The Boy Dog-team Trailblazer
Far up in the frozen northland, in an isolated village that can only be reached by airplane or dog-team in the winter, lives a fourteen-year-old Indian boy who is an expert dog-team driver, whom we call Paul. His dogs are so trained for the trail that they can tell the way even when there are no tracks in the snow.
This Indian boy, Paul, is not only an excellent guide over the trackless snow, but he has been able to guide many other Indians to the Lord Jesus for salvation.
Ten years ago Paul's uncle was saved through a missionary and moved to Paul's village where no one knew anything about the Lord Jesus, and where there was much drinking and sinfulness. There is more drinking in Alaska than in any other country of the world! As a result, many children are left homeless because their parents have either died or forsaken them because of liquor.
Paul's uncle became a real testimony in this needy village, but he was greatly persecuted. As always, many people preferred their sin to the Savior. No one seemed to care to listen to the wonderful story of the Savior's love for them, until one day Paul accepted the Lord Jesus as his Savior.
Paul was then twelve years old, and already a dog-team driver. Paul and his uncle enjoyed reading their Bibles together, and always they witnessed to others.
"Let us pray, Paul, and ask God to send a missionary here to explain the way of salvation to our people."
They agreed, and as they prayed, missionaries were praying, too. Finally a missionary felt he could make the trip.
The day before starting his journey northward, the missionary stopped in a cabin for shelter for the night. The rough bunk bed did not look too clean, so he slept upon a high table. Early the next morning, before he had quite roused he accidentally rolled off the table, and in falling struck a stool, miraculously missing breaking his neck. But he did break some ribs, and dislocated his shoulder, and had to wait there until some Army boys rescued him.
Two years passed before, the Lord finally opened the way again for him to try to make the trip with his dog-team. This time all went well, and the last day of the trip brought them in sight of the village in the late evening. What a cheerful sight it was in the dusk of the early northern night to see the light gleaming out across the snow from the native chief's cabin.
The door of the cabin was flung wide, and after stamping the snow from his feet and stepping inside, the missionary found a warm welcome. And not only a welcome, but great surprises were awaiting him.
The news that the missionary had arrived, spread in no time, and the villagers flocked to the chief's cabin. Soon the rooms seemed to be filled to overflowing, and as the missionary looked about at the glowing, happy faces, he could hardly believe he was in the village where there had not been one Christian and which so short a time ago had been noted for its wickedness and drinking.
Now the cabin was ringing with the joyous singing of gospel songs, and the missionary noticed that they were using the same song books he had left with the Indian boy ten years before. They were well worn, but had been faithfully cared for, and the missionary marveled, at how well the children and grown-ups had been taught to sing.
Then came the happiest surprise of all. The Indian Chief and many others began to give their testimonies of how they had been saved-saved through the faithful testimony and witnessing of Paul and his uncle. Many had been saved, and the whole town had been revived; liquor and cigarettes were no longer sold in the town. What wonderful things the Lord had done through a faithful young Indian and a boy dog-team driver.
During the days of his visit with them, the missionary found a hearty welcome in nearly every home, and how they did enjoy gathering together to study God's Word! How wonderfully God had answered the prayers of Paul and his uncle, and the missionaries! The missionary could not help but think, "This is the Lord's doing, it is marvelous in our eyes."
The last day the missionary had a children's meeting, and as the bright-faced children gathered, the missionary rejoiced to see how well cared-for they looked. They were not the neglected, sad-faced children that he often saw in the villages where drinking parents thought of nothing but satisfying their wicked thirst. What blessed changes the gospel had brought in this isolated village, far from civilization as we know it!
"May I break the trail for you when you leave?" Paul asked.
"I will be delighted, Paul," the missionary gratefully answered. "It will be so nice to have your company, and I have heard such good things about your expert trail blazing."
Paul grinned, embarrassed, but pleased, and so in the early dawn they started out together on the long trail to the Alaskan Highway. The air was crisp and cold, and their breath hung in frosty clouds about them. The dogs were eager for the trail, and soon there was the familiar hissing of the runners in the snow, and now and then a spark of light as a runner struck fire on a hidden pebble in the snow.
As the sun finally topped the mountains, it spread a rosy glow over the white snow, and seemed to set millions of diamonds to sparkling. Whenever Paul's team and the missionary's drew close enough to one another they would sing gospel songs together, and sometimes in the still morning air the echoes would seem to awaken and join them.
The missionary marveled at Paul's unerring sense of direction, and his well-trained dog-team. Through forests they went, across snow-covered frozen lakes, and through hidden passes that shortened the trip, never missing the trail though often there was no sign of it for miles where fresh snow had drifted and buried it.
Finally they reached the Alaskan Highway on a Saturday night, and found an inn. The next day the people at the inn begged them to have a Sunday school, for there were many children living near, and it had been a long, long time since they had had a Sunday school.
So Paul and the missionary had a happy day telling the good news of salvation to the children and older folk there, who crowded in to hear.
Their dog-teams parted the next day. The missionary waved good-bye to the Indian boy who had been such an excellent guide, and he rejoiced, as he knew he was going back to guide not only travelers across the snow, but his own people to the Lord Jesus Christ.