Lost in the Woods

By Harold Smith

One day, boys and girls, Jesus, when He was on the earth, met a woman in John chapter 4. He said to the woman, "... If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink; thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water" - John 4:10. Then He said, "But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life" - John 4:14. This story is of a woman in Ontario called Aunt Gertie. She had been saved many, many years. She went to a little Gospel hall in Gordon Bay. She was very old and one of the oldest Christians in that meeting. She attended all of her life. Everybody liked Aunt Gertie, she had a bright, radiant smile, and a hearty handshake, and she just loved everybody. Somebody asked her one day, "How long have you known the Lord as your Savior, Aunt Gertie?" She said, "Ever since I got lost in the bush". "Tell us about it", they said. "Well", she said, "I was eight years old, and already I knew that I was lost in my sins. I was hunting the cows one hot summer day and I got lost in the woods. I ran and I ran until I thought I would die of thirst, so I knelt down and I asked God, 'Oh God, give me something to drink right away'. And I found a drink waiting for me. Right in front of me was a hole punched in the soft ground by a cow's foot a long time before, and it was full of clear, fresh rainwater. So, I knelt down and drank. As I drank, I thought - Jesus is offering me another kind of water. I've got a thirst in my soul. I'm not saved. He said, 'If any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink. I will give you living water and you'll never thirst again'". So, at the same time she drank out of that little puddle - that rainwater - to quench her physical thirst, she trusted in the Lord Jesus as her Savior and she was gloriously saved! When at last she had found the cows and came home, Gertie was a new creature in Christ Jesus. She lived to prove it, and she lived to prove that the Living Waters that the Lord Jesus gives really satisfies. You can have that, but you must drink. You must take it in. You must trust the Savior with all your heart in order to get it. He died for you. He loves you. He cares for you, and He wants to save you. You must trust Him in order to be saved. Do it and you'll be so happy that you did!