Dear Children,
Just a short note from Gramma and Grampa! Sorry we haven’t written to you for a while, but it has been a real busy time for both of us.
This year we had many wild ducks and geese in the creek behind our house. We made sure that we fed them each day, and the parents always brought their families to the feeding area for Gramma and me to see. Then when the right time came in the fall, they all flew south, just as God has said in His Word!
I want to tell you a story about a mother duck who brought her eight babies into the city and almost lost all of them.
Mr. Petersen was walking along the sidewalk in Vancouver. On his left side was a creek, and on his right side was the road. He was rather surprised to see a duck come waddling up beside him, quacking away, and more surprised when it grabbed his pant leg. He shook the duck off and continued walking, but he kept his eye on the duck to see what it would do next.
The duck waddled away just a short distance and sat down on the grate of a storm sewer. Then, to Mr. Petersen’s surprise, the duck came back and grabbed him by the pant leg again! Quacking, the duck then waddled off and sat down on the same sewer grate.
Mr. Petersen thought to himself, I better have a look at this. He walked over to where the duck was sitting. The duck moved over so that he could see down through the grate into the sewer. Sure enough, in the water below, eight pairs of eyes from eight baby ducklings were looking up at him! Momma duck, not understanding the ways of city life, had led her babies right over the grate of the storm sewer. Being so tiny, they fell right through, with no way to get out.
Mr. Petersen decided he would just have to rescue those babies! He immediately called the police, and three of them came and removed the grate and very gently picked up the eight baby ducks, one at a time.
When Momma duck had her eight babies safely out of danger, she turned and, with her family behind her, waddled off down the grassy bank into the creek and swam away.
Mr. Petersen and the three policemen must have been very kind people to show such interest in this duck. Gramma and I got to thinking how kind our God and Father in heaven was to give His only Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, to die for our sins on a cross at Calvary. That mother duck couldn’t say thanks to the kind men who rescued her babies, but we can sure say thanks to God for giving His Son to die for us!
We sometimes sing together in Sunday school:
Thank you, Lord, for saving my soul;
Thank you, Lord, for making me whole;
Thank you, Lord, for giving to me
Thy great salvation so full and free!
Gramma and I hope that everyone who reads this letter will “believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved” (Acts 16:31).
We love you all,
Gramma & Grampa
ML-02/17/2002