Two who were good friends decided to take a trip to Western Canada. They took their cameras, in the hope that they might be able to get some good pictures of the scenery among the mountains, and of the wild animals who roamed there.
Leaving the train, they began to tramp the country. Soon they came upon some wild goats, peacefully grang on the mountain side. Not far off, a baby bear was playing about. The two men stood watching for a few moments, then were startled by the sound of a crashing in the bush near by. They knew it was the mother bear, coming out of the woods, and set their cameras for a picture. But when she emerged from the trees she was headed straight for the men. Dropping their cameras they ran to the nearest tree, and began to hurriedly climb it. One man, was rather stout, and could get no further than to hang by his hands from a lower bough.
The bear, with one swing of her big paw, reached up and knock down the fat man, and began to tear at him with her claws. Seeing his friend in need of help, the other man quickly came down out of the tree, and picking up a big chunk of wood, hit the bear over the head, However, this did not seem to have any effect on the animal who now turned on the thin man, knocking him down and clawing at him too. At this moment, though they never could tell why, the baby bear began to cry, so the mother left the two men on the ground and went to her cub.
The men managed to drag themselves to the nearest place where they could get help—a distance of quite a few miles. There they were cared for, and their wounds dressed.
After about three months, the thin man was able to go back to work, but his friend never recovered, and died soon after. When the thin man went back to his office, he showed his friends the long scars on his head, chest, and legs, where the bear’s claws had torn him. These scars he would carry with hint to the end of his life.
Does this not make us think of what the Lord Jesus did? He came down from His place of safety to where we were lying under the power of the enemy of our souls—Satan. The thin man wasn’t strong enough to deliver the fat man—the hear was too strong for him but not so the Lord Jesus Christ. Satan was defeated at the cross, and we can be set free from his chains by taking this Saviour whom God has provided for us. We know, ino, that the Lord Jesus will always bear in His body the marks of the nails, and of the spear that pierced His blessed side.
ML 12/30/1951