Children’s Story – The Waterlogged Canoe

Jason lived on a farm near a lake. He loved the water and the green corn fields that grew right up to its very edge. He loved to hear the stories his dad told about the country where the farm was located. He learned that long before his grandfather and grandmother had settled on the farm, Indians had camped along the lake shore. Jason knew that was true because he had found many Indian relics on the farm. He had found sharp pointed arrowheads. He had found what was left of stone tomahawks. He had also found beads and broken pieces of Indian dishes.

Many people weren’t able to find Indian beads and pieces of pottery. But Jason had trained his eyes so that when he walked along a corn row his eyes would spot them right away. When he walked along the lake shore he could tell when the sun shone on a stone whether it was an arrow tip or just a flat piece of stone.

One day as Jason walked along the side of the lake he made a strange discovery. The lake was crystal clear. Jason could see the bottom without any trouble at all. He saw the reeds that grew among the stones. He saw minnows dart back and forth between the reeds. Suddenly he stopped. What was that? he asked himself. It couldn’t be, but it surely looked like a canoe. It was—a dugout canoe like those used by Indians long ago.

Jason ran to tell his dad. Dad called neighbor Browne to come along.

After a lot of tugging and prying the canoe was loosened so it could be pulled to shore. It wasn’t at all like the canoes we see today. It was really a log that had been scooped out to make a boat.

“Do you think it will float?” Jason wanted to know.

“I’m afraid not,” Dad answered. “You see it’s been soaked with water so long its wood is soft and spongy. I don’t think it would ever dry out enough so it could float. When something gets soaked like that we say it is waterlogged. But I believe the state museum would be interested in seeing it.”

That’s where the canoe finally landed. And Jason was glad because then many people could see how the Indians made their canoes.

And he’d almost forgotten he had ever found it until one day he heard his minister say that some Christians didn’t do much for the Lord because they were waterlogged with things of this world. Then Jason thought about the canoe. It sank because it was waterlogged. No doubt people would sink, too, if they were waterlogged with sin.

How can a person be waterlogged with things of the world? A canoe is meant to ride on top of the water. It is not meant to be filled with water. In the same way Christians are meant to live in the world but not to let the world fill them. What are the things you must be careful not to let become a part of your life?

“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God” (Matthew 5:8).

We thank You, dear God, because You have taught us to walk in the world without being a part of it. Show us the dangers we face as we go through life. Help us to keep our hearts and minds pure and clean that we might serve You as we should. Help us to choose which things to watch, which friends to make, which books to read. Don’t let us become waterlogged by sin. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Happy Moments With God, Copyright 1962, Margaret Anderson, 166, 167.