The shriek split the hot summer afternoon as one of the boys swung through the air and landed on the next branch. Shrieks like this were often heard from this yard, because the neighborhood boys would play tag high in the branches of a small group of trees. They called the game “Tarzan,” and the goal was to swing from branch to branch to avoid being tagged by the person who was “it.” A little tree off to the side was used as an escape route to the ground. When a boy jumped into it, the tree bent down almost to the ground, allowing him to get away. The boys found the game lots of fun and a good way to pass summer afternoons.
By late summer, the little escape tree was permanently bent over from all the use. So the boys straightened it up by tying a rope from it to a larger tree nearby. With the rope in place, they could keep using the little tree as a direct route to the ground.
One afternoon, Daniel was trying his best not to get tagged. He swung easily from tree to tree, one swing ahead of the boy who was “it.” Finally, he got cornered. Seeing that the little escape tree was close enough, he jumped across to it and landed in its branches, but . . . his foot got tangled in the rope!
The rope stretched tight and then pulled loose, pulling Daniel out of the tree and away from anything that he could hang on to. From fifteen feet above the ground with his foot tangled in the rope, Daniel was unable to break his fall as he rushed headlong to the ground. Everything went black!
In the hospital, doctors found that Daniel had seven broken bones in his back, two dislocated ribs and a severe head concussion. Only a miracle from God had saved Daniel’s life or kept him from being paralyzed for the rest of his life. Daniel’s mother rushed to the hospital to see her son, and she had one question to ask him: “Do you know why you’re here?” She hoped Daniel would realize that God was speaking to him.
Daniel had been raised by parents who loved the Lord Jesus and trusted Him as their Saviour. He had heard many, many times how Jesus had come to this earth to die for sinners. Daniel knew that he was a sinner and that God hated sin and that all sin must be punished. But he had never come to the Lord Jesus, admitting that he was a sinner and accepting Him as his very own Saviour. Daniel did not want to turn his life over to the Lord, because he wanted to live his life his own way.
Daniel had been a very athletic fourteen-year-old, but now he was flat on his back in a hospital bed. He could not walk, he could not eat, and he could not even write. He had lots of time to think, and he could have prayed, but he refused to turn to God in his pain. He understood that it was really a miracle that he was alive, but he still wanted to live his life his own way.
Three months later Daniel was allowed to go home after spending two months flat on his back and then another month learning how to walk again. Even at home he wore a body brace and was in pain all the time. Still he did not turn to the Saviour of sinners. But the Lord Jesus was patient with Daniel. “The Lord . . . is long-suffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:99The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. (2 Peter 3:9)).
The next summer Daniel was sitting in yet another gospel meeting and trying his hardest not to listen. But the story that the preacher told reached Daniel’s conscience. It was the story in Luke chapter 18 of the two men who went to the temple to pray. The Pharisee thought he was such a good person and did not consider himself a sinner. He prayed, “God, I thank Thee, that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican.” But the publican knew that he was a sinner and needed a Saviour. He prayed, “God be merciful to me a sinner” (Luke 18:1313And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner. (Luke 18:13)). And suddenly Daniel saw himself in that story and that he really needed to be saved from his sins. Right there in his seat in the gospel meeting, Daniel prayed as the publican had prayed and accepted the Lord Jesus as his Saviour. Now he is thankful that the Lord has saved him twice - He saved his life when he fell out of the tree, and He saved his soul from eternal punishment for his sins.
ML-02/16/2003