The rain was pouring down, and the wind sounded wild and lonely. It was late at night and little Timmy Bloome felt worse than ever. Why did he ever tell his mother that he would like to stay at Aunt Janet’s house all night? Of course Timmy liked Aunt Janet. She often stayed with Timmy when his mother and father went out. He always liked to go for a visit to her house. But now it was night. Timmy began to cry. He wanted his own bed. Suddenly he made up his mind—he was going to go home!
Timmy got out of the strange, big bed and got dressed. He knew how to dress himself. He turned up his coat collar high around his neck, just like his mother always did when it rained. He put on his hat and then he waited. He didn’t want Aunt Janet to hear him open the door. The wind blew louder than ever. He opened the door very quietly and stepped out. Then quietly he closed it again. He didn’t know it, but it was two o’clock in the morning.
It was dark. It was wet. It was cold. Timmy pulled his hat forward to shield his face and started off down the country road. He was going home.
He walked and he walked and he walked. It did not seem very far to Aunt Janet’s house when he went in the car. He always got there so fast. But now it seemed an awfully long way. Every time a car came by, Timmy waved at it, but they were all going too fast to see him in the rain.
Timmy thought the way home would be easy. There are many people who are trying their own way to get to heaven. The Bible tells us to “Enter... in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.” Matthew 7:13,1413Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: 14Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it. (Matthew 7:13‑14).
Timmy was getting very tired. He had walked so long, and still he couldn’t even see the town. But he was getting nearer to it. He remembered this bridge. A car was coming towards him. No use waving at it. It was going the wrong way. But the car stopped and out stepped a policeman. Timmy still trudged along.
“Hi, Sonny,” called the policeman. “Where are you going all by yourself at three-thirty in the morning?”
“Home,” said Timmy.
“Where is home?” asked the policeman.
“Fifty-eight West Gardner Street,” said Timmy.
“Would you like a ride?”
“Oh, yes, please,” said Timmy.
It didn’t take long then. His father and mother sleepily answered the door.
“Timmy!” they said, “how did you get here?”
“I picked him up half a mile away,” said the policeman.
“But he was at his Aunt’s home three miles away from here,” said Mr. and Mrs. Bloome.
“I wanted my own home,” said Timmy; “but I didn’t know it was so far away.”
I know ever so many boys and girls who remind me of Timmy. They all want to go to heaven. That home is ever so much better than any home on earth. But no one—just absolutely no one—can get to that home by himself. There is only one way we can ever get to heaven, and that is by trusting the Lord Jesus as our Saviour. For He has said, “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by Me.” John 14:66Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me. (John 14:6).
ML-07/27/1980