Just a few weeks ago I saw a wondrous sight. It probably didn’t seem very wonderful to the people who live nearby and see it all the time. But it was a sight which I don’t see very often. I stood on the top of a huge cliff, and watched the ocean waves dashing in foaming spray against the shore. It was in Lorneville, New Brunswick, and I can still close my eyes and hear the roar and splash of the waves.
Katie lived near the sea, but it was not in New Brunswick. It was in far away Australia. I think you would like to hear her story. Katie had two very little sisters, and they were very poor. Her mother often sent all three of them out through the fields and to the cliffs in search of fire wood. One day Katie and her sisters went out later in the day than usual, and they had to wander a long way to find firewood. Before Katie’s arms were full, the sun went down, and her two sisters began to cry. Poor Katie didn’t know what to do, for she couldn’t carry them both, and what is worse, she looked about and found that she was lost!
What would you have done if you had been in Katie’s place? She searched about for a sheltered corner among the rocks, and there she laid her little sisters. Then she gathered a great heap of seaweed, and covered them lovingly and carefully; then laying her own coat over them, she sat down to watch till the morning.
As soon as darkness began to come, and the little ones had not returned home, the parents and neighbors began to search for the lost ones. All night long they searched, and in the morning they were found. The two little ones were cozy and warm and still sound asleep. But poor Katie. She was cold—and dead. Yes, poor Katie had tried so hard to save her little sisters. And she had tried to sit up, I suppose, and watch all night, but she gave her own life for her sisters.
I am sure Katie did not intend to die that night, though she loved her sisters, and I want to tell you of Someone who loves you much more.
I can tell you of One who intended to die for you, and that not because you were His friend, nor because you loved Him. The blessed Lord Jesus, the Son of God, died for those who hated Him. He stretched out His loving hands and allowed cruel men to nail Him to a cross, and then God laid our sins upon Him and punished Him even to death.
Now He is risen again, and offers salvation to you today. Have your sins been borne by Jesus? Do you know Him as your living Saviour?
ML 03/08/1953