Ellen was having a good time visiting her cousin Alice who lives at the edge of the “bush,” as the Canadians call the north woods. Today she was going blueberry picking with Alice and Uncle Bill. Uncle Bill had left a pail of blueberries in the woods on Saturday that they wanted to find. Then they were going to pick more berries.
They soon found the big pail of blueberries without any trouble, and then Ellen picked enough berries to fill her six-quart pail. She was so thirsty that she decided to go back to the little spring they had passed earlier. She thought she knew right where the spring was, but she walked for quite awhile and couldn’t seem to find it. “That’s funny,” she thought, “that spring isn’t where I thought it was. Maybe I’d better go back to Alice and Uncle Bill.”
After turning around to go back the same way she had come, everything looked different. She walked a long way through the “bush.” Branches scratched her legs and tore her dress. She protected the pail of berries that she had picked for Aunt Ruth, but her arms were scratched until they bled. She began to wonder why it was taking so long to find Alice and Uncle Bill. Nothing looked familiar. She began to get scared when she realized she was lost. To make matters worse it was starting to get dark. She called Alice and Uncle Bill until she couldn’t call anymore. Would she have to stay in the woods all night?
She was too scared to go to sleep anywhere, so she walked and stumbled through the woods. She came to a road that crossed a little bridge to a school. The school was dark, and there was nobody around. She knew this was not the place she wanted. Strange to say she turned and went back into the woods. She was so close to help, but she didn’t know it.
Boys and girls, as well as older people, are wandering around in sin. They keep thinking that they can find their own way out of it. They don’t like to admit that they are helpless and “dead in trespasses and sins.” Ephesians 2:11And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins; (Ephesians 2:1). Then when they find that the way out is simply through believing in the Lord Jesus Christ, they think it’s too easy, and they won’t accept it. They turn back to their wandering when help is so close. “For there is none other Name under heaven ... whereby we must be saved.” Acts 4:1212Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved. (Acts 4:12).
All the following day, Tuesday, Ellen walked still carrying her precious pail of blueberries. She ate some of them and some raspberries that she found, and drank water from a river.
Tuesday night it started to rain. Ellen’s dress, what was left of it, got soaked. She crawled under some bushes and fell asleep. She dreamed about the layer cake that Aunt Ruth had made just before they left to go blueberry picking. It even had chocolate icing on it. In her dream Alice asked her if she would like a piece. But just before she could say “yes,” she wakened, cold, wet and hungry. “That’s when I wanted to cry,” she said later, “but I didn’t.”
Five hundred men were searching the “bush” all that day and night. Three airplanes circled overhead joining in the search, but none of them caught sight of Alice.
On Wednesday the area received the hardest rainfall that it had had in some years. The search continued, but with each passing hour their hopes faded. They began to wonder if they would find Ellen alive. The area that they were searching was so dense that even two of the rescuers got lost and had to be rescued themselves.
There was a cold wind blowing. Ellen’s dress was torn and her sandals had fallen apart. Her legs and arms were scratched and bleeding. She had fallen many times, but had not gotten seriously hurt. That night she slept on some soft grass beside a big log. She had put the berries beside her, but when she wakened they were gone. She didn’t hear or see what took them.
That Thursday morning she walked a little way and then came to the same bridge that she had seen bore. But this time Howard Bosley, one of the searchers, saw her and called, “Are you Ellen?”
“Yes,” Ellen answered.
“Come with me. You’re safe now. I’ll take you home,” he said with a very tired but happy smile.
Ellen was first rushed to the hospital where she was examined by a doctor. Once her scratches and sores were treated, she was released to her parents. The three of them went back to Aunt Ruth’s house where there was food to eat and a soft bed to curl up in. She will never forget that blueberry-picking trip.
Ellen was rescued. She was found by one of the concerned people who was searching for her. Jesus is also searching for those who will trust in Him. The Bible says, “The Son of man (the Lord Jesus) is come to seek and to save that which was lost.” Luke 19:1010For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost. (Luke 19:10). Do you realize that you are lost and in need of a Saviour? Why not accept Him right now as your Saviour. He is waiting.
“Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear My voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with Me.” Revelation 3:2020Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me. (Revelation 3:20).
ML-01/31/1982