Mr. Rood was a biology teacher known for taking in injured animals and caring for them until they could be released safely back into the wild. One day in February, he got a telephone call from an airplane company in New Jersey. They had found a bird floundering around in a patch of oil near the plant, and they wanted to know if he would come rescue it.
At noontime, Mr. Rood and his friend Mr. Stephens, who was a bird specialist, headed for the airplane plant. A workman led them out to a ramp and showed them the sorry-looking bird that looked like nothing more than a large, soggy mass of oily feathers with a six-inch beak.
It didn’t take the two men long to recognize that the bird was a loon. They decided it had gotten confused by a winter storm. It must have spotted the oil-slicked asphalt and thought it was water. Once it had landed, it couldn’t get off the ground again, because loons need a long stretch of water to get flying speed. It had been floundering around on the asphalt, getting its feathers covered with oil.
The two men threw an old blanket over the bird before picking it up. Its feathers were cold and hard with grease. Taking it back to school with them, they gently set the loon in a box in a warm room.
After school, Mr. Rood decided to take the loon home with him to try to clean up its feathers. Although Mrs. Rood wasn’t very happy about the new addition to the family, after she saw the poor bird all covered with oil, she felt very sorry for it.
In the middle of February, most homes don’t have much to offer in the way of water deep enough for a loon to be comfortable in . . . except maybe for the bathtub. A few minutes later the loon was sitting in six inches of warm water in their bathtub. Mr. and Mrs. Rood tried to figure out how to clean the oil off the bird’s feathers. They decided to try laundry detergent for a start, so they poured a little in the bathtub. Then using a brush and washcloth, they worked gently on its oily feathers. Three changes of water later, the bird was fairly clean.
In some ways, we are very much the same as this poor loon. We don’t have gummed-up feathers, but every one of us has had our life gummed up with sin. And sin is a stain we can’t wash off with just soap and water and be done with it. There is only one way to have our sins removed: “The blood of Jesus Christ [God’s] 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)). Any kind of laundry detergent would have worked for the loon. But the only blood that has power to wash our sins away is the blood of the Lord Jesus shed on Calvary’s cross, because He is the Son of God.
And it only takes one washing with His blood for our sins to be gone forever! That poor loon had to be washed three times to get clean, and then it took further special care before it could get back to living normally. This is not the case when your sins have been washed away. The Lord Jesus immediately gives you a new life that loves to please Him. “If any man [woman or child] be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new” (2 Corinthians 5:1717Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. (2 Corinthians 5:17)). There is also the happiness of knowing that you will spend eternity with the Lord Jesus in heaven.
By now the Roods’ three children were home from school and had been watching the cleaning process. They, of course, wanted to keep the loon for a pet. Their dad explained that this was a water bird and would not be happy living on their lot full of trees. It needed a lake or large pond and would have to be returned to the wild in a few days. Until then, they would have to keep it in their bathtub until its natural oil got back into its feathers. Then it could stay afloat and wouldn’t drown in deep water.
The next problem to solve was what to feed the loon. Library books came up with that answer—live fish. A fishing tackle store not far away had a supply of live killifish. They bought a handful and dumped them into the bathtub with the loon. They had found the right answer. The loon cocked an eye, took aim with its beak, and ate every one of them!
After a few more days of this good care, the loon’s feathers looked much better. It preened itself, threading its natural oil through its feathers. Soon it was time for the loon to be returned to the wild. They carried the big bird to a large pond not far away and set it right in the water. The loon seemed to like the larger waters as it swam off across the pond.
We are glad our loon story has a happy ending. Will your life have a happy ending?
If you choose to remain in your sins, the future is frightening. When you die, you will have to bear the punishment for your sins in hell forever. God makes this very clear: “Whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire” (Revelation 20:1515And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire. (Revelation 20:15)).
ML-01/22/2017