Years ago, as a young teenager, I had the exciting privilege of camping out with my Sunday School class for a couple days on the Boguehoma River, in Mississippi. Our class set up camp on a rather picturesque sandbar where the river ran deep and slow. The dark water that flowed lazily by, made for a mysterious foreboding to an otherwise calm scene.

The night was filled with fishing with our rods and reels from the bank of the river. We also threw out some trot-lines farther upriver, in hopes of snagging a monstrous catfish. Boy! Were we having fun?!! What a thrill it was to lay out under the stars all night while discussing endless questions with some of the adults who came along to prevent any pandemonium. Not only that, but we filled our gullets with all sorts of sweets and “junk food.” We also drank assorted soft drinks and fruit-flavored drinks like they were going out of style. I thought I was in “hog-heaven.” Perhaps that explains some of the piggish ways I exhibited.

The next morning I awakened bright and early, and decided to go for a swim in the river. Looking back, that decision wasn’t among the smartest ideas I’ve ever conjured up. For one thing, I hadn’t had a “real” meal to speak of, and what I did eat was loaded with sugar. Added to the fact that I’d stayed awake until almost dawn, and you have a disaster waiting to happen. You see, though I didn’t know it at the time, I had low blood-sugar—hypoglycemia, the doctors call it. I’d been in the water only minutes when my body began to feel like lead. The harder I tried to swim back to the bank, the more I kept being sucked under. With that I started frantically yelling, “Help!”, “Help!”, “Help!” As I was going down for the third time, I heard my pastor yell from the riverbank, “Get him Gerald!”

Gerald was a first year college student, who I’d looked up to as a thirteen-year-old kid. For a long time I’d looked up to Gerald Gunn. He was strong, smart, personable, good-natured, and confident. He was all the things I figured I wasn’t. About the time I’d resigned in my mind that I was about to see God, I felt a strong arm entwine itself around my chest. You guessed it; it was Gerald Gunn. He quickly pushed me above the river’s surface and said, “I’ve got you; it’s okay; it’s all right.” At that moment, I was as limp as a dishrag. I couldn’t respond at all. But I was certainly happy to be alive. I was amazed that my friend had so willingly endangered his own life to save mine. Later, I shared my gratitude with Gerald, and told him how grateful I was that he was there to save my life.

The story I’ve just shared with you is true. However, I find in this story a resemblance to another true story that has become meaningful not only to me, but also to all who have turned to Jesus Christ in faith and trusted Him for spiritual rescue. Allow me to shed some light on the point I wish to make with the following:

Dwight L. Moody used to tell of a man who went out to seek his fortune and then sent for his wife and son. The wife and son got on a ship and sailed toward California. On the way, the ship caught on fire. There were not enough lifeboats and people were fighting to get into the ones that existed. The woman begged for a place on one of the boats and a man agreed to let her in the boat. Instead, she tossed her son into the boat at the last moment and remained on the ship to die.

As the lifeboat drifted away, people heard her shouting to her son, “Tell your daddy I died in your place; tell your daddy I died in your place!”

That is what Jesus did for you and for me. He died in our place. The Cross shouts the message, “Jesus died in your place.” 1

Dear friend, do you know Christ as your personal Lord and Savior? He won’t barge His way into your life. You will have to be willing to turn from your sin and invite Jesus into your heart. At that very moment He will take up residence in your heart and life. Won’t you accept Christ while there is still time? God’s Word says, “…Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation (2 Cor. 6:2b). The Bible also says, “For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved” (Rom. 10:13). Give your heart to Jesus. It’s time.

1 J. Mike Minnix, Editor, www.pastorlife.com