Thursday morning seventeen-year-old John sat in my math class, but he was more excited about the workbench he had been building in his shop class than about math. He knew his grandfather would appreciate the pegboard back and the trouble light he had wired into the bench. It was on wheels and could be moved to wherever his grandfather needed it.
Later that morning, we took a picture of John proudly standing next to the workbench. Then his picture, along with the pictures of his classmates and their woodworking projects, was posted in a display case for a school open house the next day.
Friday morning our school was buzzing with preparations for the open house, but the picture of John had been removed from the display case. The shop teacher said the principal had removed it.
A few minutes later when I was in the office, Mrs. Whiting, the principal, asked me to step into her office and closed the door.
“John is missing,” she began. “He went out onto the ice of Oak Orchard Creek early this morning, and the rescue workers believe that he fell through the ice.”
After lunch Mrs. Whiting received the news that John’s body had been recovered from the icy waters of the creek.
Earlier that morning, John had seen his dog run out onto the frozen creek and fall through the ice. John loved his dog and ran to rescue him. As he frantically ran towards the spot where his dog had disappeared, John’s grandfather shouted to him not to go onto the ice!
John ignored this warning and ran onto the thin crust of ice that was hiding the flowing water underneath. When his grandfather saw John disappear through the ice, he ran to call for help.
Due to the conditions in the creek, rescue workers were unable to search for John until special teams arrived. A team of volunteer rescuers pulled John’s lifeless body from the water around noon.
John chose to ignore his grandfather’s urgent warning not to go onto the ice. God has given warnings to you and me in His Word, the Bible. He warns about the awful result of rejecting the Lord Jesus Christ who died to save us from our sins. “He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him” (John 3:3636He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him. (John 3:36)).
We are not promised tomorrow. None of John’s teachers or classmates knew that when John left school on Thursday, he would not walk into school again on Friday morning. He would never show off his workbench or give it to his grandfather. “Boast not thyself of tomorrow; for thou knowest not what a day may bring forth” (Proverbs 27:11Boast not thyself of to morrow; for thou knowest not what a day may bring forth. (Proverbs 27:1)).
ML-02/11/2007