s wisdom and help you in your daily walk with the Lord from my experiences both good and bad (where the bad shaped the good), to learning about how God uses the most unusual creatures, the spider and the ant, to teach us about life. I would like to dedicate this book to my children, Austin, Logan, and Savannah who put up with their dad through his crazy times. LOL.

Even though I throw in many gems of wisdom like my first book called Balance, I also add wisdom about how God uses the spider as an example of how we can follow our daily Christian living. God uses this hairy, probably most would say on this planet one of the top three in most hideous, creatures if it fell on your shoulder off a tree. But like the snapping turtle and bulldog, even though ugly to most, they are beautiful in many ways and very wise. God always takes the opposites of how man thinks, that is, the child, the weak, the lame, the outcast, etc., to become the mighty and bring them forefront into the picture. The proud and boastful God hates. Remember the next time you say you did something, the fact that you had to open your mouth and move your arm and leg to achieve that something, God gave you the ability; it didn’t come from man or yourself, and we didn’t talk about breathing.

The saint is in God’s image, but look to the small spider to get wisdom for they are wise.

There are no sugarcoating in any of my books. I don’t give softball pitches to people; they miss the ball.

Ron Gallo

GREAT GEMS FROM

THE VAULT

I have also included other gems, many from my other books that will help enrich your walk with Christ.

A wise man listens—less talk. An egocentric who talks is insecure, but finds no wisdom and understanding because he is talking.

Guys, we listen, but do we really hear? For a guy who goes into a store, how long does it take him to pick out a greeting card? How about with a lady? Guys are black and white; ladies need to get a feeling. A guy picks out produce at the market if it looks good; a lady can look at a strawberry, blueberry, or a tomato and see if it would match her outfit. Guys, listen/hear more from your wife. Ladies think different than us guys and can give a better perspective on things that we cannot see. Don’t question her choices. Remember, you were one of them. LOL.

Your children are not your own. They’re on loan from God. You don’t own your heart, your lungs, your brain, your arms, your legs. Do you know of anyone who has a deed or title to these? We just rent them from God for a period, and eventually, like a parent says to his child, all toys have to go back in the box.

It’s not seeing with your eyes that gives you fulfillment and joy, but seeing with your heart (Ron Gallo).

Once you understand that he knows my name (Isa. 43), then it doesn’t matter what any person or situation dictates, like a child doesn’t have to be big and bad or be afraid for he/she knows who their backup quarterback is. Do you?

Know thyself, who you are. Not your name, where you reside, or work, but who you are in God’s kingdom.

It’s normal to follow human nature. You don’t have to have a class on lying or stealing; even kids do it. What goes against the grain is following and understanding God. Yet we want to learn and understand many things in our lifetime, but why not the wisdom of God? Understand his mind; you will others.

The depressing thing about tennis is that no matter how good I get, I’ll never be as good as a wall (Mitch Hedberg). Read more at https://www.brainyquote.com/authors/mitch-hedberg-quotes.

You never hear a guy say I fainted, but I passed out.

If you had only one breath in life and it was on a credit card, how would you use it? Would you ask for an extension of credit? Our entire life is just one breath compared to eternity. How are you managing it? For God, not yourself.

You only get two sets of teeth, two arms, two eyes, legs, two ears, but only one heart and brain. Use them wisely, they’re on loan. God only gave us all one heart, how come not two, like he did with legs, ears, and arms? God figured your legs need to take you to places, your arms to receive and pick up, your ears to listen to wisdom and understanding, your eyes to see the world and compute it back to your heart and brain. But your heart and brain are extra special, for your heart will carry you beyond where the two of you cannot go, followed by your brain.

Employers hire people from their head instead of their heart. God looks at their heart; he can fix their head. Employers cannot fix the heart; that’s where they should have hired from.

A child gets up at 2:00 a.m. and has a problem, who does he or she run to? Another sibling? A problem with another child, they get hurt in school, in the playground, do they run to another child? No, they run to their parent or an adult watching them. How come we run to another child?

A spider will use all the things in the area it’s placed in to help build its web, like a leaf, piece of paper, straw, twig, etc. They are good stewards of God’s materials, better than us.

If I wasn’t so crazy, I wouldn’t be normal (Ron Gallo).

They say that most vehicle accidents occur less than three miles from your home. So I’m thinking of moving five miles away.

Don’t dig up in fear what you planted in faith.

Fear of the unknown keeps a lot of people from leaving bad situations. When you’re asleep for hours, it’s the unknown you’re the most vulnerable of. Anything can happen, yet you trust God, not your loved ones to open your eyes. Every day we’re into the unknown when our eyes are closed; yet when we’re awake, the unknown has our eyes closed. Yet we fear and not trust God like we should. Why? Yet we all come to bed and ask for his mercy and grace to open the shutters each morning, then we forget about him. Your free will is turned on when you’re awake, so it gives you an opportunity to self-govern yourself and be fearful with anxiety. Each day when you awake, imagine your eyes closed when trust was there.

INTRODUCTION

This book will provide you insights of what you may not see, to insights of what is all around you.

The most interesting information comes from children, for they tell all they know and then stop (Mark Twain).

It’s not BLM; it’s All Lives Matter. Their slogan should be Hate Lives Matter; they’re a Marxist, lunatic radical racist, hateful/violent communist group. And preachers that don’t call them out like voting democratic are doing a disservice to their congregation overall and to God.

At work, you refer to your employment policy manual. In this universe, God has one too, and I refer to it when calling people out. I don’t have to be politically correct, but biblically. Your policy manual doesn’t ask you if you agree with it, just sign it. God has one too, and he doesn’t ask you if you agree with it either. So why do we follow man’s policy manual to get something or do something, like at school, at work, for personal yet when it comes to God’s we want to circumvent/frame it to our own way of living? We don’t do that with people, why God?

I cannot tell my wife Joanne I can only see her on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 1:00 to 3:00 p.m. and Sundays from 11:00 to 1:00 p.m. Would she have a problem with that? Is that a relationship or an agreement? Why do we do that with God? It’s not about a religion, it’s about a relationship. Men set up religion, God created relationship. I don’t have a religion with my wife, friends, or coworkers. When then with God? We have this thing stuck in our heads from our history: I’m not religious. God doesn’t want you to be. Religion hates, kills; he wants a relationship. Churches mainly today preach religion; prosperity, the deeds you can do, the bounty he will give you, it’s all a fairy tale. They preach religion without talking about knowing God. If it’s what you can do, then Jesus dying on the cross was a fraud. I don’t think so. Many of you and preachers are frauds.

We need to get back to old-time gospel preaching, not new what do you want me to tell you talking.

The chromosome that makes you up, and all your genetics of how you are, is in the shape of a cross.

The Bible says, Man looks on the outward appearance, God looks upon the heart. That’s why we select by our eyes transmitted to our brain, who we like/don’t like, who is cute and who’s not, who we spend time with, marry, etc. God looks upon the heart; he doesn’t see the face, the figure, personality, the size. That’s where we fall short—while we’re looking at the whole, he is looking at the heart.

Perception often becomes our reality.

Do you see with the same lens that God sees? If not, you need to see your optician. Dr. Jesus to patient: Now read the third line—GOD PERIOD.

In a doctor’s office, we sit in a waiting room. In life, we do the same.

If you were born two hundred years ago, would you know of the problems you’re facing today? But you slept then like you do now and doesn’t worry about it when you’re sleeping with your eyes closed, why with your eyes open? If our eyes were physically closed 24/7 yet still awake for sixteen of them, would we have any less faith in God? The darkness you experienced in the womb while you trusted is the same the sparrow feels each day on finding food. Does a bird look to the weather report and say, Okay, cold, rainy storms, will I get a worm/insect meal today? They see like you do, but they have no free will, yet they see clearly what you don’t. It’s their trust in God. Do you? If he takes care of the bird, how much more with you? Free will conflicts us; no will frees them. God had to give us a free will (because of his design/salvation) while we’re awake and no will while we’re asleep. Our no will while we don’t see (sleep) is the same as the birds while they see. If we can connect them, we would be far better.

You are a conduit for someone else’s future.

No man is an island. You need someone to help you in life along the way. God will use your friends and your enemies to keep you on track, so keep your enemies close. Joseph’s enemies played a role. Jesus had Judas, who played a role, Moses had Pharaoh. If living by yourself were all there was, then Adam had God, you wouldn’t need anything else. But God said a man shall not be alone, he needed a helpmate. God took one of Adam’s ribs. I don’t mind giving my wife the coleslaw, but the baby backs are a different question. LOL.

God has a sense of humor. He made me, didn’t he? When God told Abraham he was going to have a child at an old age, he and Sara laughed. Did you know rock and roll is in the Bible? David threw a rock at Goliath, and he rolled.

Some folks are cut out of one mold. If they don’t use the gifts, it becomes mold. Be a creator, not a complainer. Your life here is short, use it wisely.

All of us look in the mirror to see the dirt spots and look nice to go somewhere. Yet we don’t look at the eternal mirror (word of God) to see those sin spots and get clean. Aren’t you going somewhere?

We all use GPS to go horizontally, but how about vertically? GPS will correct you, can give you a warning ahead, that is, construction/accident; so does God. You buy a house, you want to see the plans, the blueprints; who do you think has yours? When did you look at the plans/prints for your life? It’s called the word of God—the Bible (road map).

Why did God give us two eyes and ears, not just one? He wants us to use both sides of our brain, not just one. He gave us two ears, yet only one mouth—it’s to hear twice as much as he wants us to speak. When you’re speaking, you cannot hear, yet how can you learn wisdom and understanding? Have you ever noticed?

Obedience is the key God wants from us as children. See Ephesians chapter 4 to 6. I’m sure God didn’t ask Adam and Eve to do fifty laps around the forest and twenty-five push-ups each day; he might have, I don’t know. I know he doesn’t ask us to do it. Yet he asked them not to eat from the tree; that’s obedience. All you have to do today in our society is see the lack of it. Many parents want to be their child’s friend and not their parent first; then they lose the respect of their child. God established obedience from the get-go; it’s the foundation to your child listening to adult authority figures when they get older like teachers and policemen. Just look at our society today; that’s all you need to see. That’s why it comes back to the home, the family which the radical Left wants to tear down. In Proverbs, King Solomon said, Train up a child in the way he shall go, and when he gets old, he shall not depart from it. It’s not about the cops, it’s about the culture. But the news outs don’t want to talk about that. It’s not about social or racial justice, civil rights; it’s civil unrest in the homes. That’s the foundation, where it starts. You can get the same race.

I had an older black man handicapped with one leg in a wheelchair once tell me while I was working as a park ranger, Ron, if I have to use a prefix before American (African American), I’m not American. We don’t say European white. We’re all Americans. If you notice, the same race can be brought up in two different neighborhoods, countries, families, and they come out different. Why? It’s the family foundation teaching about respect, God, values, etc. When you break that up and have no parent figure there especially the father, you run into problems. I see all these civil rights folks getting praise (yet the house is still in unrest), but when was the last time you saw a parent raising their child in a good home and getting an award? That’s where we need to focus.

Isn’t it amazing how the driveway can look different than the hallway? (Bishop T. D. Jakes).

There are many houses, very few homes. You can see houses from a realtor, a home from a good parent.

We’re born into darkness, our life is in darkness for years, then we’re buried back in darkness. We’re born, come out and placed in a basket, just to be placed in a casket years later. We cry at births, we cry at funerals, we cry at sadness, yet we don’t while were sleeping. Why not?

Many times, the only times you see your extended family is at weddings and funerals. When you speak to them and you ask them about a relative—that is, Uncle Joe or Aunt Jenny, Mom, Dad—they say they were a fine person, but it’s complicated. See that?

As your children get older, you get smarter. Ever notice? You take care of them growing up, then they take care of you. God works in cycles, like in all life.

We sleep and have to close our eyes, yet we trust God. We’re awake, yet our eyes are closed to our fears/tomorrow, yet in sleep we don’t have a problem. Why not? When your eyes are open, the light switch of self-will is turned on, and it creates things it doesn’t have to. Yet in a child’s mind, they trust 24-7. Why couldn’t adults do the same? It’s because of our growing up, we think outside the toy box; we need to get back inside it.

We trust God while we sleep, what we don’t see, have no control over, set our alarm as if we were to wake, expecting to. How come that doesn’t transfer to when we’re awake and can see, but only day to day, not the future, and get anxiety, yet we don’t do it while our eyes are closed, why? That’s why God doesn’t tell you your future; your future is in him. Nature has no problem with it, why do you?

When you’re born (from conception), you grow like a seed. God puts you in darkness first, no lightbulbs here. A seed can only grow in darkness. We come out, into the light, but in darkness.

CHAPTER 1

God’s Multivitamin and the Start

In the Beginning

God started with a beginning; so must you. He could have created the earth in the blink of an eye, but he didn’t. Why not? It was mainly to show us humans that there is a process to things. After he made each day, he waited a thousand years and said it was good. He waited forty-two generations after he set the right people in place from the lineage of David to Jesus. This is a process of birth to growing up, stages, etc. So remember, if God can wait on his projects, how much can you?

How God Sees Things (the Inside, Not the Out)

People look at the outside of the person, their race, their creed, their background, their social status, etc., etc. God looks at the heart. In any case of good and evil, it all comes down to the heart of the person. The Bible says man looks on the outward appearance, God looks on the heart. Don’t judge a person by their appearance or even their cover (their personality). Get to know that person; you may find there is more to that person than you think.

How He Relates Nature to Human Beings

God uses nature to teach us things.

Multivitamin Ingredients

a. The small. See Proverbs chapter 30. God says look at the ant and the spider and says, Even though they are small, they are wise. He never mentions man.

b. The ugly/hideous

c. The least picked/misfits

d. The weak: Past experiences shape your future

e. The downtrodden/castaways

f. Sick/lame: God used several examples in the Bible to show how his healing was a testimony to all.

Vitamin B6 (Psalm 6) and B12 (Psalm 12) in the Bible

Vitamin C (Corinthians 1 and 2) See who you are to God

Vitamin D (Dose of David) For obedience, and courage.

Vitamin E (Ephesians) for obedience, raising a family.

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Thoughts for Today

People say think outside the box. I say that’s fine, as long as your box is always empty. For a full inbox will slow you down, but an empty one will keep you moving always with fresh ideas.

Just because it’s delayed doesn’t mean it’s denied. We all delay aging, but sagging is eventually going to happen. Eyeglasses, hearing aids, medical issues, etc., comes with age. It’s part of the process. We take care of children, then they take care of us.

On Leadership

Some have to be the hammer, some the nails.

Leaders are