It was on a calm evening years ago when the ship Stella left Southampton with one hundred and thirty-nine passengers. Among them was a mother and her small boy, Arnold. About four o’clock in the morning in a thick fog, a loud grating sound was heard and the Stella quivered from stem to stern. The passengers were aroused by a loud call from Captain Weeks, ordering the crew to “stand by: lower the boats.” The ship had run upon the rocks and was fast sinking.
What a scene followed! Women and children were crowded into the boats; parents clasped their little ones; husbands bade their wives farewell, perhaps never to meet again.
The fond mother and her little son, Arnold, stood upon the crowded deck. It so happened that Arnold had brought along a football, like many a boy would do now, intending to have a game when they reached port. Suddenly the poor mother seized the football and tied it firmly around Arnold’s neck. “It may be useful, darling,” she said.
A few minutes later the Stella gave a lurch, heeled over and sank beneath the waves. Arnold, with the ball around his neck, was thrown into the sea. The football kept him afloat. Some time later, he was picked up by a lifeboat and saved.
Had Arnold refused to have the ball tied around his neck, he could not have survived in those great waters; he would have perished. So do all who reject Christ. A football would be a strange means of escape. So to many a proud heart is the sight of One dying on a cross for sinners, a foolish way of salvation. But that is God’s way. It is the only way— “for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.” Acts 4:1212Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved. (Acts 4:12).
Jesus is the highest name in heaven, and the sweetest name on earth. Is He your Saviour, dear reader?
ML-12/13/1964