Memory Verse: “Jesus ... saith unto him, Follow Me. And he arose, and followed Him.” Matthew 9:9
The adventure started one Monday morning. It seemed like an exciting game of follow-the-leader as Tim and Eddie followed Ben around the streets of their quiet neighborhood. They stopped for ice cream, soft drinks, hot dogs—just anything that interested them. What fun it was just to wander around, stopping to eat, explore or play whenever they wanted.
We are all following a leader through life, but the important question is—which leader are you following, the Lord Jesus or Satan? The Lord Jesus Christ is the Way, the Truth and the Life (John 14:6), and He is the only one that can lead you safely through life to heaven. We cannot follow two leaders. Matthew 6:24 tells us “No man can serve two masters....”
The boys continued on their adventure through the afternoon not knowing that their parents and the police were very concerned and had begun searching for them. Some of the other people in their neighborhood saw the boys stop for pizza, but they did not know the boys were headed for trouble.
The boys were never found alive. While exploring an empty apartment building, the three of them had crammed themselves into one little closet. The door got stuck, and they eventually died because they could not get enough air.
This story does not have what we would call a “happy ending.” Sometimes we do not like to read stories like this. Many children think they can just go on doing what they want to, following the wrong leader, and everything will be alright. But the Bible tells us that unless we accept the Lord Jesus Christ as our Saviour and follow the right Leader, we will end up in the lake of fire (hell). We certainly would have to say that the lake of fire is not a “happy ending.” Accept the Lord Jesus as your Saviour now, and then you will know the joys of a “happy ending.” “In Thy presence is fullness of joy; at Thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore.” Psalms 16:11.
ML-12/13/1981