Probably he got caught in a steel trap like this one over here," their dad said, pointing to an exhibit in the next case.
"But how could he get free from that?" Julie asked.
The Bandit Gets Free
A Character story about freedom.
"Hey, Jason, come look at this!" Julie called excitedly to her twin brother. "What kind of animal skin is this?"
Jason strolled over to the glass case where his sister stood. "Look, Silly. It says right here it is a raccoon. Anyway, you can tell because his face looks like he is wearing a mask." As they read the tag describing the fur, their dad joined them.
"What are you two looking at?" he asked as he peered into the case.
"It's a raccoon, Daddy. I think I saw one of these in the woods last summer." Julie's voice rang with excitement. The twins always loved to go to the museum with their dad because of all the interesting things they would learn. Julie continued. "How do you think he go caught?"
"I'm not sure," her dad replied, "but I'd say he got away at least once."
"How do you know that, Dad?" Jason replied with amazement.
"That's easy. Look at the back left leg there. You can see that one foot is shorter than the other. Probably he got caught in a steel trap like this one over here," their dad said, pointing to an exhibit in the next case.
"But how could he get free from that?" Julie asked.
"I'll tell you in a minute. The raccoon fur is quite valuable to trappers. So they set traps like this in the leaves. Then they hand a lure above it ... maybe even several of them."
Jason looked surprised. "You mean like a fishing lure?"
"Yup, or actually anything shiny. The raccoon is very inquisitive. He simply must find out what that shiny thing is, even if it's useless to him. So he stands on his back legs and reaches for it. Soon he steps right into the trap and he's caught. Say, Julie, have you ever had that happen to you?"
"What, get caught in a trap? I don't think so. I'm sure I would remember it if I did!"
"I'm not thinking so much about steel traps. I'm thinking more of the kind of traps that Satan lures us into. He makes sin looks so interesting and soon we will start dabbling in it. Then before we know it, we're trapped."
"Now I see what you mean," Jason added. "I know that happened to me until last summer when I asked Jesus to forgive my sins and be my Saviour."
"Yes, but remember, he won't quit, just because you're on God's side now. And that brings us back to Julie's question. Remember?"
Julie nodded. "Sure. I asked how the raccoon could get free from that thing."
Dad paused a moment. "Well, the raccoon is willing to sacrifice anything in order to be free. When this little fellow got caught, he soon found that nothing could get him free except one thing. So he chewed off the foot that was caught. Now he had a painful, and a life long reminder of the cost of his curiosity."
"Wow!" Jason exclaimed. "He really did want to be free, didn't he?"
"He sure did, Son. You know, Jesus said that nothing in this life is so important that we should not be willing to give it up in order to get eternal life. He said if our hand offends us, we should cut it off. It is better to enter Heaven with one hand, than to enter hell with two. Of course, hands do not keep us out of Heaven, but the lesson is clear. Jesus warned us against loving anything that would keep us away from God."
"Especially sins that look so fun, right?" Julie responded.
"Right," their dad said with a smile. "Say, I'm hungry. What do you say we go get some ice cream?"
And they did.