IF YOU HAD been boys and girls a century ago, you might have seen in many parts of our country many outfits like the one in our picture — a canvas-covered wagon drawn sometimes by horses or mules and often by oxen. Mother and the little children and all else they possessed were put inside; older children often walked, while father or one of the older boys drove the team. At night they camped; they set the animals free to feed on the grass around. They built a fire and mother and the girls cooked supper while the boys got wood and water, or sometimes caught fish and hunted if they could.
These people came from many countries far away, They had heard of America, that it was a good country, rich and plentiful and free, while in the countries where they lived they suffered from poverty and were often oppressed by those in power. They believed the report, and though it cost them some struggles to leave their friends and the scenes of their childhood, they pulled up their stakes and came away to seek a new home and plenty in this favored land. Boys and girls parted with school friends and companions to go with their fathers and mothers to the good country they had heard of but had never seen.
Now the children of God, dear young friends, do the same thing in a far higher and deeper sense.
They give up this world for heaven. They have heard of that blessed land where the Lord Jesus dwells, where all is peace and love and light. Weary with the burden of the wretchedness of sin they have left it all and started for heaven.
There was one thing which the people who came to America had all alike to do to get here. They all had to cross the mighty waters of the ocean. And so all those who go to heaven must by faith too cross the waters of death. The Lord Jesus has passed through death before them and now God’s children are those who are dead and risen with Christ His beloved Son.
These were on their way to the rich land of our country, as you see them in our picture, and some happy days and lovely scenery they enjoyed often together. But again they had storms, muddy roads, rivers to cross, and other troubles; alas some died along the way, but their trials and sorrows only made them long to reach home and rest. Sometimes the children would find fault and wish their parents had never left the old home. Those were dark days which made the fathers and mothers sad, but they kept on. And the way to heaven, dear children, is happy if we keep in the sunshine of our Father’s presence and enjoyment of the Saviour’s love. It has sorrows too, times when we cannot help weeping and wishing the Lord to come and take us to heaven. But if we kneel in prayer before God, He hears us, and He comforts us, He answers our prayers, and so makes us learn what a loving Father we have.
Are you, dear boys and girls who have Christian parents, going on with them to heaven, or do you still cling to this world and to your sins?
ML-12/30/1973