Many years ago, as an engineer building bridges in New Zealand, I had a dangerous experience. Bridges in that country are short and subject to frequent and sudden flooding. The country is mountainous, and in the South Island much snow falls on the highlands in the winter months. Then a rain will bring the snow down with it, and within a few hours the rivers in the lowlands become swollen torrents.
Late one winter night it was necessary for me to cross a certain river in the South Island. Heavy rain had fallen and the river was running a “banker.” Less than half a mile downstream could be heard the roar of a cataract where the floodwater swept in a seething torrent over and around great rocks in a narrow pass in the converging hills. A short distance upstream there were other rapids. Between the two the waters of the broad river, although quiet on the surface, were deep and running strongly.
A small Maori canoe, rather leaky and not very “seaworthy,” was my only means of crossing, but I was young and strong and had had considerable experience in handling canoes. I was not afraid to take the risk, so I set out.
The night was cold and pitch dark, but all was going well until, when about halfway across, the canoe suddenly struck an unseen obstacle. In a second it was overturned and was swept away. I was left, fully clothed, struggling under water. I came to the surface half-drowned. With an effort I calmed myself and got my breath.
My plight was desperate. If I did not drown before being carried down into the rapids, certain death awaited me there unless by some means I could reach the far bank of the river. I struck out for the other side. Never a strong swimmer, with all my clothes and boots on I seemed to make very little headway, and all the time I was being carried nearer and nearer the dreadful rapids and certain death. Still I swam, and in the goodness of God I drew near a steep bank. There I dimly saw against the sky the outline of a tree from which a branch hung out over the river. Could I reach it? Could I lay hold of it? Would it bear my weight?
I was near the rapids. The angry roar of the swirling waters made me put forth all my strength, and I gained a few feet that brought me near the overhanging branch. As I was being carried past the branch I clutched at it with both hands. Through God’s mercy I did lay hold of it. The pull of the water sweeping down over the rapids and the weight of myself in sodden clothing drew the branch lower and lower till it seemed it would surely break and let me go. However, being green and tough, it held. It bore my weight! With a final effort I drew myself hand over hand to land and safety. It was with difficulty that I reached camp, but when I got there I heartily thanked God for His providential care and mercy. I soon had a fire lighted, and in its warmth I knew that all was well. We are all in the fast-flowing stream of time and being carried down to the great rapids of death. The Lord Jesus said: “Strive to enter in at the strait gate.” The word “strive” here really means to “agonize”-to be desperately in earnest. That exactly describes the state of mind I was in and the efforts I put forth that dark winter night in the flooded river. It was no halfhearted struggle on my part. Knowing it was a case of life or death for me, and no human aid at hand, I literally “agonized” to reach the branch of the tree. God knew all about it long before my need arose, and He caused that tree to grow on the bank of the river and its branch to extend out over the water. He had met my need, but it was essential that I lay hold of His means of safety. God knew from the past eternity that we would need a Savior, and “when the fullness of the time was come, God sent forth His Son” (Gal. 4:44But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, (Galatians 4:4)). The Son of God has done all that is necessary to save you. He has come all the way from the heights of glory to the depths of pain and shame and death on Calvary to save your poor lost soul. He is now in reach of you. Paul said in Acts 17:2727That they should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after him, and find him, though he be not far from every one of us: (Acts 17:27), “They should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after Him, and find Him, though He be not far from every one of us.” If I had not accepted God’s opportunity offered me that night in the river long ago, this story would never have been written. You are in the stream of time being carried down to the rapids of death. You may be almost there at this moment. Will you be swept away to a lost eternity? I beg you to accept the Savior now.