Sammy's Big Catch (Good message - 'Sad' ending)
Sammy was a good-looking young boy who lived in the deep south. His
summer days were filled with times of walking through the woods,
playing with friends, and fishing in the pond down the dirt road
Fishing was by far his favorite thing to do. Just about every day
during his summer vacation, he would dig up some worms and head off,
pole in hand, for a day of fishing.
This steamy hot day was like most others during Sammy's summer break.
Waking early, he could hear the pond calling him to come fish. Sammy
quietly walked out the front door, grabbed his pitchfork and worm pail
from the porch, and walked into the woods to search for bait. He turned
over old stumps and dug under leaves hoping to find worms. Under one
old stump he hit the jackpot. The ground was writhing. In two minutes
he had all the bait he needed, and in 15 minutes he was at the pond.
Reaching into his bait bucket, Sammy pulled out a big worm. He double
hooked it and tossed it into the water. He noticed a stinging in his
hand, but filled with the excitement of the moment, he paid no
attention to it. Within 30 seconds, Sammy had a strike and pulled in a
nice catfish. Wow, he thought, a fish in the first minute. This is
unbelievable!
He put the catch on his stringer, hurried to rebait his hook, and
Tried his luck again. Once again he felt a stinging sensation in his
hand as he threw his hook into the pond. He didn't have time to worry
about it. Within just a few seconds, he had another huge fish. He
fumbled the next time he baited his hook -- his hand felt numb and stiff.
But Sammy was too excited about catching another fish to give it much
thought.
At the end of only an hour of fishing, Sammy had caught eight large
fish. This was definitely his best fishing day ever. He was so proud of
his accomplishment that, even though there was plenty of day left to
fish, he threw the heavy stringer of fish over his shoulder and dashed
down the dirt road toward home to show off his catch to his mom and
dad.
The local sheriff happened to drive up alongside Sammy and started to
congratulate him on his catch of fish. With a smile and a victory
whoop, Sammy held up the stringer. The sheriff gasped, parked his car
and strode over to Sammy. His eyes hadn't deceived him -- Sammy's arms
really were red and swollen to about twice their normal size. Exactly
where have you been and what bait did you use to catch all those fish?"
the sheriff asked Sammy, already guessing the answer.
I found some special bait under an old stump," Sammy boasted. "These
worms really wiggle good," he commented, handing up the bait bucket for
inspection. After a close look at the worms, the sheriff went into
fast-forward. Securing the bucket in his truck, he then scooped Sammy
and his stringer of fish into the back-seat of his patrol car. Spinning
a U-turn on the gravel road, he sped off to the hospital, but Sammy was
already dead.
What the sheriff had discovered was that Sammy had been fishing with
baby rattlesnakes. Sammy's deadly bait brought him a good morning's
fishing but cost him his life. Had Sammy stopped fishing after that
first sting, he could have been saved. One bite from a baby rattler
won't kill a person who gets treatment in time. But Sammy was having
fun and didn't bother himself with the small voice of pain in his hand.
Then, as his hand grew numb, even that small voice was silenced.
Playing around with sin is like using baby rattlesnakes for bait.
Sinning seems harmless to young people who don't recognize sin and are
unaware of its deadly consequences. The more sin you get into, however,
the more numb you become to its sting. In the excitement of the moment,
you ignore the still small voice of God warning you of danger and
encouraging you to choose life instead of death.
[ Youth Talks by Wayne Rice (wayne@uyt.com) -- from Keith Todd ]
Inspirational Messages
SkyWriting.Net
All Rights Reserved.
|