At the end of the 1983 school year, an entire fifth-grade class went on a weekend trip in a state park in Connecticut. Three girls from the class decided to take a hike through the forest. They were having lots of fun walking along the trails, telling stories, laughing and enjoying the pretty spring flowers.
However, they were so busy having fun that they weren’t watching where they were going and turned right where they should have turned left. It wasn’t long until they realized they didn’t know where they were. It was time to backtrack!
The more they tried to find their way back to camp, the more confused and lost they became. They wandered around all afternoon.
As it was beginning to get dark, they found themselves at the edge of a shallow swamp. When one of the girls thought she heard a wild animal behind them (a bear or wild dog or some other scary thing), the girls all plunged ahead into the swamp and began slogging as fast as they could through the murky water. At first they fled through the swamp to get away from the noise, but when the fear of the noise left them they hurried on to get out of the swamp, which in itself was scary with night coming on. They hurried on until they were exhausted. When it seemed they could go no farther they reached higher ground where they huddled together to spend the night. They were scared, tired, wet, cold and hungry. Then, to add to their troubles, it started raining.
When the girls didn’t return to camp at the proper time, the park rangers were called, and they immediately went out searching for them. The girls’ parents were also called, and they all hurried to the park. They spent what was probably the worst night of their lives, in the park headquarters, listening to the radio reports of the searchers who were looking for their lost daughters.
When the girls hadn’t been found by morning, 100 fresh volunteers were ready to renew the search. Among these volunteers was a state trooper named Andrew Rebbman and his old bloodhound named Clem.
The trooper led Clem to the last spot where the girls had been seen. Then he had Clem sniff a piece of clothing one of the parents had brought that belonged to one of the girls. “Find them!” the trooper commanded Clem.
Clem sniffed around until he picked up their trail. When the scent was strong Clem would strain on his leash, but when the scent was faint he would spend more time sniffing.
After following the scent trail for three miles, Clem found a barrette that belonged to one of the girls. After another mile he brought the search party to the edge of a swamp where the scent trail ended. Thinking the girls must have gone into the swamp, the men started calling. The girls heard them and shouted back.
The men headed through the swamp to where the girls were and then carried them on their shoulders all the way back to the rangers’ station. What a joyful moment it was when the girls were reunited with their parents!
Clem was a bloodhound, and bloodhounds are wonderfully suited to follow a trail because of their keen sense of smell. The Lord Jesus is the Son of God, and He is wonderfully suited to be the Saviour of lost sinners. Let’s think about this. For three and a half years He did wonderful miracles — giving the blind their sight again, healing the lepers and raising the dead. At the end of this time Judas Iscariot, one of His close followers, betrayed Him into the hands of the religious leaders. These men were jealous of the Lord Jesus and wanted to put Him to death. In order to do this they had to bring Him before Pontius Pilate, the Roman governor. Pontius Pilate, even though he knew the Lord Jesus was innocent of everything they accused Him of, passed the death penalty on Him.
Oh, what a sad, dark day that was for the world when men cast out God’s beloved Son and nailed Him to a cross. He who made the world and everything in it was slain by the very creatures He made — think of it! But when Jesus hung on the cross, the love of God shone out more brightly than ever before, for on that cross the Lord Jesus bore in His own body the punishment for the sins of every person who would trust in Him as their Lord and Saviour! Now the sins of every believer are gone forever, because Jesus paid the penalty for them. If you trust in Him, your sins will be gone forever, too. Oh, isn’t the Lord Jesus wonderfully suited to be the Saviour of lost sinners! Best of all, we are all invited to trust in Him. Won’t you do this today?
ML-02/01/1987