Many of the boys and girls who read this paper have seen great logs floating peacefully down the river, or swirling and splashing through rapids. We often see them in the Ottawa River, and on the left side of our picture today there is a great pile of them at the paper mill. For those who have never seen them, I must tell you something of the story of logs.
If you come with me in the cold winter-time, you will find great bands of strong men working away, sawing down mighty trees in the forests. These trees are cut into logs, and are then often dragged to the nearest river and left on the ice. It seems strange to see such great numbers of logs piled on the ice and snow, but very soon, as the warmer weather comes, the ice melts and logs begin their long journey down the river to the mill. Side by side they float along, some big and some little; some pine and some spruce. And who owns all these fine logs? It may surprise you to know that they belong to different owners, and yet they all float down the stream together. How can it be told who owns this one and who owns that one? They are all marked with the stamp of the owner, and when they get to the end of the journey, they are separated from one another, and claimed by their lightful owners. Many years ago, I used to work in the bush in the cold winter weather, and I carried with me a stamping ax on which were the letters FS. Every log that we cut had to be stamped with this brand so that it would be claimed by the “Forestry Service of Canada.”
Now why have I told you about these logs and their markings? Because I believe there is a lesson in it which we all ought to learn. Is it not something like you and me and the other people we know? We are all journeying along together, but some day we shall come to the end of our journey, and then there will be a great separation. Boys and girls play together at school. Along the stream of life they go, to work in factories and offices, and nearer and nearer they drift to the great day when the separation will take place. Who is your master? Do you belong to the Lord Jesus? Perhaps you think it doesn’t matter very much right now, for you are young and strong and the day of separation seems very far away. But it is very important to be able to say right now, “I belong to Jesus.” I am so glad that the Lord Jesus saved me when I was just a boy, and marked me as His very own. There is no mark that anyone else can see, but the precious blood of the Lord Jesus has washed away all my sins, and I know that God looks down at me as one of His own. And if I should die, or if the Lord Jesus should come and call us all away, I know that He will claim me as His own.
Do not forget the lesson of the logs. They were marked and they were claimed. And you will be claimed some day. You will either be claimed by the Lord Jesus as one who has accepted Him as Saviour, or you will be sent down into hell with the devil and his angels. Which will it be for you, dear reader?
ML 02/12/1956