Was it an accident? No! It was truly sad, it was a terrible event, but it was hardly an accident. The three boys involved moved steadily past warnings and barriers to the tragic end.
A house was being fumigated to get rid of an insect infestation. The workers, who installed the airtight cover over the house, knew how deadly methyl bromide is and had taken all possible precautions. The tent over the house had been sealed against escaping gas and signs put up warning that methyl bromide was circulating inside.
It was not enough. “The boys just wanted to go into the house with the tent on it,” so why should a little thing like a warning sign stop them? As one parent said, “They were just being regular teenagers!”
So, ignoring the sign, they went in. Besides the signs, some clamps that held the tent tightly closed were removed. A screen on the front porch was pushed out, a glass window was broken, but they were in!
It was not a triumph! Barely in, and then out and rushed to the emergency room at the nearest hospital. They were deathly sick. Methyl bromide is an extremely toxic gas and can be absorbed (almost instantly) through the skin even if not inhaled.
All three boys were in intensive care-but for one it was too late. Two would have long-lasting effects from the gas, but one sixteen-year-old life was ended. So sad—so tragic—but so final. And there are still many, many “regular teenagers” (and old-agers too!) who are going on past many warnings, even many difficulties, but determined to gratify their own desires and achieve their own goals.
Will the end be “just an accident”? Or will it be the inescapable end of a determined course? You have been warned. You know that you must come to the end of your chosen way through life; you know (or have heard) that God wants you to come to Him while there is still time. There is no known timetable for this day of God’s grace; it could end today. If it should, do you want to be found still trudging along on the deadly way of your own choosing in spite of the warnings?