Face to Face With Lions

“The lions, Bwana!—they have killed and eaten two more people! Heh! That makes twenty of our Songo tribe those killers have destroyed. And who knows how many goats and how much cattle.” The boy who helped in the kitchen was greatly excited.

The missionary looked out into the darkness of the African night. Was it just imagination that the very night air bore the musky odor he had learned to associate with the lions? The shadow of every wavering bush looked like a lion about to leap. He did not blame the natives for being fearful. Never had he known the lions to be making such raids upon cattle kraals and villages as they were doing now. One dared not venture out into the night in safety.

In the bright sunlight of the next morning lions were forgotten for the time being. There were the sick waiting to be cared for, the morning Bible lesson to give, the school lessons soon to begin. The laughter of little black boys and girls was in the air, and things did not seem nearly as fearful as the night before.

Glancing out of a window, the missionary saw that some of the goats had gotten into his vegetable garden. They had worked hard on that precious patch of vegetables, and he knew it would take no time at all for those goats to do a lot of damage.

The missionary stopped just long enough on the way to pick up a stick to chase the goats with. He was almost upon the goats when he stopped short in horror. He was face to face with three lions!

The lions were crouched with their eyes fixed upon him. Their tails were switching like those of great cats. The missionary gripped his useless stick as his heart cried to God for help. He dared not run—they would be upon him in a moment.

Suddenly there was a frightened cry from one of the goats near him who had caught the scent of his dreaded enemy the lion. Seemingly, in bewildered panic, the goat dashed between the missionary and the lions.

In a flash the three lions were upon the goat in a snarling clawing heap. The missionary knew that this was God’s deliverance, and turning he fled back to the house while the lions were intent upon the goat they were devouring.

As soon as the missionary had gasped out his story he and several others armed with guns hurried cautiously back to the spot, but the great beasts had already bounded away with their prey, and were nowhere to be seen.

How would you like to come face to face with even one hungry lion, boys and girls? Did you know “your adversary, the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour”? You can read this verse in 1 Peter 5:8. We cannot see this “lion,” but he is very real. It is his desire to destroy every one of us, but Someone saw our great danger and has come between us and him. It was the Lord Jesus!

The frightened goat made a fatal mistake when he flung himself between the missionary and those three hungry lions. The Lord Jesus was not making a mistake, neither did He come unthinkingly between us and our “lion” Satan. He came purposely because of His great love for us!

“He was cut off out of the land of the living: for the transgression of my people was He stricken” (Isa. 53:8).

“He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement (punishment) of our peace was upon Him; and with His stripes we are healed” (Isa. 53:5).

“For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly” (Romans 5:6).

And If!

Circus time! Boy, oh, boy! It was really circus time! Not only the big signboards all over town said so—not only had he watched everything from the clearing of the big empty lot to the putting up of all the little booths and tents and even the enormous “big top”—not only these things proved it. Not even the fact that he had seen, and smelled, the circus parade.

That parade had really been something, too. There had been more clowns and elephants than he had ever seen at one time before, and even a baby elephant that had acted like he wanted to play with all the kids he passed. And a caged lion on a truck had roared so loudly right when he was passing that Bob had almost fallen off the red fire hydrant he was perched on. That lion had really roared!

But the most important thing of all that said it was circus time was the little piece of cardboard he could feel in his pocket right now—the ticket Dad had given him!

Bob got there early for there were lots of things to see besides the circus itself. There was the fire eater and sword swallower that fascinated him, the snake charmers and all sorts of things. Then he heard a fellow shouting about a “human fly” that was to climb the sides of a tent with nothing to hold onto.

Bob wriggled into the closest position he could and held his breath as the fellow went higher and higher up what did seem to be the perfectly straight side of a huge tent with absolutely nothing to hold onto.

One woman started to scream from fright, but the man on the platform quickly stopped her.

“No noise, please! Absolutely no noise! This is extremely dangerous. The slightest thing might distract him, AND IF...!”

The man didn’t finish his sentence, but everyone knew what he had meant. The climber was far above their heads now and they scarcely dared to breathe. “AND IF...!” Some could not stand to watch any longer and were quietly moving away, but Bob felt glued to his spot. Once the man couldn’t seem to find a hold, AND IF... but he did, and finally to everyone’s relief began to descend again.

The circus was wonderful, every bit of it. But that night when Bob went to bed, the thing that he thought about was the “human fly” who had climbed so high over their heads. “AND IF...!” kept ringing in his mind.

Bob knew the rest of that sentence. The man would have been killed for sure. AND IF he had—then what?

Then other thoughts began to come to Bob’s mind. He didn’t intend to purposely do such awfully dangerous things like that tent fly, but things happened every day and people got killed or died from something. It might happen to him—AND IF...?” What then?

Bob squirmed around in bed and tried to think of other things, but those two words kept ringing in his mind.

Several years went by, and Bob still could not forget those two words. It was especially bad in Sunday school and meetings when God’s Word would speak to his heart, showing him that he was a sinner deserving God’s punishment, “and if...” He was not ready to die, and he knew it, for he was not ready to face God’s holy eye.

Bob had known for some time that the Lord Jesus had died for his sins, and that he must receive Him as his own personal Savior. Somehow he kept putting it off.

“And if...!” How those words kept jabbing his conscience like the thrusting of a sword! Then one day Bob knelt and told the Lord Jesus all about his fear, and how much he wanted to belong to Him. To his surprise he found it wasn’t hard at all, for the Lord seemed to have been just waiting for him!

With a heart full of joy Bob felt like shouting, “AND IF.... I’ll go to be with Jesus!”

“AND IF....” If something should happen to you, boys and girls, could you answer as Bob did?

“The Lord is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble; and He knoweth them that trust in Him” (Nah. 1:7).

The Girl Who Gave All She Had

“But I will have no money to pay you!” Tears were in the mother’s eyes as she faced the great doctor.

As she waited for his answer the mother felt that this was her last resort. Would the famous surgeon help her little blind Carol to see again? Could any doctor? She had been to so many, and now her money was gone.

Someone had told her of the great skill of this doctor and she had begun to hope again. But they were so poor; she had nothing to offer him in return. Then she heard him say, “I will see your daughter. If I can help her, I will operate.”

Carol hugged her teddy bear tightly as they wheeled her into the operating room. She was asleep when they removed it gently from her arms. When she awoke hours later in her hospital room with bandages covering her eyes, her teddy was snuggled close in her arms again.

During the days of waiting and pain, she whispered to Teddy and told him all about it, for he seemed more than just a plaything to her. He was the only treasure she had, and he seemed like a dear friend to the little girl.

Then one day there was excitement in Carol’s white hospital room. A nurse was removing the bandages from her eyes with hands that trembled a little. Carol clutched Teddy closely and clung to Mother’s hand. The doctor was speaking quietly, “Carol, the last bandage will soon be taken away but do not open your eyes right away. When your eyes become accustomed to the light coming softly through your eyelids, I will tell you to open them.”

It was hard to wait. The room was so quiet. Then the doctor was saying, “All right, Carol! Open your eyes and tell us what you see.”

Slowly her eyes opened and rested on the face of her mother whose lips were trembling with hope.

“Mother! Mother! I can see you—oh! I can really see you!”

Too happy to speak, the mother held Carol closely in her arms for a few moments. Then she said softly into her ear, “Carol, there is some one in this room who is far more important than I am right now. It is the doctor who has given you your sight. What have you to say to him?”

For a long moment Carol looked at the doctor who stood smiling at her. She held her teddy tightly, and then she held it out to the great doctor.

“Please take my teddy,” she said simply. “He’s all I have!”

Years later the doctor told some friends about the little girl. He said, “I will never part with that little old teddy bear. It came straight from the heart of a little girl who gave all she had!”

A far greater Physician has given His all for you and for me. Our Physician, the Lord Jesus, has given His life for us so that the eyes of our hearts might be opened.

What will you give Him?

Won’t you give Him your heart, yourself, your life?

“I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service” (Romans 12:1).

Elizabeth and Lindy

The kids all loved Lindy! When they heard him playing his mouth organ at noon and at recess, they always gathered around to listen and to sing. Lindy knew the best choruses, and could he make that old harmonica sing!

Lindy was the janitor for the little school on the edge of the city where Elizabeth went to school. He was thin and “baldish” and could tell stories, as well as play the mouth organ. Usually he told them Bible stories at recess time if they wanted him to, and sometimes the teachers would let him come to their rooms and tell them.

Elizabeth loved to hear these stories although she was not saved. Her mother and daddy were saved, and she often wished that she were too. Lindy made being a Christian seem like such a happy thing. Sometimes during the school hours she could hear Lindy’s mouth organ faintly as he sat down in the furnace room playing “Jesus loves me” and other choruses. One song Lindy loved especially was: “There’s going to be a meeting in the air, In the sweet bye and bye, And, oh! I hope I’ll meet you over there Away beyond the sky.

Such singing you will hear

Never heard by mortal ear,

‘Twill be glorious I declare!

And God’s own Son will be the meeting One

In that meeting in the air!”

This chorus troubled Elizabeth. At recess and at noon Lindy would ring a cowbell to call them in to their classes, and sometimes if Elizabeth were far off in a field playing she would not hear him ring the bell and would be late getting back to school. Would it be like that for her when the Lord Jesus came to take the Christians to heaven? Knowing that she was still a sinner, Elizabeth felt that she was far away from God, and would not hear that trumpet sound or the glad shout that would call the Christians to that “meeting in the air.”

Each summer Elizabeth went to a Bible camp for boys and girls. Camp was always real fun, but the summer Elizabeth was nine the Lord began troubling her more and more about her need of receiving the Lord Jesus as her personal Savior. Especially at night around the campfire God would speak to her heart as other boys and girls would give their testimonies telling how the Lord had saved them. How Elizabeth longed to have something to say, but her heart was empty.

Then, there was something she really dreaded at camp, and that was the swimming lessons. She could not swim and had such a fear of drowning. Each day when the swimming hour came she would think, “Oh, if only I were saved, at least I would go to heaven if I drowned!”

But of course Elizabeth did not drown, the lifeguard was always watching carefully. It was a comfort to see him sitting in his tower or out in a boat always ready to rescue anyone who needed help. If Elizabeth had only had the eyes of her heart opened, she would have seen that the Lord Jesus was watching and longing to rescue her, too, from the sea of sin in which everyone is sinking who has not received the Lord Jesus as their Savior.

Many boys and girls were saved at camp, but Elizabeth was not one of them. After she went home God’s Holy Spirit continued to remind her of things she had learned at camp, and from her parents and Lindy. God especially seemed to speak to her through the choruses she had learned at camp, and through Lindy.

Then one day in August she knelt down and told the Lord Jesus that she wanted to belong to Him. She was sorry for her sins, and so glad that the Lord Jesus had borne her punishment on the cross. Then Lindy’s song that had troubled her became one that she loved to sing again and again, “There’s going to be a meeting in the air, In the sweet, bye and bye!”

The Girl Who Could Not Wait Until Tomorrow

“Please—won’t you tell me how to be saved today? I just can’t wait until tomorrow!”

Tears were running down Doris’ cheeks as she anxiously waited for her Bible-school teacher’s answer.

“Why, yes, Doris! I’ll be so glad to tell you today. Aren’t we invited to your house for dinner? Let’s talk about it together then.”

This was just the second day of Daily Vacation Bible School. The first day their Bible lesson had been about sin and Satan, and Doris had learned for the first time that she was a sinner in the sight of a holy God. Today’s lesson had been a dreadful one to Doris, for it had been about punishment for sin. Hell was awful, and real, and Doris knew that she deserved to go there, for she had disobeyed many of God’s commands.

Tomorrow’s lesson was to be about God’s plan of salvation for sinners, but Doris absolutely could not wait that long to know how she could be forgiven.

After Bible school the teacher walked home with Doris. Doris’ home was on a hill surrounded by lovely pine trees. In the barn there was a family of dear little baby kittens that they admired, and then it was time for dinner. After dinner Doris took a blanket out of doors and spread it under one of the pine trees. She had her Bible and was all ready.

“Now, tell me how I can be saved!” she said earnestly.

Then Doris’ teacher told her that God knew that there was no way Doris could help herself to become saved. He has said, “Not by works, lest any man should boast.” God loved her so much that He sent His only begotten Son to take the punishment she deserved by dying on the cross for her. All that was left for Doris to do was to receive the Lord Jesus into her heart and life, believing that He had died for her.

There were tears again in Doris’ eyes as she bowed her head and thanked the Lord Jesus for dying for her. Then she simply told Him that she was receiving Him as her Savior. When she looked up again a rainbow smile seemed to be shining through her tears, for she knew she had been forgiven!

A few nights later all the boys and girls had a campfire supper, and afterward, after they had sung some choruses, Doris told them how she had been saved. It was hard for her to do, for she was a bashful girl. But after that she told many others, and soon everyone knew that she belonged to the Lord Jesus.

No one else in Doris’ family was saved, and they began to watch her carefully to see if she were any different, and if she really did love the Lord. Before long her mother called the Bible teacher on the phone and said, “I wish you would tell Doris that she doesn’t have to spend so much time reading her Bible and praying! She is not very strong, and I’m afraid that it is too much for her with her school work!”

But Doris did not feel it was “work” to read her Bible. She read it whenever she found time because she loved it and wanted to find out all that God had to tell her in His Book.

A few years later the Bible teacher, now in another city, heard that Doris had died. Doris had been a Christian only a few short years, and she was just a child, but the wonderful news came, too, that Doris had won her mother, and several other people, to the Lord Jesus!

“And they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament; and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars forever and ever” (Dan. 12:3).

Boys and girls, don’t wait until tomorrow if God is speaking to your heart. We do not know how many “tomorrows” anyone of us will have. It is time to be saved now!

“Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation” (2 Cor. 6:2).

Zip to the Rescue

The children loved Zip, their Collie dog friend. But sometimes he was a nuisance! He had to go everywhere they went, for he seemed to feel it was his job to take care of them all.

Especially when they were in swimming he was a pest. Again and again they would chase him out of the water, for he wanted to catch their bathing suits in his teeth and tug them toward the shore. From the shore he would watch their play in the water with a worried dog look in his eyes!

One day while they were swimming, Joan found a sun-dried log that floated like a cork. She could swim a little and a good log was certainly more fun than an inner tube. She paddled with her hands and feet and soon was out beyond the rest of the children who were in swimming. It made her feel brave to be out where the water was deep, and out there she could have her log all to herself!

After a while it did not seem so much fun to be alone. The others seemed to be having fun playing a game of water tag together. So Joan rolled off her log and began to swim toward the shore. She dog-paddled until she was tired and it seemed that she must surely be in far enough to touch the bottom with her feet. She stopped kicking, and let her feet go down.

Blub-b-blub! Oh! Oh! Where was the bottom? There was NOTHING to stand on! Not just her feet had gone down but her head was far under, too. She splashed hard with her arms and tried to kick with her feet. Slowly her head came up out of the water, but just long enough for one good breath of air! Down she went again! She splashed hard again, but it seemed she had forgotten how to swim.

Up and down she churned in the water until she was so tired. Down, down, down! How could it be so deep? Joan had never been so frightened in her life. Was she drowning? With eyes wide open she saw the big bubbles churning in the water around her.

She was coming up again, slowly. What was that? Something reddish brown in the water beside her. Could it be?—it was—Zip’s tail!

Joan reached out, and held on with all of the strength she had left. Zip seemed to understand. Straight to the shore he swam, Joan clinging to his tail.

Joan really loved Zip after that, for she knew he had saved her life. She never would forget the awful feeling of reaching for the bottom of the lake with her feet and finding NOTHING to stand on!

Was that a little bit the way people would feel who would someday stand before God to be judged of their sins? Joan could say, “He brought me up also out of an horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my goings. And he hath put a new song in my mouth, even praise unto our God” (Ps. 40:2-3).

Joan had learned when she was just a little girl that she was a sinner and could not save herself. She had read, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on Him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life” (John 5: 24).

Reaching out by faith, she had taken hold of God’s promise just as simply as she had taken hold of Zip’s tail, and the Lord had “rescued” her! Joan was saved, and God’s Word told her that her feet were safely upon the Rock, Christ Jesus.

Will you someday have to face God with nothing—NOTHING —to stand on? Excuses, good works, friends—all will fail in that day. Reach out by faith today, and take the Lord Jesus as your Savior. Then you, too, can sing, “I’m on the Rock, hallelujah!”

Raymond’s Watch

“Here, Dad, you may have my watch! Where I’m going I won’t need it any more!”

Raymond’s Dad knew what he meant. He remembered the day Raymond had come to his mother and had earnestly asked, “Mother, how can I be saved?”

Mother had asked Raymond why he felt he needed to be saved and Raymond had answered, “I know that I’m a sinner, Mother. I don’t always obey you. I want to have my sins forgiven and be sure that I am saved.”

Mother then told Raymond again the story of God’s love in sending the Lord Jesus to die for his sins upon the cross of Calvary. Together they knelt, and Raymond received the Lord Jesus as his own Savior.

Raymond was only eight years old at that time, but he was a very happy Christian boy, and tried in every way to live to please the Savior who had died for him. He learned that the Lord Jesus would someday return to take those He loved to heaven, and every day Raymond looked for Him to come.

“Mother! Dad! Come quick!” he called one day. “I think the Lord is coming!” The sky was glowing with lovely colors that seemed to look like the reflections from the “city of gold.” Then he realized that it was only the sunset.

“Oh! it’s only the sun! I thought it was the Lord Jesus corning!” he said with real disappointment.

Some of Raymond’s schoolmates began to make fun of him for being a Christian. They would even shout out to him, “Hi, Raymond! How’s your God today?”

It hurt a lot to hear them say that, and afterward he said to his mother, “They don’t know what they’re saying, Mother.”

One Sunday Raymond helped himself to quite a few tracts from the rack at Sunday school. His father noticed and scolded him a little, for he was afraid that he would waste them. But Raymond insisted that he would use every one. The tract he selected was, “I’m Not Going To A Christless Grave, Are you?”

The next day he took them to school and gave one to his teacher, and one to each of the children in his room. Then he put one inside of the cover of each of the books in the back of the room. After school he took what he had left down to the railroad station, and gave them to the people there.

The next night Raymond suddenly became very sick. He was rushed to the hospital, and soon found himself in a white room with nurses and doctors busy caring for him. Although he was sick, Raymond told them about the Lord Jesus and His love for them. He gave them tracts and then asked the nurse to take tracts to the other sick folks in the hospital around him.

When his father came to see him in the hospital, Raymond smiled cheerfully, but after they had talked a while he took off his wrist watch that he was very fond of, and gave it to his father, saying, “Where I’m going I won’t need my watch any more!”

Raymond’s father could hardly answer. “You’re going to stay with us, Raymond. Don’t you want to?”

“Yes; I would like to stay with you, Father, but I would rather go to be with the Lord Jesus!” he answered simply.

Very soon Raymond was in heaven with the Savior he loved so very much—in that land where no one needs a watch. God’s eternal day had begun for Raymond in the place where there is only joy and gladness!

Raymond did not go to a Christless grave—will you? Stop and look at your watch, or at a clock right now. How many more minutes, or hours, do you suppose you will have to live? In this life we use our watches constantly, but someday for each one of us it will be TIME to meet God! Then there will be an endless eternity ahead where watches will never be needed.

Will you go where Raymond went—to be with the Lord Jesus?

“For it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment: so Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for Him shall He appear the second time without sin unto salvation” (Heb. 9: 27-28).

Receive the Lord Jesus as your Savior now!

Strange Playthings

Have you heard the story of the man who played with a diamond? It was a beautiful, almost priceless gem. To buy it the man sold all of his possessions.

It was so beautiful when the sun shone upon it that he often held it in his hand, turning it from side to side to catch the rays of the sun. Then he found that if he tossed it into the air, the sparkles were almost breathtaking. So the man grew into the habit of playing with this large and beautiful diamond.

Once while crossing the ocean on a large boat a passenger noticed this man throwing and catching something that glittered in the sunlight. He could hardly believe his eyes when he came close enough to discover that it really was a large diamond.

“Oh, sir! How do you dare to be so careless with something so very valuable?” he asked.

“Careless? Of course I am not. I have done this often and I never miss catching it. Just look! Have you ever seen anything so dazzling in beauty?” and the man tossed the diamond into the air again.

At that moment the boat lurched sharply to one side. The man reached frantically for his diamond. It struck the very tips of his fingers as he reached far out across the rail for it—then into the depths of the ocean it sank!

Perhaps you wonder how anyone could be such a fool as to play with anything of such great value. May I ask you—are you, playing with something far more priceless than that diamond—your soul? “For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?” (Mark 8: 36-37).

Bob had a strange plaything. It was a big artillery shell his older brother had sent home from the war. He had said it was a “dud”—one that was no good and would not explode. But Bob pretended it was real, and it made his war-game play exciting.

When Bob outgrew this playing stage, his mother used the heavy artillery shell for a doorstop in the kitchen. Visitors always noticed it and asked about it. Some thought it might be dangerous, but Bob and his mother always assured them that it was just a “dud.”

Then Bob’s mother began worrying about it. What if they should be mistaken—what if it really could explode? Finally to satisfy her mind she phoned the police about it, and an officer was sent out to examine it.

“Lady, if you ask me, you’ve got the real thing here!” the officer exclaimed to the startled mother. “To make sure, I’ll take it to be checked by a demolition crew.”

Imagine the horror of Bob and his Mother when the report came back that the huge artillery shell Bob had knocked around in play, and his mother had used as a doorstop, was a live artillery shell that could easily have exploded! The story was even reported over the radio to warn others.

There are many attractions and evils in this world with which Satan would like to fill the hands and lives of boys and girls, men and women that are far more deadly than that artillery shell. “Fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him (Satan) which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell” (Matt. 10:28).

Do not “play around” with eternal things, boys and girls! Satan tempts each one of us with the pleasures and things this world has to offer, but though he gave the whole world to you, remember, it is like a great bomb about to explode! God has told us in the Bible that this world will be destroyed.

Your soul is more precious than all the diamonds of this world—do not treat it carelessly. “For how shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation” (Heb. 2:3). The Lord Jesus felt your soul was worth giving His life for. Will you not receive Him as your Savior?

Where Was Larry?

It was a “dead end street” with a deep ravine at the end of it. At the bottom of the steep forty-foot drop were double railroad tracks.

And down there by the tracks was Larry’s little red wagon, smashed and broken.

Where was Larry?

Dreadful fear ran swiftly through the neighborhood. With shaking hands a neighbor took down her telephone receiver and called her husband at work. “Oh, Henry—can you come home quickly? Little Larry next door can not be found anywhere, and his mother is so upset. Maybe you can find him. They found his wagon smashed to pieces near the tracks at the bottom of the ravine—and one shoe! And, oh Henry—they think—”

In a few moments Henry was home. Down by the tracks he studied the broken wagon and the little shoe. A short distance away he found Larry’s cap. Further on there was a mitten. But that was all. Where was four-year-old Larry?

After scanning the tracks once more for clues Henry climbed the steep bank and sat in his car a few moments, thinking.

“Hm-m-m,” he mused to himself. “If I were a four-year-old boy again, and living in this neighborhood, what would be the most fascinating, the most exciting place to me?” And a few seconds later, “I believe I know!”

Starting his car he drove to the coal yards four blocks away. A coal truck was being loaded by a big chain belt, and the air was filled with noise and coal dust. There in the center of it all sat Larry, watching the big belt with its load of coal making its continuous round. Now and then a lump would fall off, and Larry would carefully pick it up and put it back upon the belt.

“Hi, Unc’ Henry. Do I havta go?” he asked reluctantly.

As they drove quickly home to the anxious mother Henry explained how frightened everyone had been when they could not find Larry. “Don’t you know, Larry, that you can’t go where you want to without telling your mother? Even the police are out looking for you, Larry!”

Larry’s eyes grew big with serious thought. “Honest? I’m glad you found me first, Uncle Henry.”

As they neared Larry’s home Henry began honking his horn. Before the car was stopped, Larry’s mother in her lovely clean dress fairly flew to meet them with outstretched hungry arms. Without hesitation she caught the dirty little figure to herself, and pressed her clean cheek against his coal streaked face.

After work that evening Henry found a clean Larry in fresh clothes playing quietly in his own front yard.

“Hi, there, Larry boy!” he called. “Say, tell me, does it hurt to sit down? Did your mother spank you awfully hard?”

“Well, I’ll tell you, Unc’ Henry,” answered his small friend, “Mother didn’t spank me ‘t all! She took me in the house an’ gave me a bath. Then she put clean clothes on me. ‘N then she sat down and hugged an’ kissed me for an hour an’ a half!”

Henry smiled as he went into his own door. He was thinking of another boy—a prodigal boy, lost in sin in a far country. The mind, the heart, the soul of that boy became filthy with sin.

Then the boy came home. Did the Father punish him? He ran to meet him with hungry, outstretched arms of loving welcome, and kissed him!

Yes, and he knew the story well in his own heart, for had he not, too, been a boy lost in sin, who one day found that the Lord Jesus had died for him upon the cross of Calvary? How good it has been to be made clean through the precious blood by believing and receiving Christ as his own personal Savior. How lovingly the Heavenly Father had welcomed him!

Henry glanced at the lighted window next door. Thank God, there was joy in Larry’s home that night, instead of tragedy.

And thank God, there had been joy in the very presence of the angels when Henry had come home!

Good Ground

The glowing campfire lit up the faces of many happy girls as they listened to the message of the evening. Their leader was telling them the story of the Sower who was sowing the seed of God’s Word in the hearts of those who would hear.

Mary Jane listened carefully. Was her heart like the ground in which the weeds of worries and doubts choked out the good seed? Was she afraid to take the Lord as her Savior because she was worrying about what Dad would say? Dad did not believe in the Bible. He said Christians were usually hypocrites. He would not like it if she received the Lord as her Savior.

Their leader went on to tell of the birds that snatched away the good seed, of hard rocky ground where the sun soon wilted and withered the plants, and then of the good ground where the seeds grew well and brought forth a good harvest.

It was lovely there on the hilltop, but Mary Jane did not see the sunset colors fading in the sky across the lake, nor did she hear the sleepy night songs of the birds. This was the last day of camp. Tomorrow they would be leaving for home again. If she did not decide for the Lord tonight, she knew that she would be letting Satan, like the birds, snatch away the good seed from her heart.

When the campfire meeting was over the girls went down the hill to their dormitory. They were laughing and talking as they prepared for bed, but Mary Jane was thoughtful. Slowly she unbuttoned her dress. Why hadn’t she talked to one of the counselors about her problem? She would do it now! Quickly she buttoned her dress and started for the door.

No! If she became a Christian she would have no friends. In the little town where she lived Mary Jane did not know one person who was a Christian. It would be too hard to be the only one. She began to unbutton her dress again.

But the Lord was gently drawing her heart to himself and reminding her of His great love for her in dying for her sins upon the cross. Once more she quickly buttoned her dress and started for the door. With her hand upon the doorknob she thought, “It is too late now. There will not be anyone at the campfire by now.”

Once more she began to unbutton her dress, but the longing to belong to the Lord Jesus was almost more than she could bear. Was she hardening her heart until it would become like the hard ground that did not receive the seed?

For the last time she buttoned up her dress and almost ran out the door and back up the hill to the campfire.

Yes! there was someone there! By the faint light of the rosy coals she could see two figures. In a few moments she was beside them and to her surprise she heard her counselor say, “Mary Jane, we’re so glad you came! We were just now praying that you would!”

Soon they were kneeling together and talking to the Lord about Mary Jane’s need of the Savior. Simply and gladly she received the Lord Jesus and trusted His promise that “Him that cometh to Me I will in no wise cast out” (John 6:37).

It was not easy when Mary Jane went home, but right away she started a little Sunday school. About a dozen boys and girls came, and Mary Jane tried to tell them each Sunday what she herself was learning as she read God’s Word.

The seed had found good ground in Mary Jane’s heart. In the years that followed several received the Lord Jesus as their Savior through Mary Jane’s faithful testimony, including her younger sister and brother, and finally her father!

How glad Mary Jane has always been that she took the Lord Jesus as her Savior that night at camp and let the good seed take root in her heart!

The Milk Truck Rider

“Freddy! I don’t want to see you climb on that milk truck again!” Mother warned. “It’s a very dangerous thing to do. I’ve told you many times, and I don’t want you to forget again!”

Freddy watched the milk truck make its way down the street and idly kicked at a stone. Why was Mom always so fussy about his catching a ride on the milk truck? Some of the bigger boys did, and it looked like fun!

Freddy was a short little boy for eight years. His eyes were very round and blue, and he had blond hair that curled tightly all over his head.

One day the milkman stood talking with his mother at the back of the house and Freddy suddenly thought, “Now’s the time to get on the truck! Neither Mother or the milkman will see me climbing on!”

Freddy climbed onto the truck on the opposite side from which the milkman would come so that he would not be seen, and just in time! The milkman was in a hurry and came half running with his milk bottles jingling in their basket. Swinging into the truck he was off with a jerk.

What was that he heard? It sounded like a boy’s scream and a thud! Slamming on his brakes he jumped to the ground. There in a little heap lay an unconscious Freddy!

When Freddy wakened some hours later in his bed, his head was aching dreadfully and the doctor said he had had a concussion and must stay in bed for a week. It seemed like a long time to Freddy—a long time to lie in bed and think about how this had happened because he had been disobedient!

There were other things to think about, too. Where would he have gone if he had gotten killed when he fell off the truck? Freddy knew he would not have gone to heaven, for he had never received the Lord Jesus as his own Savior. He had never been willing to obey God, for he wanted most of all to do as he pleased, and to have his own way.

A year later Freddy went to some splendid gospel meetings for boys and girls. Every night he sat right up in the very front row so he would not miss a single word. The preacher had a big chart showing two roads. One was narrow, and led to heaven. The other was wide, and led to hell. Only a few traveled the narrow road, but many were upon the wide, easy road that led downward. Freddy knew that he was one of those on that road.

The cross was the gateway to the narrow road. Freddy learned that the Lord Jesus had died on the cross for his sins, and that he could get on that narrow road by being born again. The preacher explained that meant he must believe that Jesus had died for him, and it would be the same as if he himself had died, for Jesus had taken his place. When he believed and received the Lord Jesus, he would be born again and begin to live a new life.

It was now or never Freddy thought. He had worried for so long about his sins and his need of the Lord Jesus that he felt he could wait no longer. That lake of fire at the end of the broad road looked dreadful.

In faith Freddy turned to the cross that was the gateway to the narrow road. Trusting the One who had died upon that cross, Freddy found his feet upon the right path with heaven and joy ahead!

The Devil Forgot the Boxcars!

“Do you think that there’s a God, Sis?” Mel asked his older sister as he stood in the doorway of her room.

“Maybe there is, and — maybe there isn’t!” she answered briefly.

Mel thought that over and decided that probably that was the way most everyone felt. Surely no one could know for sure.

Still, there were those neighbors who really seemed to believe in God. On Sunday mornings when Mel and some of the other neighborhood boys were having a game of ball, the children in this family would cut across the lot, where they were playing, on their way to Sunday school. They were always dressed nicely and all cleaned up, and somehow looked as if they enjoyed going to Sunday school. A ten-year-old boy named Don in this family was a real good athlete, and loved to play ball. But Sunday mornings he preferred to go to Sunday school, and in his heart Mel admired and envied him.

These folks had a Bible class in their home for boys and girls, and Mel went a few times. One time there was an object lesson that really impressed him. They had a boy sit up in front on a chair and tied his hands together with a string. He broke it easily the first time, but after many strands had bound his hands he could not get free with his own strength. The boys and girls were told that this was like sin. Before sin has a great hold upon us we can sometimes break bad habits, hut Satan continues to bind us until we are his prisoners and we cannot free ourselves. But the Lord Jesus can free us if we will trust in him, for, “if the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed” (John 8: 36).

When Mel grew older he went West with his brother one summer to pick fruit. They picked raspberries and blackberries and then apples in large orchards. The boys would race one another to see who could pick the most each day, and Mel usually won. One day a letter came from a pal back home with some surprising news in it. His friend Mike wrote that he had taken the Lord Jesus as his Savior at a tent meeting, and he was a different boy now. He didn’t care to do some of the things they had done before, for most of all he wanted to please God now.

That afternoon the apple picking didn’t go so well for Mel. On top of the tall ladder in the apple tree all he could do was look up into the sky and think about what Mike had said. Mike had always been a swell fellow. If he had needed to be saved, what about himself?

The first night after they got home, Mel went over to see Mike. He found that there was a Bible class going on, and was greatly embarrassed, but Mike insisted that he come in. He felt miserable and out of place, but afterward promised Mike to go to a gospel meeting with him the following Sunday night.

On the way they neared a railroad crossing where a high bank hid the view and just as they were on the track a big beam of light seemed right on top of them. The boys looked up in terror at the train engine that was about to crush them, but the engineer was grinding on his brakes and in a few moments the boys found themselves unharmed in a ditch.

The engineer had been able to stop the train in time, for there was only the engine and caboose. If there had been boxcars the weight would have kept him from stopping so quickly. In his heart Mel felt sure that the Devil had wanted to kill him before he had another chance to receive the Lord as his Savior, but he had forgotten the boxcars!

In the meeting that night Mel listened earnestly to a sermon on “Ye must be born again.” That sounded like the real thing to Mel. Others had always said, “Be good,” and “Do the best you can,” but Mel knew that he couldn’t be good enough to satisfy a holy God.

After the meeting Mike put his arm around him and asked, “Wouldn’t you like to receive the Lord Jesus tonight?”

They sat down and talked with an older Christian who showed Mel that he was a lost sinner in God’s sight, but in Romans 10: 9 God said: “That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.”

That night Mel could not sleep. On his knees he begged God to save him. Then God reminded him that the work was all done. It was right there in Romans 10 and 9—all he needed to do was believe and confess! With a glad heart Mel thanked the Lord and rejoiced in God’s salvation.

When Susan Helped With the Washing

“Oh, Mother! May I help you with the washing tomorrow? It’s Washington’s birthday, you know, so there won’t be any school. Please say `yes’!”

Mother laughed as her seven-year-old Susan coaxed. “Of course you may, but are you forgetting that I get up very early to get it started before breakfast? Maybe you’ll be too sleepy in the morning.”

“Oh, no!” Susan assured Mother. “I just love to wash clothes. So don’t forget to wake me up.”

Before bed that night Susan reminded Mother again. Then in the middle of the night she stole out of bed and awakened Mother. “You won’t forget to wake me up?” she whispered. And Mother had to assure her once more.

The next morning Susan was awake as soon as she heard Mother stirring, and together they carried the clothes to be washed down to the basement. Soon the soapy water was swishing merrily in the washing machine and Susan and her mother sang as they worked together.

Susan poked the clothes down under the rinse water, and watched carefully as they came from the wringer into the clothes-basket that nothing would drop onto the floor. Then she hung up washcloths and small things on one of the lower lines that she could reach.

“Aren’t you glad that I’m helping you, Mother?” she asked several times. “I’m your little maid. Don’t you think I’m a good helper?”

“Yes, dear!” Mother smiled. And though Susan’s help was not great, the work did seem lighter for the joy they had in sharing it together.

Soon the sheets and tablecloths were on the line, and it was then that Susan made a discovery. “Look, Mother! They’re just like white walls in a playhouse! Let’s see, this will be the living room, and this will be a bedroom between these two lines...”

Mother was busy and did not answer, so Susan went on planning her playhouse rooms. The minutes slipped quickly into an hour, and what fun Susan had in her pretend playhouse! Mother did not remind her that she had meant to help her, but as she worked and watched Susan’s happy play many thoughts went through her mind.

Susan had meant with all her heart to help Mother with the washing. But how quickly and easily she had turned to playing house!

Mother took a quick peek into her own heart and wondered, “Am I any different in my service for the Lord?”

Many times with her heart full of love she had told the Lord she wanted to serve Him. She had heard the words of the Savior, “Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields; for they are white already to harvest. And he that reapeth receiveth wages, and gathereth fruit unto life eternal” (John 4:35-36).

Long ago Mother had received the Lord Jesus as her personal Savior. Then she had gladly presented her body to the Lord as a living sacrifice, knowing that this was only a reasonable thing to do, when the Lord had done so very much for her.

But had she become “weary in well doing?” Had Satan cleverly caused her to become content with “playing house?”

The washing was done. Susan ran away to play feeling content that she had helped Mother. She did not know that she had taught Mother a lesson that day that she would not forget.

“For we are laborers together with God: ye are God’s husbandry, ye are God’s building... let every man take heed how he buildeth... if any man’s work abide...he shall receive a reward” (1 Cor. 3:9-10,14).

A Penny for Candy

“I want twenty-four cents worth of round-steak, please!” Robbie watched the butcher take the meat from the glass case. He weighed it carefully and wrapped it in brown paper.

“Here you are Sonny!” The butcher smiled at the eight-year old boy who was seriously handing him a quarter. “And here’s your change.”

Robbie took the penny that the butcher held out and in a few moments he was in the grocery store next door, standing in front of the candy case. He pointed out the piece he wanted, and then he was on his way home, eating his candy as he went.

It was really so easy! And no way in the world that anyone would ever find out!

Robbie had figured this out quite a while back. At least once a week Mother would send him to the store for twenty-five cents worth of round steak. It was so simple to just say “twenty-four cents worth” to the butcher, and then he had a penny for candy and no one would ever know that he was really stealing it.

Robbie was quite proud of himself, the way he had every one fooled. In the day time at least—the nights were another matter! The nights, well! they were pretty fierce sometimes. Robbie had gone to Sunday school since he could remember. His teacher had taught him about the awfulness of sin and that God must punish those who are sinners. She had taught him, too, of God’s love, and about the Lord Jesus dying upon the cross for the sin of all the world.

Then there was another thing she often talked about. It was that the Lord Jesus was coming back again sometime for those that had had their sins taken away and belonged to him. Mother and Dad talked about these things, too, and every day they read from the Bible aloud, and prayed, and Robbie knew that they hoped he would take the Lord Jesus as his Savior.

What would Mom and Dad say if they knew about that penny he so often stole and bought candy with? Robbie didn’t intend that they would ever find out, but he knew that the Lord knew all about it, and it made him pretty uncomfortable in the dark of the night all alone.

Then the worst thought of all would come—the thought that maybe the Lord Jesus would come during the night for those that belonged to Him! Mom and Dad would go, and his little brother and baby sister would, too, for they were too small to understand yet. How dreadful it would be to wake up and find the house empty and still with all of them gone!

“Here’s your penny change!” the butcher would say cheerfully. But Robbie’s heart was growing heavier. Even the candy didn’t seem to taste so good, and at night when God’s Spirit would talk to his heart, he would squirm down under the bedclothes, for Robbie knew that he was a sinner.

One night Robbie’s father took him with him to attend a Salvation Army meeting held in a little store building. Again he heard the story of God’s great love in sending the Lord Jesus to die for the sinner. Robbie wished that he were saved. It was awful to be afraid of God, and so afraid of the coming of the Lord Jesus!

That night in bed he could not sleep. Tears were soaking into his pillow. It seemed so late, but he felt that he just had to talk to his father.

Dad was still up, and when Robbie told him the story, he took his Bible and together they read this wonderful verse: “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life” (John 3:16).

Robbie knew the verse, but that night the Lord seemed to speak the words to his heart. He was the one that God loved, he was the sinner the Lord Jesus had died for, and he could, and would believe in Him!

Snuggling down into bed a little later, a happy Robbie knew that he would not have to be afraid ever again that the Lord Jesus would come and leave him behind! John 3:16 said: “...whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life!”

How the Crooked Stick Became Straight

“Give it to ‘im, Dad! Give it to ‘im!” Dan was jumping around his dad and shouting like a cheerleader, for Harry was getting a licking!

Yessir! It was really Harry this time for once! Dan could hardly remember when Harry had ever gotten a licking, for he was really a good boy. But as for himself—well! that was another matter! How many times had his dad said to him, “I should have named you Jacob, Dan! You’re a crooked stick like Jacob was if there ever was one!”

But Harry was getting it now, and Dan wanted to see him get it right for once, too.

Just then Dad straightened up, reached for Dan, and the next thing Dan knew he was “getting it,” too, for rejoicing in Harry’s whipping!

Quite a few folks agreed with Dad that Dan was a “crooked stick.” There was the time of the family reunion. All the aunts and uncles, grandparents and cousins, had met on their farm. At noon they all ate in the grove close to the house, and Dan thought that this would be a good time for a little excitement.

Up under the eaves on the nearby corner of the house the hornets had a nest. It only took a few good-sized stones and a good aim—and the fun began! Dan watched and laughed from a safe distance away. Everyone was getting stung! The hornets were good and mad.

Dad was suspicious, and soon found out what had angered the hornets. Then Dan found out that his dad didn’t agree with his ideas of entertainment.

Dan loved to pester his sisters, and even teased his mother, and many whippings were the result of this. One day he decided no one loved or cared for him or he wouldn’t be whipped so often. All right! He would show them. He would just hang himself, and then they would be sorry!

He found a good strong rope and walked boldly with it past the kitchen window where he knew the family could see him. Out to the barn he went. Then he sat down and waited. He hadn’t really meant to hang himself, he just wanted to make the family think so to frighten them.

The minutes ticked slowly away, but no one came to see if he were dead yet. Finally two hours had passed by and no one had come near the barn—perhaps no one had even noticed him with the rope, but Dan did not think of that. It just seemed to prove that he was a crooked stick, and no one cared what happened to him!

But a loving Heavenly Father was watching Dan day by day. He knew Dan’s crooked, naughty ways, and He loved Dan. Little by little He began to show Dan his own heart. When the Bible was read at the table, God would speak to his heart. In Sunday school and at meetings God’s Spirit quietly began to teach him that he needed to be born again.

Dan grew anxious to know how his heart could be made clean, his sins forgiven. He began to really want to straighten his ways and to do what was right. But though he tried hard and even prayed about it, it did not seem to make him a better boy. It seemed to be hopeless. He would just have to always be a “crooked stick.”

Then one night at a gospel meeting he heard 1 Peter 3:18 quoted: “For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God.”

It seemed as though a dark window had been opened, and the sunlight came streaming through! The Lord Jesus, the Just One, who had never sinned had suffered for Dan’s sins that He might bring him to God. He was crooked and unjust. But the perfect One—the Just One—had traded places with him and taken the punishment for his sins!

At that moment the “crooked stick” became straight in God’s sight! No one calls Dan a “crooked stick” today. He has been made a new creature in Christ Jesus and seeks to please Him in all that he does as he spends his life witnessing for the Lord Jesus!

The Tree-House That Fell

“Penny! Oh, Penny!”

A twelve-year-old girl put her book to one side and peered down through the leaves that hid her tree-house from view. It was Sally and Jim. Wonder what they wanted her for? Her book was interesting, so Penny decided not to answer, and soon the two had disappeared up the lane.

Penny settled herself comfortably and went back to her book. Her tree-house was just a platform built high up in three basswood trees that grew so closely together near the ground that they appeared to be one trunk. The big leaves formed shady walls and roof. Just now the air was filled with fragrance and the pleasant humming of bees, for the basswoods were in bloom.

It was a wonderful tree house! It was a place to run to and be alone in. The gentle swaying of the trees was like the slight swinging of a hammock. Penny had built it all by herself, and it had really been a hard job to make it good and strong because of working with three trees instead of just one. She had nailed “two by fours” from tree to tree to form a triangle, and then had nailed the floorboards in place.

Penny was a bookworm and spent many happy hours in her tree-house reading the summer when she was twelve. During the winter when the winds blew and storms blustered the tree-house rocked back and forth as the three trees bent this way and that. Somehow the little platform hung together.

When summer came again Penny was eager to use her tree-house once more. She was thirteen now, and a bigger, heavier girl than she had been the summer before. And the tree-house was no longer quite so strong. The nails had twisted and loosened as the three trees had wrestled with the winter wind. But Penny did not think of this.

One day found Penny settled snuggly with a good book high up in her tree-house. As she became interested in her story she did not notice the sky growing dark. The leafy roof kept the first few drops of rain from reaching her. Then the wind suddenly set the little platform rocking.

A loud cracking noise beneath her startled Penny. What was happening? It felt like the platform was giving way! A stronger gust of wind—a louder cracking!—and Penny was falling!

Just in time she caught the branch of the nearest tree, and managed to leap to the ground with just a few skinned places. Looking up into the trees she saw her tree-house hanging sadly from just one corner!

“I guess I wasn’t very wise to build in three trees,” Penny said to herself. “That made a poor foundation—as bad as the man who built his house upon the sand! I might have gotten killed falling out of that house. I’ll have to build better next time!”

Building a life can be the most thrilling thing in the world! But it can also be very sad. Would you like to be good builders, boys and girls?

Of course you would! First of all, don’t make Penny’s mistake and start with a poor foundation, for if you do, sooner or later your house will fall. Listen to the story the Lord Jesus told: “Whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock: And the rain descended, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock. And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand: And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it” (Matt. 7:24-27).

“For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ” (1 Cor. 3:11).

How Louise Was Saved

One stormy evening when they could not get out, Mother and the three children decided to have a meeting of their own at home.

“I can lead the singing and pray,” offered four-year-old Johnny.

“And Mother can tell us a Bible story,” said Gertrude. So the meeting began.

When they had sung all the choruses that nine-year-old Louise knew how to play, Mother suggested they have a time for testimonies and favorite Bible verses.

Louise stood up quickly and said, “I would like to give my testimony and tell how I got saved.”

Mother sat up in her chair. She knew that Louise had often been anxious about her salvation, and she had tried to show her from the Bible how to trust in the Lord Jesus, but she did not know that Louise had been saved. She was saying, “I wanted to be saved for a long, long time. One day I asked Daddy to tell me just exactly how he got saved, but he didn’t seem to know what I meant, and he just showed me Bible verses. Then I asked Mother, and she just showed me Bible verses, too. I wanted to be saved so badly that lots of nights I cried myself to sleep, and the next morning I would have a headache. One night I cried so long I had such a bad headache the next day that I couldn’t go to school.

“Then Daddy was gone for a week, so I asked Mother if I could sleep with her. Mother didn’t know why I wanted to, and I didn’t tell her. But I was so afraid that the Lord Jesus would come in the night to take the Christians to heaven and I wouldn’t go because I was still a sinner, and not a Christian. When I thought Mother was asleep, I would take hold of her nightgown and hold on as tight as I could so that maybe I would get to go, too. But when I fell asleep I would forget and let go.

“When Friday of that week came I went to a children’s meeting, but I wanted to be saved so badly I couldn’t seem to hear what the preacher was saying. Two boys got saved that night.

“When we got home I was crying and I told Mother I wanted to be saved right then. So the others went to bed, and Mother took her Bible and read to me John 3:3; John 3:16; John 5:24; and John 1:12. Then I prayed, and then I was saved.”

Louise finished her testimony and was about to sit down when Mother asked, “Louise, were you saved because you prayed?”

“Oh, no, Mother. I received the Lord Jesus as my Savior!” Louise answered simply.

Would you like to read the verses that helped Louise to understand? Here they are: John 3:3: “Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, Verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”

John 3:16: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”

John 5:24: “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth My word, and believeth on Him that sent Me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life.”

John 1:12: “But as many as received Him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His name.”

Why don’t you do just now what Louise did, receive the Lord Jesus as your Savior, and tell Him so?

What It Took to Reach Tom

Tom and his two brothers were walking to Sunday school. After a bit their path came near to the Fraser River. Suddenly their clothes began to feel hot and heavy. The water looked so inviting!

They were not far from a sawmill and the river was partly filled with logs that the current was pulling down to the mill.

Suddenly Tom’s older brother spoke, “I don’t know about you fellows, but I’m playing hooky from Sunday school and going to have a good swim! How about it, you, too?”

Dan looked troubled. Just a week before at some tent meetings he had received the Lord Jesus as his personal Savior. The water was tempting to him, too, but there was a new voice inside of him encouraging him to do what was right for the Lord’s sake. So he shook his head, “I really don’t want to, and you know you shouldn’t either.”

Jack looked at Dan thoughtfully a moment, and then said firmly, “Well, it’s too bad that you don’t want to go swimming because you’re going to go whether you want to or not. If you go to Sunday school, then you can tattle on us, but if you go swimming, too, you won’t have much to say!”

He grinned but took a firm hold of Dan’s shoulder, “Come on, Tom, we’ll have to help this guy make up his mind he wants to swim!”

Somehow Dan’s clothes came off, and before he knew it he was in the water with his brothers. It did feel good—in fact, it was wonderful—if only it were not wrong to be deceiving and disobeying his parents.

A few logs had jammed up in a cove of the river making sort of a raft. The boys discovered them and soon were using them for a diving raft. All three boys could swim quite well, so they were soon having a wonderful time, diving and battling the swift river current.

“Say, where did Dan go? Did he swim to the bank to dress?” Both boys looked anxiously, but there was no Dan on the bank. Then they looked at one another with terror in their eyes! The strong river current must have pulled Dan under the logs and trapped him there!

Tom and Jack began to shout desperately for help, pushing hopelessly at the big logs. In a few moments men arrived from the sawmill, but there was nothing they could do. It was too late!

Tom and Jack felt that they just could not go home. How could they tell their parents? Oh, if only they had not disobeyed! A detective arrived and asked them questions which they answered with sick hearts. Then he said, “Come, I will go home with you and help you tell your parents.”

Never will the boys forget the misery of the next few hours when they saw the pain and sorrow their disobedience had brought to their parents. The only comfort was in remembering that Dan had received the Lord Jesus as his Savior the week before, and was now in the presence of the Lord.

Then a voice seemed to say, “What if it had been you, Tom?”

Night after night the question would return. Dan had been saved, and had gone to heaven. Tom knew that it would not have been so with him. The burden of his sins was heavy upon him. One night, a week after Dan had drowned, Tom could not sleep. He found his father still sitting up downstairs and soon he was pouring out his heart to him.

Opening his Bible to Isaiah 53:4 and 5 his father read these wonderful words aloud, “Surely He hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem Him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon Him; and with His stripes we are healed.”

As Tom saw that the Lord Jesus had already taken the punishment of his great sin, with a glad heart he received Him as His Savior.

A few days later his older brother Jack received the Lord Jesus into his heart also, and although there was pain at the memory of Dan’s death, there was joy in the hearts of the parents that the Lord had used it to bring Jack and Tom to Him also.

Today Tom is a missionary whom God is using for much blessing in Uruguay, South America. He would like to say to you, “You have read my story. This is what it took for God to reach me. What will God have to do to reach YOU?”

The Boss of the Barnyard

“Look at Betsy! That mean old ram is chasing her around the barn again!” called Alice. Joan came running to see. Around and around the barn ran the old milk cow Betsy with the ram at her heels.

“Who does that old ram think he is, anyway, the boss of the barnyard? And why are they all so afraid of him? Betsy is lots bigger than he is. Catch me running away from him!” exclaimed Joan indignantly.

Alice turned laughingly to her six-year-old sister, Joan. “So you’re not afraid of him? You’ll have to show us before we believe that.”

A few days later Alice called Joan to the window again and pointed to the ram standing idly in the yard not far from the house. “Now is your chance. Why don’t you go out and pet him, and show us that you’re not afraid of him!”

“All right—I will!” answered Joan bravely. “I’ll take him some salt, and you just watch and see him eat it out of my hand!”

With her handful of salt she started bravely out to where the ram was standing. Somehow her heart was thumping just awfully hard, and as she held out her hand she nearly spilled the salt, for it was shaking so.

“Nice ram, nice old fellow! Come have some salt,” she coaxed.

The ram looked at her suspiciously but came toward her a few steps and sniffed at the salt in her hand.

Then he began to lick it hungrily. It was hard to hold her hand steadily, for she was more frightened than she would ever have admitted, and her hand kept jerking back a little bit.

The old ram’s temper was short and it seemed to him that Joan was teasing him. Whoosh-sh-bump! The ram had bent his head and bunted her right in the stomach, making her sit down quicker and harder than she ever had before in her life. Scrambling to her feet gave him the chance to bunt her from behind, and down she sprawled upon her face.

The ram stood quietly beside her waiting for her to get up again, his head lowered a bit in readiness. Joan was not hurt much but angry tears were blurring her eyes. She blinked them away and decided she just hadn’t been quick enough. This time she would be in the house before—woof!! She was flat upon the ground again.

At last Mother and Alice came running to her rescue and chased the ram away with a broom and stick.

One day not long afterward the ram was chasing Betsy around the barn again. Suddenly Betsy balked. Swinging around she lowered her broad head, braced her feet, and waited. The ram did not see, for he was charging with his head down. Straight into Betsy’s head he crashed! Rolling to his back he lay stunned for a few moments with his feet in the air.

Betsy went calmly back to her grass, and a few moments later a much subdued ram scrambled to his feet, shook his head wonderingly, and disappeared into the barn.

Weeks went by, but the girls never saw the ram chase Betsy again. It seemed he had learned his lesson—he was no longer “boss of the barnyard!”

Many years later Joan was reading the verse, “Resist the devil, and he will flee from you” (James. 4:7). She remembered the ram and old Betsy who learned to “resist” and to stand her ground. She smiled as she remembered the day the old ram had had her at his mercy until she was rescued.

But then, soberly, she thought of the Christian’s great adversary, the Devil, the prince and the power of the air, who is able to cause even many Christians to do as he desires. Turning to Ephesians 6:10 and 11 she read: “Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of His might. Put on the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.”

Then she prayed, “Help me not to be boastfully confident in myself as I was the day when as a little girl I thought I could feed the old ram. But help me to resist the Devil, to be strong in the Lord, and to stand against the wiles of the Devil!”

Jim Found Out Why!

“See this handle, Jim? When you water the cows be sure to turn it just so far, and no further!” Jim’s dad spoke like he meant business, but he made no explanation. He hurried into the barn to tend to other chores leaving Jim to care for the cows.

The cows were jostling one another and sucking in the cold water thirstily. Cows sure could drink a lot! Jim was glad he didn’t have to pump water by hand for so many. He looked up at the windmill whirling in the wind and pumping steadily.

What would happen if he turned that handle on the windmill just a little further? Why hadn’t Dad explained? Well, the cows seemed to have had enough, and it was time to get them into the barn for milking.

A few days later Jim’s dad went to town leaving Jim and his brother to care for the chores until he got back.

“Say!” Jim thought to himself out loud, “Now’s my chance to find out what’ll happen if I turn that handle as far as I please. It can’t possibly do any harm, and Dad needn’t ever know about it.”

As the cows milled around the water tank Jim turned the handle as his dad had taught him. The cows began drinking noisily. There! He turned it on past the place his dad had told him—but nothing seemed to happen. The water just kept on pumping steadily.

When the cows turned away satisfied Jim turned the handle back in place to shut off the water. But the water kept on pumping in a steady stream. He pushed the handle down hard but the water kept coming. The tank was full now, and beginning to spill over the sides. The ground would soon be a muddy mess, and Jim knew how Dad hated that.

Jim shouted for his brother and the two worked desperately without success. Even Mother did not know what to do. There was nothing to do but wait for Dad to get home.

Jim watched with miserable eyes as the puddle around the tank spread out over the barnyard. When would Dad ever get home? Never had he so wanted, yet dreaded, his father’s coming.

Several hours went by giving Jim plenty of time to wish he had obeyed his father. Finally the familiar car turned in the lane. The car had hardly stopped before Jim’s dad was out of it and sprinting across the yard to the windmill. In a few moments the pumping had stopped, but what a mess! The whole barnyard seemed to be one great mud puddle.

Then the time of reckoning came. Jim had to face his father’s stern eye and confess what he had done, for he had no excuse to give. He knew that he deserved the whipping that followed.

Years went by and Jim learned that another far more important reckoning day is coming for those who have disobeyed their Heavenly Father. “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God” (Rom. 3:23). “Every one of us shall give account of himself to God” (Rom. 14:12).

Jim dreaded his father’s return the day of his disobedience. But in later years he learned of the coming of the Son of God whose Word he had disobeyed, and whose laws he had broken. How much greater then was his fear of facing the coming Savior!

When Jim learned that the Lord Jesus had already taken the punishment that he deserved so that he need not suffer for his sins himself, it was the best news he had ever heard in all his life! He gladly and thankfully received Christ as his Savior and now he can say, “Even so come, Lord Jesus!” Can you?

Jean’s Fish

They were off in the rowboat for a picnic! Under one of the seats was a frying pan and some bread and butter sandwiches. They planned to catch fish on the way, and when they reached Indian Point, a mile or so up the shore, they would have a fish fry.

Indian Point was a favorite spot. It had a dandy sandy beach. There were rocks and boulders to climb and play upon, and back in the woods there was an interesting Indian grave. A long, low house covered the grave with a birch bark canoe crumbling within it. At the foot of the grave the house had a small hole through which the Indians poked food for the dead Indian’s spirit to eat.

Jean and her brother and sisters were sorry that the Indian had never heard of the Lord Jesus and trusted Him as his Savior as they had. Jean was only six, but she had belonged to the Savior for over a year.

The oldest sister was trolling from the back seat of the boat, but the fish didn’t seem interested in biting that day. As they neared Indian Point dark, clouds were covering the sun. Soon big drops of rain began to spatter around them.

“Some picnic this is going to be!” Sally cried with disappointment. “Look! It’s going to rain—and we didn’t catch a single fish!”

The boat had touched the shore, and Jean scrambled out over the prow. Looking back at the others she saw that her sister Mary was still winding her trolling line in slowly.

It was strange that she had not taken it in sooner, for there were weeds near the shore, and the fishing was not good there.

As Jean watched she suddenly thought, “God could still put a fish on Mary’s line! Of course, there are only pickerel in as close to the shore as this—but God can do anything! I’ll ask Him to put a big wall-eyed pike on her hook—a BIG one so that there will be enough for all of us!”

Closing her eyes Jean asked the Lord to do just that! When she opened her eyes she heard Mary saying, “Guess I’ve got weeds on my hook, it feels sort of heavy. I should have wound my line in sooner.”

Jean was so excited she could hardly breathe! She and God had a secret that none of the others knew! Those weren’t weeds on Mary’s line—it was a big wall-eyed pike that God had put there—they would soon see!

The drops of rain were falling faster now, so Mary hurried with the last of her line. “My, but it does feel—” she lifted the end of her line, and a large wall-eyed pike flopped into the boat at her feet!

What laughing and joy there was then! With shining eyes Jean helped the others pull the boat clear up out of the water. Then they tipped it up onto its side and propped it on big rocks so that they could build a fire and sit under its shelter as it rained.

How good the fish smelled in the frying pan! What fun it was to sit sheltered, listening to the rain upon the boat over their heads. It was the nicest picnic they had ever had, Jean thought.

The fish was done. As they bowed their heads to give thanks Jean’s heart said a special thank you to the Lord for answering her first prayer so wonderfully!

Today Jean is still fishing, but now it is for boys and girls! One day she heard the Lord Jesus saying to her, “Follow Me, and I will make you a fisher of men.”

Gladly she followed, and she has found that it is real joy to fish for the Savior. Her first prayer was for a fish to eat that picnic day. Now she is praying for “living fish”—boys and girls—who will come to the Lord Jesus and receive Him as their personal Savior!

Plugged Ears

“Two boys were hiking along the railroad tracks one day,” the voice said over the radio. “It was almost time for the afternoon Zepher—a fast train that was always right on the dot.”

“I dare you to do something!” one boy said to the other. “I dare you to put your fingers in your ears and see who can walk the tracks the longest and jump off just in time!”

“O.K.! Here goes!” answered the other.

Neither boy heard the fast train until they felt the tracks tremble beneath their feet. Even then each was determined to stay on the tracks the longest.

At the last split second the boys jumped for their lives!

The voice over the radio said, “One boy was killed. The other boy had both of his legs cut off! I know that what I am telling you is true. The boy who had his legs cut off is my brother!”

What a dreadful thing to do, boys and girls, to deliberately stop one’s ears to warning signals in the face of such great danger! You would not do that, would you?

But stop and think! Are you sure that that is not exactly what you are doing? God’s Word is full of plain, warnings: “The wages of sin is death!”

“Flee from the wrath to come!”

“Prepare to meet thy God!”

“The soul that sinneth, it shall die!”

“Because there is wrath beware!”

Listen to what happened long ago, “They refused to hearken, and pulled away the shoulder, and stopped their ears that they should not hear. Yea, they made their hearts as an adamant (hard) stone, lest they should hear the law, and the words which the Lord of hosts hath sent in His spirit by the former prophets: therefore came a great wrath from the Lord of hosts” (Zech. 7:11-12).

At railroad crossings you have seen the signs that say, “Stop, Look, and Listen”; haven’t you?

Across the path of every boy and girl, every man and woman, there is a sign that says, “Stop, Look and Listen.” It is the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ!

Have you STOPPED? Or are you hurrying on toward danger and eternal death carelessly?

Have you LOOKED? “LOOK unto ME, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is none else” (Isa. 45:22).

Have you LISTENED? “Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that HEARETH My word, and believeth on Him that sent Me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life” (John 5:24).

Boys and girls, if you have read this story and turn away without receiving the Lord Jesus as your Savior, you are doing what the two boys did upon the railroad tracks! You are stopping your ears, and turning your backs upon God! You are doing what Satan “dares” you to do!

The Lord Jesus says, “Him that cometh to Me I will in no wise cast out” (John 6:37).

Turn to Him while there is time!

Trudie and Her Suitcase

“Can I take my suitcase to heaven when Jesus comes, Mother?” Trudie asked anxiously.

“Oh, Trudie!” big sister Louise who was six, answered her four-year-old sister in disgust. “Of course you can’t take a suitcase to heaven; can she, Mother?”

“But I want to take it!” Trudie was close to tears.

Mother looked lovingly at her two small girls in their pajamas sitting up in bed waiting for her answer. Their Bible story that night had been about heaven, and about the wonderful time when the Lord Jesus would come to take those who belonged to him to live with Him forever.

“When the Lord Jesus comes, Trudie, there is just one thing we can take with us,” answered Mother.

“What is it?” both girls asked together.

“Our hearts that have been washed clean in the precious blood of the Lord Jesus! The Lord Jesus knows that we won’t need any of the things that belong down in this old world. You wouldn’t want your suitcase there, dear. Everything there will be shining and wonderful, and our hearts will have everything they need to be perfectly happy!”

It was time to sleep, so the two little girls knelt to pray. Mother heard Trudie saying, “Dear Lord Jesus, when you come to take us to heaven, please, I would like to take my suitcase. Mother doesn’t want to take hers; Daddy doesn’t want to take his, and Louise doesn’t want to take hers—but I do want to take mine!”

Then Trudie prayed about other things, but before she finished her prayer she thought again of the coming of the Lord Jesus, and she said, “And when you come for us, dear Jesus, I guess you’ll just have to carry Louise and me, for we don’t know how to fly yet!”

Mother kissed the girls good night, and put out the light. Sitting in the living room she smiled as she thought of Trudie’s prayer. Then serious thoughts came. A suitcase to heaven! Were not many people clinging to things of this life of no more value in God’s sight than Trudie’s old suitcase? Were they not spending their lives for them as though they thought surely they would be able to take them to heaven with them to enjoy them for all eternity? Was she doing the same?

At any moment the glad shout might call the Christians away from this world. “Then whose would all these things be?” These “things” of earthly pleasure, comfort and enjoyment would all be left behind with Trudie’s suitcase.

As mother sat thinking a real desire began to grow in her heart that the Lord would teach her now to lay up more treasure in heaven where it would last for eternity. She could spend more time praying for many who did not know the Lord Jesus as she did. She could tell others of the love of the Lord Jesus who had died for their sins. She could teach her little girls, and many of the children in the neighborhood, the things from God’s Word that would help them to grow into true, happy Christians. These were things that would last!

Then Mother thought of how Trudie had said, “And when You come for us, dear Jesus, I guess You’ll just have to carry Louise and me, for we don’t know how to fly yet!”

“No, and I can’t fly either,” Mother thought. Nor could anyone else. If the Lord didn’t carry us patiently and lovingly all through life’s journey, and then at His coming lift us up with His arms of love into His presence not one would ever get there!

To His people long ago He said, “I bare you on eagles’ wings, and brought you unto myself” (Ex. 19:4).

Someday soon, “the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord” (1 Thess. 4:16-17).

Courtesy of BibleTruthPublishers.com. Any suggestions for spelling or punctuation corrections would be warmly received. Please email them to: BTPmail@bibletruthpublishers.com.

Face to Face With Lions