Hello Children!
Here where we live, we still have forest and open fields around us, and wildlife and birds, and we enjoy it all every day! Yes, even in the cold and snowy months of winter we find the wildlife is much easier to see against the white snow and to see their footprints in the snow. God has said, “While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease” (Genesis 8:2222While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease. (Genesis 8:22)). What a beautiful promise!
Now I want to tell you about a coyote that had somehow gotten lost and was in the city, instead of in the forest where he belonged! Do you children know what a coyote looks like? It looks very much like a big dog. It’s bigger than a fox and smaller than a wolf.
This coyote was trying very hard to get back to the forest where it came from. However, people in cars were blowing their horns and frightening it. This poor animal needed help or it would get killed crossing a street with traffic everywhere!
Let’s stop right here and think about the lost sheep that we read about in Luke 15:3-63And he spake this parable unto them, saying, 4What man of you, having an hundred sheep, if he lose one of them, doth not leave the ninety and nine in the wilderness, and go after that which is lost, until he find it? 5And when he hath found it, he layeth it on his shoulders, rejoicing. 6And when he cometh home, he calleth together his friends and neighbors, saying unto them, Rejoice with me; for I have found my sheep which was lost. (Luke 15:3‑6). There were 100 sheep, but one, just one, strayed away from the shepherd. Why did he stray away? Maybe he thought, “I can find better food somewhere else.” But, that sheep got lost! Any wolf or fox would be very happy to find this lost sheep and have it for dinner!
But when the shepherd guided his flock of sheep into a safe place for the night, he discovered that one was missing! Without wasting time, because it would soon be dark, he picked up his staff and went searching for the lost sheep. And he didn’t stop searching until he found it! What joy! Then he picked it up and laid it on his shoulders and carried it back to the flock to be with the others in the safe place. Now that’s a happy ending!
Now let’s see what happened to the coyote that was lost in the city. In its running here and there, it fell into a deep, wide crack in the cement and was trapped about eight feet down. When rescuers found it, how were they to get it out of there without getting bitten by the animal? The crack was too narrow for the coyote to turn around, so the rescuers pulled the coyote slowly backwards and upwards, using a catch pole around its middle to pull it to safety. They were able to put a muzzle over the coyote’s mouth so no one would get bitten and then move it into a cage. They lifted the cage onto a small truck and drove it to a field where they released it after taking the muzzle off. Neither the animal nor the rescuers were injured, so it’s a happy ending to the coyote’s problem.
Children, there is a very happy home for you and me at the end of our lives. It’s called heaven. But only boys, girls and adults will be there who have been saved from their sins. This coyote could not save itself, and neither can you save yourself from your sins. But God gives us these two Bible verses that tell us how to be saved: “The blood of Jesus Christ His 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)). “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:99If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. (1 John 1:9)). This is the only sure way to be saved and know you will have a place reserved for you in heaven. And that will give you a happy forever after with Jesus your Savior who loves you and died for you!
With love from Grampa
ML-06/04/2017