Carl checked the angle of his camera lens one last time and then snapped the picture. It was a perfect summer day above the Arctic Circle, where he was stationed alone in the wilderness to photograph wildlife. A few years before, he had gone on a similar expedition in the same area and wanted to return to capture more pictures of the beauty of the tundra.
Starting out in mid-March, Carl took 500 rolls of film and 1400 pounds of food with him. His diet was mostly beans and rice, and this would last until he was picked up in August.
Over the summer, Carl recorded his adventures carefully in his notebook. Migrating animals returned and settled in the photographer’s valley, and his notebook was full of descriptions of nature around him.
August brought cooler weather, and with it an array of yellows, browns and reds. Constant rain signaled an early winter, and Carl began to look for the plane that was supposed to take him back home. Unfortunately, he had not made definite arrangements as to exactly when he wanted to be picked up, and now he was realizing his mistake. His scientific notebook began recording his worries.
In mid-August Carl wrote, “I think I should have used more foresight about arranging my departure. I’ll soon find out. Am down to beans now...just over a gallon. That may not last two weeks. Finished off the rice yesterday.”
From here on began the struggle to survive and the long wait for help. Carl set traps daily for fish and small animals, only to have them robbed by wolves. Occasionally he would manage to steal food from the ravens. He tore bark off the trees and boiled it with the few spices he had left. And every day he looked for the plane that did not come.
We are all accustomed to making definite arrangements for events in our lives. It may feel like the summer of your life right now, with everything beautiful and fulfilling around you. But life on earth does not last forever, and there is an eternity after death to seriously consider. Have you made definite arrangements to be taken safely to heaven at the end of your life on earth? The One who can give you peace and assurance about it is the One who loves you and cares about you, the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the only One who can take you there, and when the time comes, He will not leave you waiting or wondering without hope. He has promised, “I will come again, and receive you unto Myself” (John 14:33And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also. (John 14:3)). Because He died on the cross to save sinners from their sins, you can be certain that the Lord Jesus will take you safely to heaven if you have settled the matter of your sins with Him.
In October, the frostbitten and nearly starved Carl spotted a state plane overhead. Waving wildly, he tried to attract the attention of the pilot. However, when the pilot did see Carl, he thought Carl was giving the “okay” signal and flew on. Carl, not knowing the correct signal for distress, had waved in a way that said, “All okay. Do not wait.” That was the last time that anyone saw Carl alive.
By the end of November Carl was so weak and hungry that he knew death was very near. As the darkness of the Arctic night closed around him, he could only make one last entry in his notebook: “Am burning the last of my emergency light and just fed the fire the last of my split wood. When the ashes cool, I’ll be cooling along with them. Dear God in heaven, please forgive me my weakness and my sins. Please look over my family.”
When a state trooper landed in the clearing the following February, he found only Carl’s frozen body. A newspaper ran the story with the title, “He Waited in Vain for Help That Never Came.”
In the end, when Carl had lost all hope and realized that there was no one else to help him, then he turned to God, asking for forgiveness for his sins. Why not definitely settle the issue of eternal life with Jesus right now? He loves you and wants to forgive your sins, if you will let Him. He promises, “These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God [Jesus]; that ye may know that ye have eternal life” (1 John 5:1313These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God. (1 John 5:13)).