Hundreds of volunteers, police and firefighters searched late into the night for the three young brothers. It was raining, cold and windy, and the boys had been out in the woods since 10:30 that morning. But the search finally had to be called off until daybreak. Everyone was worried. How long can young boys survive in pouring rain at 38 degrees with 30 m.p.h. winds?
It had been a school holiday in New Bedford, and Brian (13), Robert (11), Matthew (9), their dog Abby and a friend from school went to the woods for a walk. The boys had played in the woods many times, and, in fact, two of the boys had wilderness training. But the woods were deep, and there were swamps.
The boys were having fun, but then it started raining. They decided that it was time to head for home and tried to take a shortcut. It wasn’t long before they were lost.
Being lost in the woods in bad weather must be frightening. The boys probably realized then that taking a shortcut was the wrong thing to do. They should have gone the way they knew was the right way, but they couldn’t change that now.
Some people will always take shortcuts, even to get to heaven. They haven’t read the Bible’s double warning that says, “There is a way that seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death” (Proverbs 14:12; 16:25). There are no shortcuts to heaven; God tells us there is only one way. And people who try to get there another way will learn, perhaps too late, that what God says in the Bible is true.
At some point, the school friend left the three brothers and their dog and managed to find his way out of the woods alone while it was still daylight. He reported that the brothers were still lost in the woods, and the search for them began immediately.
Brian, Robert, Matthew and their dog slogged through shin-high swamp water in their wanderings. As darkness closed in on the cold, hungry, tired boys, the temperature dropped. The boys and their dog took shelter from the wind and heavy rain under a tree where they huddled together for warmth.
With the first streaks of daybreak, the search for the three brothers began again. Volunteers, police and firefighters called the boys’ names over and over, as they searched deeper into the woods. Several hours later two officers were wading through knee-deep swamp muck when they heard the boys answer their call. The officers found them huddled together under a tree. Abby was standing guard nearby.
Thankfully, the boys recovered in a few days’ time from their 22 hours in the woods. It was a scary lesson they learned about following only the right way in the woods and no shortcuts. But are you following God’s way, the only way, to heaven? God tells us in the Bible that the only way to heaven is through His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, who died on Calvary’s cross to put away our sins. Jesus Himself says, “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by Me” (John 14:6). If you think you can get there another way, you will have a very sad ending. It isn’t too late yet to change and follow Jesus. Will you follow the example of Matthew in the Bible? “Jesus . . . saith unto him, Follow Me. And [Matthew] arose, and followed Him” (Matthew 9:9).
“Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved” (Acts 4:12).
ML-04/09/2000