Friend,
As you enjoy this
mountain, this world, your life,
remember that one slip may
have permanent consequences.
These words are engraved on a memorial stone at the top of Mt. Erie in the state of Washington.
It was a beautiful sunny Saturday in September. We had driven up a steep, narrow, winding road to the summit of Mt. Erie and were enjoying the view. Islands and waterways could be seen in the distance, and right below us we could see tiny farmhouses, patchwork fields and a small lake.
One side of the mountain had a steep, rocky cliff that dropped off sharply below the lookout point where we stood. We held five-year-old Paul firmly by the hand, and the two older children were told to stay back from the edge.
How tempting it was for the children to creep closer to the edge for a better look down, to see what was on the other side of that big rock!
In our lives we sometimes come to decisions and situations that we know are dangerous. We can be tempted to see how close we can get without getting in trouble. It may be running with the wrong crowd at school or reading bad things - Satan knows our weaknesses. But God’s Word, the Bible, gives us all good advice: “Go not in the way of evil men. Avoid it, pass not by it, turn from it, and pass away” (Proverbs 4:14-1514Enter not into the path of the wicked, and go not in the way of evil men. 15Avoid it, pass not by it, turn from it, and pass away. (Proverbs 4:14‑15)).
As we returned to our car from the lookout point on Mt. Erie, we paused to read the inscription on the memorial stone. Next to the engraved picture of a 13-year-old boy named Jonathan Glass were these words:
Due to a fall on Mt. Erie
August 26, 1992,
I was changed in an instant
from mortal to immortal.
Three Marines who were
rock climbing tried to revive me
but to no avail, for I had already
been transported to God’s
perfect place, on eagles’ wings.
This boy’s family, although sad at their loss, knew that their son had put his trust in Jesus, the Son of God. When Jonathan died, he was taken to be with his blessed Saviour.
His family wanted Jonathan’s death to be a warning to others to be careful on the mountain. But more importantly, they hoped that all who read that marble monument would come to know the Lord Jesus as their Saviour, as Jonathan had. And so the memorial stone carried one last message at the bottom:
“For God so loved the world,
that He gave His only begotten
Son [the Lord Jesus Christ],
that whosoever believeth in Him
should not perish, but have
everlasting life” (John 3:1616For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. (John 3:16)).
It was a quiet and sober drive back down Mt. Erie as we thought about the message we had just received - be careful, but be ready. Are you ready to meet God if your life should end today? All who have trusted in Jesus are waiting to hear His call to come up to heaven to be with and like Him forever. “Be ye therefore ready” (Luke 12:4040Be ye therefore ready also: for the Son of man cometh at an hour when ye think not. (Luke 12:40)).
ML-04/05/1998