Brrrrr. It was a chilly morning as Pat O’Rourke drove his track truck along the railroad tracks near Butte, Montana. Suddenly he noticed something unusual on the tracks. Was it a deer that had been hit by a train? No, it looked more like three furry little bundles. When he got closer, he was amazed to discover three mountain lion cubs. They were very much alive, but they did not scramble away as he walked closer. All three were frozen to the rails in the frigid morning air!
Poor little cubs. They had crossed the Silver Bow Creek in the ten-degree air temperature before walking onto the steel rails, and their wet fur had become a problem. One cub was frozen to the track on its back. Another was frozen to a railroad spike by its paw and its belly was frozen to the rail. The third cub was frozen to a second set of tracks by its tail. Pat tried to move the cubs with a shovel, but that didn’t work. The cubs screamed and were “all teeth and claws,” but they were still frozen to the rails. Then Pat tried pouring his thermos of coffee on one cub’s paw, hoping it would free the animal from the icy trap. That didn’t work either.
“The cubs kept licking their paws, and the more they licked, the more stuck they became,” Pat said. “It seemed like every time they could finally move one thing, something else got stuck.”
Do you know that many boys and girls are like those cubs frozen to the rails? Boys and girls are caught too, but not on a railroad track. They are caught because they have sinned, and they can’t get rid of those sins. The Bible says, “He shall be holden with the cords of his sins” (Proverbs 5:2222His own iniquities shall take the wicked himself, and he shall be holden with the cords of his sins. (Proverbs 5:22)). Those mountain lion cubs were in big trouble if they stayed where they were. A railroad track is a terribly unsafe place to be stuck. And any child still with sin on their heart is in a terribly unsafe place too. God has said that “the soul that [sins], it shall die” (Ezekiel 18:44Behold, all souls are mine; as the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son is mine: the soul that sinneth, it shall die. (Ezekiel 18:4)), and He also says, “After this the judgment” (Hebrews 9:2727And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment: (Hebrews 9:27)). Every person with sin on his heart needs someone to rescue him from danger. Every person who dies with sin on his heart will have to face the punishment for all his sins.
The mother mountain lion was watching from a nearby ridge, and Pat heard her angry roar. But the mother lion was as helpless as Pat was to save her little cubs. And your parents cannot take away the sins on your heart. God tells us in Psalm 49:77None of them can by any means redeem his brother, nor give to God a ransom for him: (Psalm 49:7) that “none of them can by any means redeem his brother [or child].” That means that no matter how much your mother and father love you, they cannot remove the wrong things that you have done.
Pat heard the roar of the mother lion and hurried back into his track truck. He phoned Montana’s division of Fish, Wildlife and Parks, and they sent out a game warden with lots of hot water.
Marty Vook came to the spot where the cubs were frozen to the rails and set out to melt the ice. That hot water did the job! When the cubs finally ran off, they left patches of hair on the steel tracks. They were exhausted from their struggles, but at last they were free!
What about you? The answer for those little cubs was lots of hot water, but no amount of washing with water can ever take away sin. The Bible tells us that only “the blood of Jesus Christ His Son [cleanses] 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)). The Lord Jesus came to this world and let men nail Him to a cross. There a soldier stabbed a cruel spear into His side, and His blood that flowed from His wounded side can wash away your sins forever. He is offering to save you from your sins. “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved” (Acts 16:3131And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house. (Acts 16:31)). If you accept this gift of salvation, then you will be free forever.
ML-02/08/2004