A MISSIONARY once came to work among the Indians that lived on the shores of Lake Winnipeg years ago.
One day they brought him a little Indian boy whose father and mother were both dead. The missionary took pity on the poor unwanted orphan, and for a number of years cared for him as his own son. He called him William.
The boy not only grew up tall and strong but heard many things about God and His Son Jesus. He learned to read and write and pray, and appeared quite happy with life at the mission station.
But one summer when the Indians gathered to trade furs, an Indian family from far away succeeded in coaxing the lad to return with them to their hunting grounds. Forgetting the kindness shown to him for so many years, and without a word of thanks or good-bye, he slipped away in the darkness with his newfound friends.
After many days they reached their hunting grounds and now the runaway found life was not so pleasant. The natives were often very cruel. Sometimes there was very little to eat. Many of the Indians around lived evil lives, and all worshipped the bad spirits. However, he thought that because he lived with them he must be like them. So he tried to forget all that the missionary had told him about the great, good God and His Son Jesus.
The Indians called him by a different name and he grew up to be like the rest of them. One of them sold him his daughter to be his wide and they had several children.
One winter he took his family where he thought there would be plenty of deer to shoot and animals to trap, and there he built a wigwam.
But strange to tell, though he hunted with all his Indian skill and perseverance, he could not find any game. Again and again he had to go back to the wigwam with nothing to eat.
“I will try once more”, he said to himself at last, “and if I cannot shoot a deer I will shoot myself.” All that day he hunted but could not find so much as an animal’s tracks.
On the third day he felt weak and all, and in despair said to himself, “It’s no use, I will die here.”
Loading his gun, and putting the muzzle to his head, he was about to pull the trigger, when a voice called, “William!”
It was not his Indian name, but the name that the missionary had given him when a boy. He dropped his gun and looked around, but could see no one.
Then he realized that the voice was in his heart and it seemed to say,
“William, do you not remember what the missionary told you about God? That He was kind, and that even if we went far away from Him He would forgive for Jesus’ sake? Why not pray to Him now?”
But he thought of how wicked he had been and said, “I cannot pray. It is too mean to pray now.”
Still the inner voice seemed to say, “It is worse to stay away.”
Then he seemed to hear his hungry wife and children crying for food in the wigwam. That made him decide. He knelt down in the snow and began to pray. He asked the Lord to forgive the poor Indian who had been so wicked and gone so far away from Him. He asked Him to help him in his troubles and give him food. Then he asked that as soon as the snow was gone he might again find the missionary and learn to live for God.
As he prayed he seemed to grow stronger. In his heart he felt that help was very near. He forgot that he was cold and hungry and weak. He took up his gun with a glad heart for he felt that God had indeed had mercy on a poor sinful Indian.
He had not gone far before he was able to shoot a large deer. He quickly made a fire and ate some of the meat. He then hung part of it high in a tree away from the wolves then taking as much as he could carry, he set off to his family in the wigwam, his heart filled with joy. In the days that followed they always had something to eat.
As soon as the snow had melted and the ice was gone from the lakes and rivers, he got his canoe ready and taking his wife and children with him headed for the faraway mission station, which he had left so long before. Here, to his great delight, he found the faithful old missionary again and told him the above story. Together they rejoiced over the wonderful grace of God and thanked Him for His neverending love and care for a poor Indian.
ML-07/14/1974