Gertrude was not a girl, or a dog, or a cat, or even a gerbil. Gertrude was the name given to a cow by Gary, the farmer who owned her. How did she get a name like that? Well, it really wasn’t her full name. She earned the name Galloping Gertrude, but she was called Gertrude for short.
How did she earn her name? Well...Galloping Gertrude liked to run. She ran down roads, across fields and over (and sometimes through) fences. She seemed to like running... but never in the direction that Farmer Gary wanted her to go.
Let’s start from the beginning of the story. Gertrude was only one of many cows that Farmer Gary had on his farm. These cows would all have a calf each spring. Gary would keep the calves for a year and then sell them, but he kept the cows. Gertrude had been on the farm for about three years. Each spring she had a new little calf, and she was a good mother.
One day it was time for Farmer Gary to move some of the cows with their calves from the barnyard to a pasture across the road. In the confusion of sorting out some of the cows and their calves, Gertrude’s calf was herded off to the pasture, but Gertrude was left behind with the other cows in the barnyard.
For almost two days Gertrude mooed and mooed in the barnyard. She couldn’t find her calf. She didn’t know where it was.
Hearing her mooing and not seeing her calf beside her, Farmer Gary realized what must have happened. He decided it would be easiest to move Gertrude to the pasture across the road where her calf was. That day some friends were at his house. With their help moving Gertrude should be easy. There would be four people to direct one cow out the barnyard gate, down the lane, across the gravel road, and through the gate into the pasture where her calf was. There was lots of time to move her that evening before it got dark.
Boys and girls, do you know that God has only the best planned for you, if you will follow Him? First and most important, He wants you to be saved from your sins. Even though we are sinners He has provided a way for each of us to enter heaven. That “gate” is by accepting the Lord Jesus Christ, His Son, as our own Saviour. The Lord Jesus said, “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).
After we are saved we must let Him guide us. Often though, we would rather go our own way, doing what we want to do. We should ask, “How can I know which way the Lord Jesus wants me to go?” We can find the answer in God’s Word, the Bible: “Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.” Psalms 119:105105NUN. Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path. (Psalm 119:105). If we follow the directions that God gives in the Bible, our path in this world will follow what He has planned for us.
The Bible sometimes compares people to sheep — “All we like sheep have gone astray.” Isaiah 53:66All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. (Isaiah 53:6). But this story is about a cow that went astray, instead of a sheep. It all began when she headed out the barnyard gate. She was supposed to turn right to go down the lane. Farmer Gary was standing on the left side, blocking her from turning that way. Across the lane from the barnyard gate, he had parked his pickup truck to block the opening into another field. Farther down the lane his wife and their friends would direct her across the road and through the pasture gate. All Gertrude had to do was quietly walk out of the barnyard, down the lane, and right into the pasture where her calf was waiting. It should have been easy because everyone was sure Gertrude wanted to find her calf.
But it wasn’t easy! One thing led to another. First Gertrude ran right around the truck which blocked the opening into the other field. She ran all around that field with Farmer Gary right behind her, trying to get her headed back to the lane. Then things got worse. Instead of going back through the opening to the lane, Gertrude found a break in the fence and got into a neighbor’s pasture. Running in there, she got into trouble. She stumbled headfirst into a creek, then broke through several fences, ending up in the neighbor’s barnyard with their cows!
Sometimes we make our own problems just by going our own way. It may seem small at first, perhaps just one wrong turn. Then, just like Gertrude, we end up in lots of trouble. We may get hurt, we may do things that are wrong, and we may get mixed up with the wrong kind of people. Going astray for Gertrude led her far away from her home pasture. As sinners we also have gotten so far away from God that we cannot find our own way back. God knew this, and because of His great love for sinners, He sent the Lord Jesus Christ into the world to save everyone who would believe in Him. “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). As this verse explains, all we have to do is believe, and we have everlasting life. Isn’t this something that you want? Then why not accept the Lord Jesus as your Saviour right now?
Gertrude had more problems now. Her wanderings had taken her into unfamiliar territory. The cows in the neighbor’s barnyard didn’t like her there and kept butting at her. Finally she jumped over the fence. “Free at last,” she may have thought, but she wasn’t! She had jumped out of a cow lot into a pig lot. Gertrude, a clean, beautiful cow, had gotten in with a bunch of dirty pigs!
This reminds us of the young man in Luke 15 who decided to go his own way and ended up not only feeding pigs, but having to eat what the pigs ate. Not following God’s plan will always lead us farther and farther away from Him. If you have not accepted the Lord Jesus as your Saviour, you are headed in the wrong direction — away from God. Won’t you stop right now and ask yourself, “Where am I headed?” You have two choices. You are either headed down the broad way that leads to destruction, or you are on the narrow path (God’s way) that leads to heaven (Matt. 7:13,1413Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: 14Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it. (Matthew 7:13‑14)).
It was at this point that Gertrude turned back. Farmer Gary was still trying to guide her in the right direction. He patiently tried to direct her out of the pig lot onto the lane again. But Gertrude still wouldn’t co-operate. She jumped another fence, this time back onto Farmer Gary’s farm and galloped across his field, over another fence, and out onto the lane. She galloped across the road and headed right to the pasture where she was to go in the first place. But instead of going in through the opened gate, she jumped over the fence, breaking it in the process. At last, an hour later, she was in her home pasture with her own calf and friendly cows. But what a path of unhappiness and destruction she left behind — fences to mend, apologies to the neighbors, frustrations and tiredness on everyone’s part — all because she wanted to go her own way.
If you haven’t done so already, why not accept the Lord Jesus Christ as your Saviour right now. He is patiently waiting for you. He loves you and wants you to be saved. Won’t you let Him save you?
“Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear My voice, and open the door, I will come in to him.” Revelation 3:2020Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me. (Revelation 3:20).
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