The Trip...

Klaus was 8 years old when his father took him on a trip. It was a dream vacation for a young boy.

It started with a train ride. Then they went hiking through fields and ended the day camping under the stars. The next day was spent with more hiking in the outdoors and then they came to a river. Rather than walking along it or finding a bridge they bundled their clothes up and swam across the river. Then they hiked some more.

Then they came to a sign and Klaus's father stopped, pulled his son to him, hugged him and broke down in tears. "We made it! We made it!" Klaus's father cried.

Klaus and his father had just escaped from Communist Czechoslovakia into West Germany. Klaus would one day understand what that meant, but at 8 years old it had just been a wonderful adventure. Just a walk with his Dad.*

Klaus's father had understood the peril Klaus had faced in Czechoslovakia. He understood the dire future that would inevitably follow if they did not leave. Klaus's father knew that Klaus would have to be led to avoid this peril that he did not yet understand. The price was great, but so was the deliverence.

Our unsaved friends and neighbors also face a peril. A danger more dire than any present in Communist Czechoslovakia. They are blindly living their lives in danger's path and they do not understand the rescue they require.

God wants them led to safety.

“There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and lived in luxury every day. At his gate was laid a beggar named Lazarus, covered with sores and longing to eat what fell from the rich man’s table. Even the dogs came and licked his sores.

“The time came when the beggar died and the angels carried him to Abraham’s side. The rich man also died and was buried. In hell, where he was in torment, he looked up and saw Abraham far away, with Lazarus by his side. So he called to him, ‘Father Abraham, have pity on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, because I am in agony in this fire.’

“But Abraham replied, ‘Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, while Lazarus received bad things, but now he is comforted here and you are in agony. And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been fixed, so that those who want to go from here to you cannot, nor can anyone cross over from there to us.’

“He answered, ‘Then I beg you, father, send Lazarus to my father’s house, for I have five brothers. Let him warn them, so that they will not also come to this place of torment.’

“Abraham replied, ‘They have Moses and the Prophets; let them listen to them.’
“‘No, father Abraham,’ he said, ‘but if someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent.’

“He said to him, ‘If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.’”

Luke 16:19-31

The danger is imminent and the risk is catastrophic. "...they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead." What price are we willing to pay to assure that those we know are delivered from peril?

Is it time for a walk?


* _{This story is adapted from the real life story of PGA golfer Alex Cejka as related in Jay Nordliner's online "Impromptus" column in National Review Online on May 12, 2009 titled "A Great Reaganite Hope, &c."}