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Rescued

By Guy K. Henry

www.guyhenry.com

I was outdoors, by myself and far away from the pressures of life. This was my idea of fun. I had hiked into the woods for hours and set up a campsite in a clearing I came across.

“This is the life!” I said aloud, though there was nobody around for miles to hear me. My dinner was simple, just a can of beans warmed up over the campfire. For some reason they tasted better than a juicy steak. This was my vacation time, and I wasn’t going to allow myself to worry about anything.

After my simple supper, I stretched out and took in the beauty of the sky. I noticed a collection of beautiful orange clouds slowly blowing by. Occasionally a bird or two would sail high in the sky.

After a short while, I heard a rustle coming from some bushes by the edge of my clearing. I sat up and tried to figure out what it was.

I didn’t have to wait for long. Soon a charging family of deer stomped down the bushes. Branches were cracking underneath the deer’s fury. The strange thing is that they ran past me, and didn’t even seem to notice. Soon they jumped into the bushes on the other side of my clearing.

I returned to watching the evening sky. Before long a noisy flock of birds flew across the sky. Soon they were followed by hundreds of other birds of different kinds, all sounding panicked.

“The forest is really waking up,” I said to myself. “I wonder if I will be able to sleep with all of this activity!”

Soon there was more rustling from the bushes. I didn’t have time to be scared when three bears suddenly bound into the clearing. They also sped past me, paying no noticed to my surprised face.

I was still trying to figure out what was going on. As I pondered, a fox and bunches of mice sped across my campsite.

Then I saw something that told me exactly what was going on. My heart sped up at its sight. Just above the height of the trees I saw billows of low gray smoke drift by. That could not be a good sign.

Soon my eyes were drawn from the sky to the crackling noise that was coming from the bushes. It wasn’t an animal.

“FIRE!” I screamed. Soon my fears were affirmed when I saw an orange glow coming from deep within the forest.

I was frantically gathering my camping things when I saw puffs of smoke coming from the bushes. Within seconds they burst into flames.

I realized that carrying my camping things would only slow me down. I needed a new plan, a plan in which I was quickly running away from the direction of the fire. Soon I was just like the deer and bears as I leapt into the other side of my clearing into the woods. I glanced behind me to see the grass of my campsite quickly catching fire. I hoped that I would be able to outrun the flames.

Soon I was tripping on logs and vines in the dense forest. Each time I fell, I got right back up and continued running. Resting and rubbing my bruises was not an option. I couldn’t see the fire, but I could hear its crackling and smell its smoke.

My heart was pounding, and I was out of breath. I wondered how long I would be able to outrun the wall of fire.

A few minutes later I noticed a bright spot ahead of me. Was it another clearing? Perhaps it was a road. Whatever it was, I hoped that it would be easier to run through than the thick forest.

Soon I found out what it was. I stood before a wide, rushing river. The water was white and bubbly as it swooshed around the jagged rocks.

I thought, “If I am far enough in the water I should be safe from the fire.”

With that I stepped into the fast moving water. Immediately I felt my legs being pulled by the water. Quickly I lost my balance and was being buffeted by the rapids. I banged against the rocks and desperately tried to breath. Desperately, I tried to grab onto branches and rocks, but the strong current just pushed me farther down the river. Finally, the water slammed me against a rock. I was pinned, but at least I could breath. The land was close by, so I thought that I would attempt to crawl back to it.

As I lifted my head, I felt the muscles of my legs go limp. The rock that the river had dumped me onto was at the top of a very high waterfall. Now I hugged the rock and trembled as I watched the water spill over the edge of the falls.

I could hardly move. Three fears surrounded me. The rushing, drowning water continued to speed past me. The incredible height of my overhanging rock paralyzed me as I studied the rocks below. Then, as if I didn’t have enough to be afraid of, the shrubbery along the river caught fire, sending wisps of smoke to steal my breath.

“What am I going to do?!” I screamed.

I knew that crossing the river was impossible. I was not strong enough. If I tried, I’d surely be swept over the falls and land on the rocks below.

I couldn’t stay where I was. Very soon the flames and smoke would be too much.

I did the only thing I knew how to do. I filled my lungs with as much smoky air as they could hold, and hysterically yelled, “HELP!! HELP ME!!! HELP! HELP!”

I was too busy screaming to see the strange sight in the middle of the river. It was a man, a very very large man. He was so huge and strong that the surging water did not knock him over.

I didn’t see him until he was towering over me.

“Help, help, help,” I said, my voice getting softer with each breath.

The strong man wasted no time. He stooped down and turned his back to me. He said, “Hurry, get on my back.”

I thought for a moment of telling him that I felt a little silly about crawling on his back. I wasn’t a little kid after all. Piggyback rides seemed a little foolish to someone of my age. Before I could protest, a flaming branch fell past me and tumbled down the falls, still burning. I decided not to argue.

I lifted myself off of my rock and clung to my rescuer. In a moment he stood up tall and walked with me on his back along the top of the waterfall. The same currents that would easily have tossed me over the falls did not sway him. He took big, sure steps to the other side of the river.

A short while later, the strong man set me down on the far bank of the river. I looked back to where I had just been, and could see nothing but smoke and flames.

Is this a true story? No it isn’t. However, there was a time that I was rescued just as dramatically.

I was hopelessly lost because of my disobedience of God and His Word.

God sent me Jesus, who took care of my disobedience on the Cross.

I believed in Jesus, and then I trusted Him to take me away from the trouble of my disobedience.

Jesus is my rescuer. I have new life because of Him!

Are you in need of a rescuer? May I recommend Jesus?

John 3:16-18 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.(17)  For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.(18)  He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.”

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