It was a cold March afternoon, and Carol Ann and her friends Clarissa, Mark, Natalie and Ryan were walking along the banks of the river. The river had frozen solidly during the cold winter months. But now the ice was breaking up and floating downstream in huge chunks. As they looked at the huge pieces of ice, one of the children had an idea — a rather dangerous idea. “Just for fun, let’s climb onto the biggest chunk we can find and use this long pole to push ourselves along. Then we can float across the river to the other side!”
It sounded like a good idea! So taking their pole with them, they climbed aboard a large piece of ice, and began to pole themselves out into the river. Almost at once they found themselves in trouble. Their pole which had touched bottom near shore just wasn’t long enough in the deeper water, and they began to be swept down the river. To make matters worse the cake of ice on which they were floating began to melt, and pieces started to break off.
The five children were in real danger! Carol Ann and Natalie could not swim, and the other three children realized that they would freeze to death if they tried to swim to shore in the icy water. Wisely, they did the only thing they could possibly do... they began to scream for help!
Have you boys and girls realized that you need help just as much as those five children did? I know you are not floating down a river on a cake of ice right now, but you still have a need that is even more serious than that. You are a sinner and cannot do anything to get rid of those sins by yourself. The only way to have those sins removed is to accept the Lord Jesus Christ as your Saviour. He loves you and died on the cross so that you could have those sins forgiven. He promises that “whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.” Romans 10:1313For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. (Romans 10:13).
The children’s screams were heard. Jason was near enough to hear them, but he knew he couldn’t help. He ran his fastest to Mr. MacDonald’s house and asked him to please come help his five friends. Mr. MacDonald was a fisherman who owned a small rowboat called a dory. He dug his dory out of the snowbank beside his house as quickly as he could and headed for the river.
Because of the strong wind that was blowing that day, it took Mr. MacDonald almost half an hour to reach the children. His little dory was built to hold only two people, so he had decided to take some of the children back to shore and then return for the rest. But when he reached the children he saw how dangerous their situation was. The ice cake was melting and full of holes. It was so thin that the water was up to the children’s ankles.
The children were so frightened that when they saw the dory coming they wanted to try to swim to meet the boat. Mr. MacDonald called to them to stay where they were until he reached them.
The children thought they could help themselves a little by trying to get to the boat on their own. There are boys and girls who feel that they can help themselves get to heaven by some good things that they can do. They know that the Lord Jesus loves them and died for them. But instead of just accepting the salvation He offers and thanking Him, they think they can help by going to church, or reading their Bible, or being kind to others. The Bible tells us that these things are good, but they won’t help us get to heaven. We need to “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ” (Acts 16:3131And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house. (Acts 16:31)), and to believe that “The blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin.” 1 John 1:77But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin. (1 John 1:7). That is all we need — our “good works” will never wash our sins away.
Mr. MacDonald decided to try to take all of the children at once. So he told them to crouch down and crawl carefully into the boat. Then, warning them to remain very still to avoid capsizing the overloaded dory, he began the long trip back to shore.
The trip back took an hour and left Mr. MacDonald almost worn out. But all six of them landed safely on the river bank.
The children thanked Mr. MacDonald for risking his own life to save them. The children’s parents also thanked him for rescuing their children. Have you ever thanked the Lord Jesus for dying for you so that you might be saved? He loved you so much that He left His home in heaven and came down to earth to die on the cross so that you might have your sins forgiven. Won’t you accept His loving offer today and thank Him?
ML-05/12/1985