Buck was a big Siberian Husky dog who lived in the Northwest Territories of Canada. He was owned by a trapper named John. Buck was the lead dog of John’s dog-sled team in the winter. At other times of the year he traveled with John, sitting in the front of his canoe.
John and Buck, with two other trappers, Hans and Pete, were traveling down the Forty-Mile River. At one spot on the river there was a dangerous section of rapids. The men decided to “line” the canoe down the rapids rather than to carry it around them. John stayed in the canoe while Hans and Pete moved along the bank, holding the canoe with a long rope. They frequently had to wrap the rope around trees to slow the canoe down, because the current in the river was so fast. John used a long pole to push the canoe away from rocks, and shouted directions to the men on shore. Buck, worried and anxious, was on the shore but kept abreast of the boat, his eyes never off his master.
At a particularly tricky spot where a ledge of rocks jutted out into the river, Hans gave plenty of slack line to John, who poled the boat out into the stream. Hans then ran down the shore with the end of the rope and tied it loosely to a tree. The boat caught in the swift current and went wildly downstream, stopping with a sudden jolt when it got to the end of the rope. The jolt was so hard that John was thrown out of the boat and carried downstream toward the worst part of the rapids: a stretch of wild river in which no swimmer could survive!
Buck leaped into the water as soon as John fell in. Three hundred yards downstream, in a mad swirl of water, he overtook John. When he felt John grasp his tail he headed for the bank, swimming with all his splendid strength. While the progress towards shore was slow, the progress downstream was amazingly fast! Around the bend in the river came the roar of the current as it thundered down a steep ravine to rocks below.
Just as John’s only hope was in the strength of Buck, each one of us also needs help from someone else. As sinners we are as those “having no hope, and without God in this world.” Ephesians 2:1212That at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world: (Ephesians 2:12). But God has supplied the help we need to go to heaven; it is through the Lord Jesus Christ. “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by Me.” John 14:66Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me. (John 14:6). By accepting Him as our Saviour and by believing that His blood can wash us from all our sins, then we can say, “But now, in Christ Jesus, ye who sometime were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ.” Ephesians 2:1313But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ. (Ephesians 2:13).
Just as John thought they wouldn’t reach the shore in time, his foot scraped roughly over a rock, then a second and a third. Finally, there was one he could touch with his hands. He clung to its slippery top with both hands, so had to let go of Buck. Above the roar of the churning water he shouted, “Go, Buck! Go!”
Without the drag of John’s weight, Buck swam powerfully to shore and was helped up the bank by Pete and Hans. Pete had the rope with him that had been used to line the boat. They tied the rope to Buck’s neck and shoulders, being careful so that it wouldn’t strangle him or hinder his swimming. Buck seemed to understand that he was to take the rope to John.
They took Buck upstream from where John clung desperately to the rock before letting him jump out into the raging water. He swam directly into the current as Hans and Pete kept the rope from tangling on the rocks. Buck swam out until he was on a line straight above John. Then he turned and, swimming with the current, rushed toward John. John saw him coming. As Buck struck him with the full force of the current behind him, John quickly clasped both arms around the shaggy neck.
When Hans and Pete were sure that John had a firm hold around Buck, they pulled on the rope with all their might. The force pulled both John and Buck under the water. Kicking and struggling to the surface they were pulled over the jagged rocks and snags. They finally lay exhausted on the shore. John was cut up and bruised, and Buck had three broken ribs, but they were alive and safely on shore.
John owes his life to the love and strength of Buck. We, too, owe everything to the love of God. He loved us so much that He sent His only Son to save us. Have you accepted that love? Like John, have you accepted the salvation that has been offered to you? Have you taken the Lord Jesus Christ as your Saviour? “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” John 3:1616For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. (John 3:16).
ML-02/08/1981