Dear Boys and Girls,
Gramma and I were sitting at the table tonight just talking, and she reminded me that I had never told you about the wolf and the great blue heron. I said, “You are right, Gramma! I have never told the children what happened.”
Now most of you children know what a wolf looks like, but maybe many of you don’t know what a great blue heron looks like, so I’ll tell you. It’s a very large bird with a sharp, pointy beak, a long neck and long, skinny legs. Herons use those long legs to wade slowly in shallow water as they hunt for fish, frogs and tadpoles. Okay, you get the picture, so now I’ll tell you the story.
It was about 6:30 in the evening. Gramma and I were still sitting at the dinner table looking out over the creek to see if anything was moving around out there. As we watched, a wolf came into view, walking slowly along the far bank. We wondered what this wolf was up to. He walked slowly down the bank, through some fallen branches, and then sat down about five feet from the edge of the water. He looked around and then lay down in the weeds.
We both thought this was very strange. So we looked up and down the creek, and then we saw it! A heron was slowly wading, working its way up to where the wolf was lying down. This heron was not being very careful. Maybe it was a young one and didn’t realize the danger it was in by wading so close to the bank. It was probably enjoying eating the frogs it was busy catching, but all the while it was getting closer to the bank . . . and closer to the wolf!
Now there is no doubt in my mind that when this heron was growing up, its parents told it in bird language, “Never go near the shore . . . there is danger there!” But maybe this young heron thought, I’ll be different; I want to go near the shore . . . and I’ll get away with it. But this heron did not get away with it!
Some boys and girls think that God cannot see what they are doing or hear what they are saying. But God says in His Word, the Bible, “The eyes of the Lord are in every place, [watching] the evil and the good” (Proverbs 15:33The eyes of the Lord are in every place, beholding the evil and the good. (Proverbs 15:3)). “Neither [is] His ear heavy, that it cannot hear” (Isaiah 59:11Behold, the Lord's hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither his ear heavy, that it cannot hear: (Isaiah 59:1)). God is always watching and listening, and none of us can get away with sin.
As the heron was wading close to the bank and busy catching frogs, the wolf was patiently watching the heron . . . and waiting. THEN IT SPRANG! One great leap, and he had that heron by its long neck! There was loud squawking, the big wings were flapping, but that wolf had the heron in his powerful jaws! No escape now . . . too late! The squawking stopped, the wings quit flapping, and the wolf backed up the bank, dragging that heron with him.
Boys and girls, are you like that careless heron, not watching or caring where you are going? I’m sure that as the heron felt those powerful jaws close on its neck, it knew that it should have stayed out in the middle of the creek. But it was too late then!
“Grampa, did the wolf eat that heron?”
Children, from what we could see from our side of the creek, there was just a big pile of feathers left. It was too late for the heron!
Sometimes we sing a song in Sunday school that says:
Too late! Too late! will be the cry;
Jesus of Nazareth has passed by.
We don’t want any of you boys and girls to be too late in accepting the Lord Jesus as your very own Saviour. Your Sunday school teachers are very patient each week, reading the Bible to you and telling you about Jesus and how He loves you and died for you and wants to save you from your sins. But do you pay attention to your teachers when they tell you that the time to be saved is RIGHT NOW? Second Corinthians 6:2 says, “Behold, NOW is the accepted time; behold, NOW is the day of salvation.” Oh, children, if you haven’t come to Jesus to have your sins taken away, don’t wait another minute!
We love all of you,
Gramma and Grampa
ML-07/04/2004