We sat in the trapper’s cabin that day listening to his stories. He trapped in the winter and was a fishing and hunting guide the rest of the year. He was very familiar with a large area of northern Ontario. He told the following story.
“Three years ago I was working my trap line far to the north. The snow was very deep that winter. The only mark of man in all the area was my own, as I traveled on my snowshoes from trap to trap. Coming over the crest of a hill, I saw a thin wisp of smoke rising straight up in the still, cold air. I knew of no other trappers in the area, so I wondered what would have caused a fire in this part of the bush. There were no cabins of any kind in this area, and yet the smoke was a definite sign of man, but who could it be? It was late afternoon, night was coming on, and with a long way back to camp I could not risk going further to find out.
“Three days later the wisp of smoke was still on my mind, so I decided to go back to see what had caused it. Fresh snow had fallen, and walking was difficult. After searching for many hours and finding nothing, I was tired and about to turn back. A hill was ahead, and I knew a small lake was on the other side of the hill. I decided to go as far as the frozen lake and then return home.
“I will never forget what I saw on the other side of that hill. There on the ice was a military aircraft, which I learned later was an F-101 fighter jet. It sat on the ice on the far side of the lake and looked to be undamaged.
“Crossing the ice to the other shore, I found the pilot. He lay in a shallow hole scooped out in the snow. There were branches broken from nearby trees pulled over his body. Beside the place where he lay, covered with snow, were the charred remains of a fire. This had been the cause of the smoke I had seen. Placing my head against his chest, I heard a faint heartbeat. He was still alive!
“I made a sled out of branches and parts of the plane and brought him out and got him into town. The Provincial police helped me get him to a hospital. He had been injured in the crash landing of his jet and had suffered severe frostbite in the days following. But he lived. He told of three weeks of struggling to stay alive in the bitter cold. Emergency rations on board the plane kept him alive, and he waited, hoping to be rescued. But as the time dragged by, his hope began to fade. The cold numbed him, and he was afraid to lie down to sleep. With great difficulty, because of his injury, he managed to keep a fire burning until his strength failed. When the last flickering flame died, his hope died with it. The place he hollowed out in the snow was a grave where he expected to die. He had reached the end of his strength, the end of his hope; there would be no rescue, he would die alone.”
This story shows us exactly where a person is when he sees that he is a sinner and needs to be saved. He has tried everything; works, prayers and feelings have all ended with no help. He is lost; he cannot do a thing to save himself. Then, and only then, does the Saviour do His mighty work of saving the lost sinner.
Christ is the only hope for a poor, helpless sinner. Notice that He does not help to save, nor does He save any but lost sinners. Have you ever been really lost? He goes “after that which is lost, until He find it.” Luke 15:44What man of you, having an hundred sheep, if he lose one of them, doth not leave the ninety and nine in the wilderness, and go after that which is lost, until he find it? (Luke 15:4).
ML-01/03/1988