One day, not to long ago, two brothers were racing around the pathway that surrounds a lake in Yellowknife N.W.T. Well you know how young boys are! It wasn't long before they ventured off the well marked trail and were lost from sight.
Ian, the youngest of the brothers, picked up a stick and pretended it was a weapon that he could protect himself with against any wild animals that he might encounter, either real or imaginary. The brothers had great fun scampering over deep crevices and the smooth, rocky mounds, so different than the flatter, bush land they were used to playing on in their home town in Hay River N.W.T.
By and by, Ian dropped his make believe weapon. Not willing to search for another stick, he jumped down into a small crevice in the rock formation to retrieve it. Suddenly, he spied something colorful out of the corner of his eye. Cramped into a small opening he seen a bundle of purple and green material. Excitedly, he called his older brother Arthur over to help him investigate. Now these brothers had spend most of their young lives growing up in wooded areas on the Indian Reservation. They were well aware that nothing purple lived, nor grew in the woods.
Ian and Arthur became very excited about their discovery. Together they pulled the hidden bundle out of the crack in the rocks. I think those boys watched to much television, because right away they imagined they had discovered a bank robbers hidden loot. The bundle turned out to be a faded, weather beaten, nylon, duffel bag. A name barely visible, was scribbled in black marker across the top of the bag. The boys grew even more excited when they noticed the bulging shapes of the bag and realized there was something still inside of it.
They zipped open the main pouch and peaked inside. A musty, sour smell came drifting out of that old, rotten bag and filled their nostrils with its fowl stench. This dreadful attack to their noises didn't discourage them in their quest of discovery one bit. In went the eager hands and out came the first item. It was just a small, old tin pot. They dived back in. Next, they found a plastic orange tarp, not to mentioned a spider or two. Reaching into the hole in the rock were the bag had been hidden, they further discovered some old blankets.
Now if this had been discovered in any another place other then in the cold, sub-arctic land of the North, a person might be inclined to think that it was the property of a homeless person who might have hidden it there for safe keeping. But in Yellowknife, in the Northwest Territories, not to many homeless people, if any, would care to spend their nights sleeping exposed to this unfriendly, frozen environment, especially in the spring and winter months.
The contents of the duffel bag turned the boys minds away from bank robbers and they began to envision a mountain man might have stashed the stuff in the crack months earlier. Perhaps he had since become lost because he had not come to retrieve it. Or perhaps it was clues to an unsolved case of some kind!
Right away, they decided it was their duty to go directly to the local Royal Canadian Mounted Police station and notify the authorizes of their discovery. With the faded bag in tow, they found the trail and looked for their parents, who had been themselves rather anxiously searching for the two boys who had failed to meet them at a predesignated spot.
Their faces were aglow with excitement as approached their parents. It was hard for their mom and dad to chastise two such excited explorers for tardiness in light of the boys glee. To their two sisters, lan announced, "Maybe there is a reward for helping solve a crime, and if there is, we will be famous!" Once more the contents of the bag was investigated for the benefit of their doubting sisters who scoffed at their brothers excitement.
"Through it away, it smells!" the oldest sister ordered as she attempted to waved the smell away. The parents, not wanting to dampen the boys positive attitude, and recognizing a potential learning experience for them all, decided to honor the boys request by headed straight for the local R.C.M.P. detachment.
Doubts slowly crept into the consciences of the now silent Arthur as they drove closer to the police station. "No ones going to listen to a couple of kids," Arthur quietly vocalize his sudden uneasiness. "Sure they will," Ian responded with the innocence of a ten year old. "ITS EVIDENCE, and keep your hands off it because you'll going to destroy the finger prints!" he shouted into his brothers frowning face.
Soon the family pulled up in front of the police station. The boys went into the station by themselves. And can you guess what the officer at the desk did? Well you might have thought the police would have told the boys not to bother them, or to just throw the old bag of junk away. But what happened next was more then the boys expected.
The R.C.M.P. officer was interested enough to actually request that one of the boys take them to where the bag had been found! The boys were told that perhaps it might provide a clue to several of their unsolved, missing persons cases. Well the boys were just thrilled that the police were interested in their discovery. They were assured by the police officer that by bring the bag to their attention, they had done the right thing.
This little adventure of Ian's and Arthur's, reminds me of how we, no matter what we might run across in our busy lives, if it looks out of place, should look into it and investigate. Especially when it comes to the faded old, bad habits that we have allowed to enter into our minds, so deeply hidden away perhaps, that we no longer choose to see them ourselves. Nor should we bypass the sins that we have neatly tucked away, out of sight within the cracks of our selfish hearts. We should always be willing to take the time to dig them out, and bring the evidence to the person who will know just what to do with it.
Problem is, if we don't have our spirit eyes open enough to notice the sin, then how can we ask for forgiveness or help to overcome it? Wouldn't that make that faded sin unpardonable, because we choose to leave it tucked away in our hearts and not deal with it? When we hear that little, small voice inside, whispering to our hearts, that something isn't right, but we are to afraid to bring it out and investigate the source of our sin, then we are grieving the Holy Spirit, because we fail to respond to His pleading with us. Soon that voice gets fainter and farther away, until you no longer even notice it. That is what is called blaspheme against the Holy Ghost. How can God forgive you if don't ask, and than you've buried it deep down in you soul. Nothing should be overlooked that could be of value to our growing Christian character.
The safest, wisest and most trusting person you could ever bring anything to, is our Lord Jesus. You can be sure Jesus will never think anything to silly for Him to want to listen to, no matter how old you are. There is no heart that has turned old and faded through neglect over a rough life time, that He can't deal with, if that life is completely handed over to Him in Faith. If only you are willing to trust Him enough to just simply ask for His help.
May your pray always be, Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. Psalms 51:10.