When Emily the cat disappeared from home a few months ago, her owners looked everywhere for her, with no success. Finally, they looked for their wandering pet where she had ended up before—the local animal shelter. They learned that Emily was not there, and they were very disappointed, especially Nick, the 9-year-old son of the cat’s owners.
You see, Emily was a very curious cat and often wandered off. But this time, unknown to her owners, she went on a long trip. The family put the pieces of the “puzzle” together later, after they had her safely back home.
They live quite near a paper warehouse, and curious Emily must have been prowling around the warehouse and crawled into a cargo container of paper bales that was ready for shipment. This container, with Emily inside, traveled by truck from Appleton, Wisconsin, to Chicago. Then it was loaded onto a ship that traveled through the Great Lakes and across the Atlantic Ocean to Belgium. After more ship travel, the cat was found at a laminating company in France near the German border.
Workers discovered the frightened and very thin cat at the company where the container was delivered. She was still alive and in fair condition. They checked the tag she was wearing around her neck and contacted the phone number on her tag.
By this time, Emily’s owners thought they would never see their pet again, since it had been many weeks that she had been missing. When the phone call came, it was a complete and happy surprise, especially to Nick.
Boys and girls, and grown-ups too, no matter what you do or where you go, you can’t hide from God and try to live without Him. He knows all about you and loves you very much. He knows where you live, He knows your phone number, and He also knows every sin you’ve ever committed. If you leave Him out of your life, the end of your life will be tragic, and there will be no rescue for you.
A Bible verse warns us, “Prepare to meet thy God” (Amos 4:1212Therefore thus will I do unto thee, O Israel: and because I will do this unto thee, prepare to meet thy God, O Israel. (Amos 4:12)). And you can do this right now by believing and accepting the work that God’s Son Jesus did on the cross for you. “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners” (1 Timothy 1:1515This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief. (1 Timothy 1:15)). He died on the cross and shed His blood to wash away your sins. But He will only remove your sins if you will admit to Him that you are a sinner and want to be saved from the terrible penalty for your sins. You can do that right now ... you don’t have to wait.
The family learned that Emily could be returned by airplane, but it would cost a lot of money. They wanted to have their Emily back, so they were willing to pay the cost. However, when Continental Airlines heard the story of Emily’s unexpected trip to France, they paid the cost of her business class seat on a flight to Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
The excited family was at the airport to pick her up, and a cargo agent handed her over to a very happy Nick.
Emily received a wonderful welcome from her family who loved her. And you can have a wonderful welcome into heaven when your life on earth is over, but only if your sins have been cleansed away by Jesus, the Son of God. He loves you and is waiting to hear from you, whether you are young, old or in between. And He has this promise for you: “I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish” (John 10:2828And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. (John 10:28)).
ML-06/12/2016