“Look!” Hugo called to his friend. “There’s a condor!”
“There’s two of them!” his friend called back.
Hugo and his friend live high in the mountains of Bolivia. Their homes are not as nice as most of the homes that you have seen. They are made of bricks of mud that have been dried in the sun. The land is very dry and there are high mountain peaks all around the plateau where Hugo and his friend live.
Condors often live in this area. They are one of the largest and heaviest land birds. They have a wingspread of 12 feet - twice the height of a man! Like vultures, they eat dead animals. Condors are so common in the mountains of Bolivia that they are the national bird of that country.
It is always a special sight to see condors flying high above the earth when they leave their nests in the high mountain peaks to search for food. Now Hugo and his friend stood watching as the birds began to fly overhead. How they would like to see those huge birds up close!
Suddenly Hugo had an idea. “Let’s lie down and be very still,” he said to his friend. “Condors eat dead animals. Maybe they will think that we are dead and will come closer. We’ll get to see them up close.”
“Okay,” his friend agreed.
So both boys lay down on the ground and stayed very still, hoping that the condors would notice them. Hugo kept his eyes closed except for a little slit so that he would be able to see if the birds noticed them. Sure enough, the condors changed their direction and began to fly in large circles overhead.
Wow! thought Hugo, those birds did notice us! But he did not say a word nor did he move even a little. He wanted them to come closer. This was fun! The birds continued flying in circles overhead and slowly began to come closer to the two bodies that were on the ground.
Hugo never realized just how big those condors could be. They flew closer and closer. Peeking out of the little slits in his eyes, Hugo began to get a close-up look at the large birds. How ugly their bald heads were, and their big hooked beaks seemed so close!
They circled just overhead now, always coming closer. Suddenly Hugo was struck with fear. Those birds were very ugly, and they thought he was dead! They wanted to eat him!
Hugo and his friend had thought they were going to have fun, but their “fun” ended up being pretty scary and even dangerous. Boys and girls, we must warn you that sin is often like Hugo’s “fun.” Sin often seems not so bad, and the Bible tells us that there is sometimes pleasure in sin for a short time. But the devil is your enemy and he is a hard master. Like those fierce condors, Satan “as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour” (1 Peter 5:88Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour: (1 Peter 5:8)). You may think that you can “play” with sin and then leave it when you want, but God’s Word, the Bible, warns us that “sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death” (James 1:1515Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death. (James 1:15)). Only the Lord Jesus, who never sinned, can rescue you from the paths of sin.
Hugo knew that his fun with the condors had gone too far. Suddenly he yelled to his friend, “Let’s get out of here!” They jumped up and ran as fast as their legs could take them to a place of safety. They had been very frightened by the condors, but they reached home safely and learned a lesson they would never forget.
Boys and girls, I hope you will not forget that you cannot “play” with sin. Even a small lie can lead you deeper and deeper into the paths of sin. God loves you and wants to deliver you. He sent His Son, the Lord Jesus, to suffer and die on the cross to break the devil’s power and save us from our sins. “For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God” (1 Peter 3:1818For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit: (1 Peter 3:18)).
Will you let the Lord Jesus save you?
ML-11/17/1996