Toni Marie and her younger brother Bradley could hardly wait! It was the Fourth of July and their family was going on a picnic to the mountains to fish and play! Daddy remarked as he put his fishing rod in the camper that he probably would not use it, because the streams were low from very dry conditions in the mountains. “We won’t need to worry, Mother, the children can’t drown in the little trickles we’ll find there.”
Dad was right about the streams. However, he found a few pools worth a try with his rod. The quiet of the mountains and the fresh pine-scented breezes were calming to city nerves, and everyone was having a relaxing time. After a good lunch Mother settled down in a chair with a book, Dad was fishing while Toni and her brother waered downstream. At first they made little dams and played with such things as their imaginations came up with. After some time Toni got tired of these engineering projects, and seeing a pretty rock above, decided to explore a little on her own. So busy was her little brother in his play that he did not even see her leave.
Toni found one thing after another that interested her, but each new adventure took her farther away from the picnic site. Back at the camp Mother began to feel uneasy at not having heard the children for some time. At her request Dad called out with a mighty “halloo!” Bradley answered not too far off, and the parents again relaxed. It was not until another hour perhaps that Bradley trudged back, muddy but happy, and reminded Mother of the cookies left from lunch. “Okay, Bradley,” she replied. “Here, take a few back to Toni. She probably sent you anyway.”
“But, Mamma, Toni went away. She’s... gone.”
When they asked him. When? where? and why? He just shrugged. After all he was very young.
So began a twelve-hour search which lasted through the long, dark night and into the morning hours. Rangers and volunteers were terribly concerned that they find Toni quickly, for the forest was thick and was home to many mountain lions and deadly rattlers—not to mention coyotes and other wild creatures.
As the afternoon wore on and darkness began to creep in, Toni had begun to try to find her way back to the camper. Do you think she could find her way? No, she was
Like a little wandering lamb,
Lost upon the hills....
Where the hungry lion hides,
Where the fiery serpent glides.
Oh, she was not aware of any lions or snakes, for she had not seen any. Even the rangers remarked later that it was only a miracle that in all of her stumbling about she had not been bitten by a rattlesnake. Toni had wandered for a long time, called over and over and over again, and, yes... cried. We do not know if she prayed.
At last, she curled up exhausted, under a huge tree and fell asleep. It was there that kind Jim Fairchild of the rescue unit found her safe and sound. What a friend in need he was, and how wonderful his strong arms must have felt as he wrapped her in a warm blanket and held her tight!
Toni, just like us, wanted to wander on her own. Satan, “the fiery serpent,” knows how to lure us out into his world with interesting things and pleasures. And there we wander, hopelessly lost in sin, unless rescued from sure disaster ahead. Unlike Toni who called and no one heard her, you may call to the Good Shepherd, the Lord Jesus, who always hears. His own words spoken when He was here on earth were, “The Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost.” Luke 19:1010For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost. (Luke 19:10). If you do not want Him, if you love to wander in sin and refuse to call upon Him, then you will some day feel the terrible “sting” in death. The Bible says, “The sting of death is sin.” 1 Corinthians 15:5656The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law. (1 Corinthians 15:56). “If ye believe not that I am He” (the Saviour), Jesus said in John 8:2424I said therefore unto you, that ye shall die in your sins: for if ye believe not that I am he, ye shall die in your sins. (John 8:24), “ye shall die in your sins.” Then to die in your sins would mean that you must bear the punishment for them all alone—in the lake of fire. But right now one look and call in faith to the Lord Jesus will take them all away, for “Christ... His own self bare our sins in His own body on the tree.” 1 Peter 2:21,2421For even hereunto were ye called: because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow his steps: (1 Peter 2:21)
24Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed. (1 Peter 2:24).
Will you wander on, lost in sin, until it is too late?
ML-11/11/1984