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. Now the ice was breaking up and floating downstream in huge chunks. As they watched the huge pieces of ice, one of the friends 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 fun! So taking their pole with them, they all climbed onto one large chunk 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 were being swept down the river. To make matters worse, the chunk of ice on which they were floating began to melt, and pieces started breaking off.
The five friends were in real danger! Carol Ann and Natalie could not swim, and the other three realized that they could freeze to death if they tried to swim to shore in the icy water. Wisely, they did the only thing left—they screamed for help!
Have you boys and girls realized that you need help just as much as these five friends did? I know you are not floating down a river on a piece of ice right now, but you still have a need that is even more serious. You are a sinner and cannot do one thing to get rid of those sins by yourself. The only way to have your 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 your 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).
Jason, another friend, heard the screams. When he saw what was happening he knew he couldn’t help his friends. He ran his fastest to Mr. MacDonald’s house to get his help. 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.
The five friends were so scared that when they saw the dory coming they wanted to try to swim to meet the boat. But Mr. MacDonald called to them to stay where they were until he reached them.
The five friends 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 Sunday school, or reading their Bibles, 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 deeds” will never wash our sins away.
Because of the strong wind that was blowing, 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 go back for the rest. But when he reached them, he saw how dangerous their situation was. Their chunk of ice was melting and already full of holes. It was so thin that the water was up to the children’s ankles.
Mr. MacDonald decided to take all of the children at once. 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, but all six of them landed safely on the riverbank.
The five friends thanked Mr. MacDonald for risking his own life to save them. The 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 then thank Him?
ML 10/14/1990