Nine-year-old Kevin was on a vacation with his younger brother Calvin and their parents. They were visiting Yellowstone National Park in the state of Wyoming. They were so excited to finally see some of the sights they had heard so much about!
Old Faithful, the geyser, was so fun to watch. It erupts every 44 minutes to 2 hours. Then there were the bubbling pools of water. They were interesting to watch, but the boys and their parents had to be careful to stay on the path, because the water is so hot it would scald you if it touched you. And, of course, everyone always hopes to see a bear wandering around. One thing they did see was lots of bison. They are big animals that look like buffalo, and they have horns. The park rangers asked that everyone stay in their cars and not take any chances of getting too close to one.
Kevin had his dad’s old camera, which he was excited about. His dad had gotten a new one and asked Kevin if he would like his old one. He sure would like to have it! This was perfect to take on this trip.
As the family slowly made their way through the park, they came to a place where they saw a moose, about 200 feet away downhill from them. Kevin was excited because he had never seen a live moose before. His dad gave him a strong word of warning ... “Do not under any circumstances get close to that moose! They can be very dangerous and will attack if they feel threatened!” Kevin assured his dad he wouldn’t get near the moose and climbed out of the car with his “new” camera.
His dad was busy trying to figure out how to work his new camera and wasn’t paying attention to where Kevin was going. Kevin, in the meantime, was looking through his camera lens focusing on the moose. He kept getting closer and closer to the moose, not realizing how close he was, because the camera lens made the moose look farther away than it was.
Suddenly, in the lens, Kevin saw the moose come towards him. He put down his camera and to his horror saw that he was only a very few yards away from the moose! He started to run uphill and, to his relief, saw a row of young trees. He ran to the other side of them. The moose charged at him, but the width of its antlers was wider than the trees and so the antlers stopped him. This only made Mr. Moose even more angry, and he went to the end of the tree line and came to the side that Kevin was on. Kevin quickly ran to the other side of the trees, and once again the moose charged, but the antlers again stopped him from getting to Kevin. So again the moose ran around to the other side and tried again to charge Kevin.
Children, the Bible tells us that we also have an enemy who wants to harm us. Satan is after each of us, wanting to destroy our lives in whatever way he can. In 1 Peter 5:88Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour: (1 Peter 5:8) it says, “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour.” How wonderful to have a refuge in the Lord Jesus who is able to keep us from such an enemy.
About this time, Kevin’s dad happened to look up from his camera and saw the danger his son was in. He wasn’t sure just what to do, but he ran down the hill a little and yelled, which somehow got the moose to be a bit unsure about taking on two humans! The moose decided to leave Kevin alone.
WOW, THAT WAS CLOSE! Kevin’s dad had some serious words with him about obeying his parents. Kevin had accepted the Lord Jesus as his Savior, and he had more than once been asked to memorize the two short verses found in Ephesians 6:1-2: “Children, obey your parents in the Lord: for this is right. Honor thy father and mother.” It was a sober Kevin who got back into the family car and thought of what could have happened. How good the Lord was that, in spite of Kevin’s disobedience, he was spared from a horrible injury or even death.
We would encourage all our young readers or listeners today to obey your parents in the Lord. You may not always agree with your parents or understand what they tell you to do or not to do, but the Lord Jesus says that you should obey them anyway.
Messages of God’s Love 6/21/2020