The doe lay quietly in the middle of a thicket of short bushes. The branches of the bushes were so thick that she could not be seen from the outside. Only the slight breeze could carry her scent to animals that would want to hurt her. Earlier the doe had been out with the other deer in the meadow digging up grass to eat and yesterday she had eaten some hay that Joe and Haley had brought to the deer. Now she was not hungry, and she wanted to rest. She needed extra rest because in a few weeks she would be having a baby fawn. Even though the doe wanted to rest, she never quit listening for danger. Deer have long ears that can hear even very soft sounds that are quite far away, and they can turn their ears to pick up sounds from different directions. The doe was listening to the forest the whole time she was resting, her life depended on it! Up until now there had been nothing unusual to hear, just the soft sounds of small creatures hunting for food in the snowy woods.
But now there were some new sounds! First there was a faint sound of something crunching through the snow, and then there was laughter and giggling and then a piercing scream! After the scream there was the sound of something rolling down a hill in the snow! The rolling stopped with a loud wooden thunk, and then there was the sound of wood cracking and groaning and something very large fell down in the forest with a crash! After the crash there was the sound of frightened birds flying away quickly and the sound of many small animals running through the woods to get away from that loud crash! After those noises died away there was the sound of more laughter and crying! The doe did not know what was going on out in the forest, but she knew that all the dangerous animals had been scared by that crash and had run away. The doe remained hidden and knew that there would not be any danger nearby for quite a while.
Now if you are curious about all those unusual noises in the forest, here is what happened! Haley and her good friend Amiya were walking in the Medford Forest in snowshoes. They had just gotten the snowshoes and were trying them out for the first time. It was fun being able to walk on top of the snow without sinking down into it, but it was not easy. The snowshoes were a lot wider than their boots and so they had to walk with their feet wide apart so that they did not trip on their own snowshoes. Once Haley got too close to Amiya and accidentally stepped on the end of one of Amiya’s snowshoes. Amiya tripped and fell face-first into the snow! The snow was soft so that it did not hurt at all! Both Amiya and Haley started laughing about it. After Amiya had gotten up and they started walking again, Amiya stepped on Haley’s snowshoe and Haley went face-first into the snow! The girls were having a great time! This explains the laughter that the doe heard, but what caused the piercing scream, the rolling sound, the wooden thunk, wood cracking and groaning sound and the sound of something big falling with a loud crash?
When the girls were at the top of a steep hill, Amiya stepped on Haley’s snowshoe again. This time it was not fun to fall into the snow! Haley fell down the hill! She began rolling over and over in the snow, then she turned some summersaults and cartwheels! Haley was so scared that she let out a piercing scream! Now we know what caused the laughter, the rolling sound, and the piercing scream, but what caused the wooden thunk, wood cracking and groaning sound and the sound of something big falling with a loud crash?
Just before the bottom of the hill there were two trees. One of the trees was an old dead tree, its roots were rotted away and it was leaning against the other tree. As Haley came down the hill out of control, she did an amazing flip right before she reached the dead tree! When she came down her snowshoes hit the dead tree! That is what made the wooden thunk. The old dead tree moved just a little when Haley’s snowshoes hit it, just enough to break the branch in the other tree that was holding it up. The old dead tree fell down and made the loud crashing noise! When Haley and Amiya saw everything that happened and realized that Haley was not hurt they both started laughing so hard that they ended up crying! This explains all the noises that the doe heard.
Haley and Amiya finished their snowshoe hike in the woods without any further adventures, but they sure had a story to tell all their friends! I wonder how many people believed their story.
Application:
Like the doe we need to stay alert and be aware of the truth of God and the lies that come from Satan.
There are many ways that we need to stay alert to the truth of God, some of them are:
- Listen when you are being taught God’s truth at Church.
- Read your Bible and learn God’s truth.
- Pray and ask God for help to understand His truth.
- Do not fill your mind with garbage (worthless and sinful things).
In the Bible in John 8:31-32 Jesus said:
Jesus said to the people who believed in Him, “You are truly my disciples if you remain faithful to my teachings. And you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
Satan uses many lies to try to blind us to God’s truth and lead us away from God. Some of the lies he uses are:
- There is no God.
- God does not love you.
- You have sinned too much to be forgiven.
- There is no such thing as sin.
- There will be plenty of time to ‘get serious with God’ when you are older.
- Everyone will end up going to heaven.
- You can get to heaven by doing more good things than bad things.
In the Bible in I Peter 5:8-9a it says:
Stay alert! Watch out for your great enemy, the devil. He prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour. Stand firm against him, and be strong in your faith.
In the Bible in II Peter 3:17-18 it says:
You already know these things, dear friends. So be on guard; then you will not be carried away by the errors of these wicked people and lose your own secure footing. Rather, you must grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. All glory to Him, both now and forever! Amen.