DONALD McLEAN was a fisherman. He and his wife lived happily with their two little children, Donald Jr., and little Lue, in a cottage by the ocean. Donald and his wife both knew and loved the Lord for they were saved in early days. It was their joy to tell others of the Saviour they had found. There were not many neighbors around them, only about a dozen houses. But it was a joy to Donald to gather the children from these homes in his humble dwelling, every Sunday afternoon, to tell them the story of the Saviour’s love.
Donald’s Sunday school was well attended and eternity will doubtless show that the seed sown by the earnest fisherman was not in vain.
Donald Jr. and his sister Lue were simple, loving children, far behind the boys and girls of the busy city in many things, and happily ignorant also of many of their sinful ways. They spent most of their time playing together on the beach, or sitting in an old boat that lay on the shore, past repair. Somehow, the old boat got the name of “Lue’s Boat,” and the little girl claimed it as her own.
One Sunday afternoon in the summertime, a Christian man came to visit the McLean family, and he spoke to the children on the beach. It Was a warm day, and the meeting was held close by Lue’s boat. In the course of his remarks, the speaker said, “This old boat is past repair. It cannot be mended, and will never sail the sea again. It is just like every boy and girl here. You and I are all ruined sinners. You cannot be mended, you cannot be reformed, you must be “made new,” before you can be “launched for glory.”
That simple saying was carried home to Lue’s heart by the power of the Spirit of God. The illustration of her own boat showed her that she could never reach heaven apart from the new birth, a new creation, for the Lord has said, “Ye must be born again.” John 3:77Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again. (John 3:7).
The next day, little Lue asked her mother a great many questions as to how one could be “made new,” to go to heaven. Her mother gladly answered her little girl, and Lue learned that believing on Jesus, by receiving Him as her Saviour and Lord, she would be “made new,” “born again,” converted, and thus be “launched for glory.” It was several days before the dear little girl fully understood it; but then she joyfully received Jesus as her Saviour, and was truly “born again.”
It was a happy day in the fisherman’s home when little Lue was “launched on her heaven-bound voyage,” and not long after, her brother Donald followed. Often the two of them sang together,
“My bark is launched for glory,
I have left the world behind.”
Years have come and gone, but still they praise God for that day when little Lue was first “launched for glory.”
Dear young friend, and older ones too, are you lying broken, past repair, a derelict sinner, on the shore of a doomed world, unsaved? The Lord Jesus waits to save you. Turn to Him now.
Ask Him to come into your heart, receive Him as your Saviour, and you too will be bound for heaven.
ML-08/30/1964