Around Yuma, Arizona, the desert seems to stretch on forever. Because of a lack of water, the trees don’t grow very tall. The cacti are big. The trees are short and scraggly. What passes for a tree in the desert near Yuma would probably be called a shrub anywhere else.
It was one of these short, scraggly trees that saved the life of a woman and her dog. The two were walking alongside a canal that brings water to the town of Wellington. Out of curiosity, the dog went to investigate the canal. It misjudged the steepness of the embankment. The dog’s feet slipped on the concrete and “splash”— it fell into the swiftly-flowing water.
The dog tried to escape the water by digging his toe nails into the embankment and climbing out, but the steep sides made it impossible. It would get a little bit out of the water and then slip back in. Every time it fell back in, the current would carry the dog further downstream towards a scary-looking tunnel. The mouth of the tunnel was black and ominous and by looking you couldn’t tell if what flowed into it would ever flow out of it.
A Scraggly Hope
The woman saw the tunnel and thought if the current carried the dog into it, she would never see him alive again. The situation was desperate. A short distance ahead, a short, scraggly tree grew near the side of the embankment. The tree stood no more than a few feet high. A few light branches flopped over the embankment and went right to the surface of the water.
The lady ran to it. She thought she could hang on to the branches and lower herself out over the water and grab her dog as the current swept him by. She was just able to grab the dog in one arm when she, too, slipped into the water.
“Ow,” she cried out in pain when her ribs hit hard against the side of the concrete canal. Her head went under the water but still she managed to hold onto the dog and the branch of the tree.
She spit out water and cried, “Help!” Nobody was near enough to hear, and the place was so isolated that it was very unlikely anybody would pass that way.
As hard as she tried, she could not manage to pull herself up out of the canal.
At last she decided just to hang on in the hope somebody would see her. The Arizona sun beat down on her. Still she hung on. Train tracks ran near the canal. Hope that someone might see her rose in her heart every time a train rattled down the tracks. For 18 hours the woman clung to the tree with the dog in her arms. Seven trains sped by. Nobody noticed her struggling for life in the canal. When the eighth train rolled by, the conductor just happened to be looking out the window in the right direction and spotted the lady. He called the police and told them what he saw. Sergeant Salcido from the Wellington Police station was the first to arrive. Then a K-9 unit from Yuma also arrived.
Rescue
The lady was no more than several feet below the top of the embankment, but it was almost impossible to reach her and she was exhausted. They were able to reach down and grab the dog and pull it out, but the lady was too heavy to rescue in such a way. The K-9 officer went to the trunk of his car and got a long 20-foot leash he often used in training his dog. He made a long loop at one end and threw the loop over the lady.
“Put it under your arms,’’ they told her. Then the officers dragged her up out of the water and over the embankment to safety.
The lady couldn’t stand, she was so physically exhausted and she could barely talk. She told Officer Salcido, “You got here in the nick of time. I almost just gave up.” An ambulance took her to the hospital where she received medical attention. And when she returned home, she found her dog waiting for her.
Officer Salcido told reporters after the rescue, “The only reason this lady was able to hang onto the tree for 18 hours was that she had a strong will to survive.”
Your Way to Safety
You may never fall into a canal of swiftly-flowing water with steep, slippery sides that make it impossible to get out, but each of us has fallen into a different type of current that is carrying us away from the God who loves us. The lady in the story survived by hanging onto a tree for 18 hours. The tree was short, scraggly and insignificant. It never would have been made into fine furniture. Few birds, if any, might have made their home in its branches. Nobody seeing it would have ever thought, “What a beautiful tree.”
There is another tree that folks consider insignificant these days. Yet this other tree is the only way for anyone to reach out and grab to avoid being swept away to the endless darkness of hell. It is the sinner’s only hope. It is the cross on which the Lord Jesus died. Its beams were made out of timber, and then crudely fitted together to make a cross. Back in Roman days, the crosses were a symbol of shame because criminals were nailed to them and left to die.
Unbelievers who saw the Lord Jesus hanging on the tree might have despised Him and wondered what evil He had done to deserve such a death. But to those who have had their eyes opened, nothing reveals God’s love and glory like the Savior dying on the tree. “Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures” (1 Corinthians 15:3). It wasn’t a criminal dying on the tree; it was the Son of God.
The only way sinners who are being swept away from God by the current of this world may be saved is by looking to the cross and Him who gave His life on it. They need to receive the truth of it by faith, and then they can treasure it in their hearts all the way home to heaven.
Have you believed in Jesus Christ? Have you told Him you need Him and the grace He has to give? Have you said, “I am sorry for my sins; please forgive me”? Or will you let the current of this world sweep you along until you disappear into the darkness of a lost eternity from which you will never come out?
“Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is everyone that hangeth on a tree” (Galatians 3:1313Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree: (Galatians 3:13)). The Lord Jesus paid the supreme price that we might be redeemed — delivered from the consequences of our sins.
The world despises the cross of Christ, but only by faith in the One who gave His life on it will anyone ever be saved. “Whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:1515That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life. (John 3:15)).
Reach out to Him in faith. Believe in His wonderful name, and He will never let you go until you reach safely home to heaven.
The police officer didn’t need to risk his life to rescue the dog owner. But in our next story, Eva nearly died to save Erin. Her act of intense bravery can be found in Eva, the Belgian Malinois.