After work, I loaded a bunch of camping equipment into the back of my van and then picked up a group of boys who had been coming to Sunday school. They ranged in age from 9 to 13 and talked the whole way as we drove to the campground. We drove through Chicago, turned south and then drove around the southern tip of Lake Michigan. Then we turned north through the farm country of northwestern Indiana. After a couple of hours, we finally arrived at our favorite campsite at Indiana Dunes State Park. I did not realize that the park was the scene of frequent crimes by bandits that raided at night.
We found a campsite and quickly set up our large tent. After sitting for the long drive, we all felt like walking. By this time it was already dark, so I held the one flashlight we brought. We walked up and down several tall sand dunes that were right next to the campsites in the trees. We saw the beautiful moonlight reflected on the surface of Lake Michigan. Then we turned away from the lake and hiked into the dark, shadowy forest. In the forest we quickly lost all sense of direction. We walked on not knowing exactly where we were going until we stumbled into a swamp. You might think that was scary. Instead, it was actually fun! We guessed which way to walk to get back to the campsite, and this time we were right! All the while we were walking, we didn’t see signs of any robbers, but I bet they saw us and heard us and thought to themselves, These guys are going to be easy pickings.
It was probably 11 p.m. by the time we got back to camp. The boys crawled into their sleeping bags. You’d think they would have been talked out after being together for a few hours and dead tired, but they weren’t. They were just as chatty as ever. Instead of trying to quiet them down, I decided to take my sleeping bag outside by the front zippered door of the tent. My small Shetland Sheep dog, Mickey, like a good bodyguard, lay down beside me. Soon I was sound asleep and unaware of the world around me.
Sometime in the middle of the night, I woke up with a start. I don’t know what it was that awakened me. Mickey was still lying down next to me, but I could tell his body was in a state of high alert. His ears were perked up like he was trying to hear every little sound, and he was looking hard into the darkness.
“What is it boy?” I asked him, and then turned on the flashlight. I swept the beam of light slowly in a semi-circle to see what was going on. The beam of light didn’t fully light the darkness. For the most part, I could only see the dark silhouettes of trees and bushes, but behind every tree and bush I could also see a small pair of beady eyes reflecting light back at me. I figured they must be raccoons. It seemed like every raccoon in the states of Indiana and Michigan was surrounding our large tent and sneaking up to it. There were so many pairs of eyes that there was no way I could count them!
After I thought about it for a little while, I came to the conclusion they could do us no harm. Our food was safely locked in the van, so I went back to sleep.
Early the next morning, I was awakened by the squealing of small animals arguing. I opened my eyes and, looking almost straight up, saw two raccoons about 30 feet above me in the branches of a nearby tree. They were fighting over the ownership of a package of cinnamon rolls.
They were so surprised by my waking up that they both lost hold of the package. The badly ripped package fell to the ground. “Oh, wow!” I realized immediately that the raccoons had been in the van! As I walked over to the van, inside a fat raccoon scampered to the front seat, climbed up the partially open window and squeezed out.
“Oh, no!” I said as I saw my mistake. I had left the front driver’s side window open a few inches. It was all the space the clever raccoons needed to squeeze through and steal all our food! The contents of two grocery bags had disappeared, the ice chest had been opened, and all the food had been robbed out of it too!
Other than making a big mess, they hadn’t done any damage to the van. I cleaned up the mess and then drove to the nearby camp store to buy food for breakfast for the boys. We had to cut the camping trip short for lack of food, but it still was a lot of fun. It was a camping trip that I’ll always remember, because of all the pairs of eyes I saw peering at me in the night.
Now I would like to share with you about a pair of eyes that really do see everything! A verse in the Bible reads, “The eyes of the Lord are in every place, beholding the evil and the good” (Proverbs 15:33The eyes of the Lord are in every place, beholding the evil and the good. (Proverbs 15:3)). That means everywhere you go and everything you do, the Lord is watching. Even at this very moment, the eyes of the Lord are in every place, and one of the places He is looking is straight into your heart.
Sadly, because of sin, there may be a lot of darkness in these hearts of ours. The truth is that “all have sinned and come short of the glory of God” (Romans 6:2323For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. (Romans 6:23)). The little word “all” includes each of us. To be a sinner means a person is headed towards eternal punishment. God doesn’t want anyone to end up in the darkness of hell. He wants all to come to repentance and faith in Christ that they might be with Him forever in heaven. When a person believes in Christ and His work on the cross, God forgives their sins and makes them one of His sons or daughters. Galatians 3:2626For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. (Galatians 3:26) reads, “Ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus.”
The eyes of the Lord are in every place. You can’t hide your sin from Him. What you can do is get down on your knees and tell Him you are sorry for your sins, and then put your faith in the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who loves you and died on Calvary’s cross for you. He said, “Him that cometh to Me I will in no wise cast out” (John 6:3737All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out. (John 6:37)). “This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners” (1 Timothy 1:1515This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief. (1 Timothy 1:15)).
If you haven’t done so yet, won’t you trust in Jesus Christ right now for salvation?
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