A Long Journey

Every year in Alaska, a 1,000-mile dogsled race commemorates an original "race" 
run to save lives. In January of 1926, six-year-old Richard Stanley showed symptoms 
of diphtheria, signaling the possibility of an outbreak in the small town of Nome. 
When the boy passed away a day later, Dr. Curtis Welch began immunizing children and adults with an experimental but effective antidiptheria serum. But it wasn't long before Dr. Welch's supply ran out, and the nearest serum was in Nenana, Alaska -- 
a 1,000 miles of frozen wilderness away.

Amazingly, a group of trappers and prospectors volunteered to cover the distance 
with their dog teams! Operating in relays from trading post to trapping station and beyond, one sled started out from Nome while another, carrying the serum, started from Nenana. Oblivious to frostbite, fatigue, and exhaustion, the teamsters mushed relentlessly until, after 144 hours in minus 50-degree winds, the serum was delivered to Nome. As a result, only one other life was lost to the potential epidemic. Their sacrifice had given an entire town the gift of life. *

What a marvelous display of bravery and compassion!

Yet there is ANOTHER journey that has been made that traversed a much greater distance to provide a solution for a much greater malady…

The malady is SIN.  It is a UNIVERSAL problem (Romans 3:23) and extremely FATAL (Romans 6:23).  Yet because of His great love for mankind, God sent His Son from heaven to the world as a man (John 3:16; 1:14).  THAT journey would lead Jesus to a CROSS, where He DIED to pay the price for the sins of the world... (Ephesians 1:7; 1 John 2:2).  Because Jesus took that journey, YOU and I can have our sins washed away by His BLOOD the only “serum” that can combat our grave condition.

To come in contact with His cleansing BLOOD, one must: believe in Jesus (Acts 16:30-31) turn from sin in repentance (Acts 17:30-31), confess Jesus before men (Romans 10:9-10), and be baptized (immersed) in His name for the forgiveness of sins (Acts 2:38).  Then one is continually cleansed by His blood as he/she continues to walk in the light of His Word (1 John 1:7).

Because Jesus took that long, painful journey, you and I can find life!  Has His cleansing, life-giving blood been applied to YOUR life?

God bless you!

David A. Sargent, Minister

Church of Christ at Creekwood 
1901 Schillinger Rd. S.
Mobile, Alabama  36695

* Daniel Gaines

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