ONE hot summer day not long after the Johnson family had moved to another city, Mrs. Johnson had to do some grocery shopping. She had just started up the big family van and shifted into gear when one of the children came running up to her. “Mommy, Mommy! There’s a puddle of gasoline underneath our car in the driveway.”
Feeling a little concerned, Mrs. Johnson turned off the motor in the van and went into the house to tell her husband about the gas under their car. He told her that he had recently filled up the gas tank, and because it was such a hot day the gas was expanding and spilling out. He assured her it was nothing to worry about, but suggested that she take the car to do the shopping rather than the van. This would use up some of the gas and keep more from spilling out. So Mrs. Johnson took the car instead of the van.
Shortly after she left, one of the older girls saw their little brother Tony playing “mechanic” underneath the van parked in the street.
“Tony, you’d better not play under there,” Nancy warned him. “What if for some reason the van would start to roll down the hill?”
“OK,” said Tony, and off he went to play with his brother.
A short time later a man knocked on the Johnson’s front door. Betty, the oldest girl, answered the door, and the man asked her if they owned a green van. Betty said yes they did.
“Well, it rolled down the hill and ended up in our front yard,” said the neighbor man. “In fact, our tree stopped it from going any farther. It also looks like it went over my next-door-neighbor’s six-foot retaining wall along their driveway.”
“Oh no!” exclaimed Betty, and she called to her father to come hear the bad news.
Mr. Johnson soon made arrangements to have the van removed from the neighbor’s front yard and towed to an auto body shop for repairs.
When Mrs. Johnson returned from shopping, she heard the bad news. You see, when she turned off the motor in the van, in her concern about the spilled gas she forgot to put the gearshift into “park.” Since it was parked on a hill, the van rolled down the hill, over a wall and into the neighbor’s yard. Only moments before, a few children had been playing in the street, but God had graciously directed those children to be out of the street and safely in their own yards when the runaway van rolled down the hill. And there was more to be thankful for that Tony had listened to his sister and had stopped playing under the van! The Johnson family thanked the Lord Jesus for His protecting care over Tony and the other neighborhood children that day.
Children, do you know this loving Saviour, the Lord Jesus? Is He your very own Saviour? Do you go to bed at night in peace, knowing He will be watching over you all night long? Do you turn your day over to Him each morning and trust Him for His protecting care? You can if He is your Saviour. The Johnson family had just that morning asked Him for His help and protection over each family member throughout the day. The Lord says, “Before they call, I will answer; and while they are yet speaking, I will hear.” Isaiah 65:2424And it shall come to pass, that before they call, I will answer; and while they are yet speaking, I will hear. (Isaiah 65:24). And in Psalm 34:77The angel of the Lord encampeth round about them that fear him, and delivereth them. (Psalm 34:7) it says, “The angel of the Lord encampeth round about them that fear Him, and delivereth them.” Little Tony had accepted the Lord Jesus as his own Saviour, and so if the van had rolled over him, he would have been safe in the arms of Jesus for all eternity.
But what about you? Where would you be if your life should suddenly be taken? We hope that even right now you will let the Lord Jesus wash away all your sins in His precious blood. “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).
ML-06/16/1991