The Boy & the Steam Paddle Boat

During the early 1900’s along the shores of the mighty Mississippi River there was a young boy sitting on the river bank fishing.  An older man came along and struck up a conversation with the boy. 

The old man asked the boy how often he fished at this spot and whether the fishing was any good there.  The boy said sometimes the fishing was good and sometimes it wasn’t, but the best part of fishing there was being by the river.

Soon into their conversation, a steam paddle-boat began making its way up the river.  When the boy saw the boat, he stood up, pulled a big white handkerchief out of his pocket and started waving it at the boat.

The old man said, “What are you doing?”

The boy replied, “I’m waving down that boat to come over here and pick me up!”

The old man then said, “Son, that boat has important places to go and it has important people aboard and valuable cargo that must be transported to the next port.  That boat won’t come over here and pick you up!”

The boy didn’t say a word.  He kept waving his handkerchief.

All of a sudden the boat, which was on the other side of the river, started to maneuver across the river.  It kept getting closer and closer . . . and the old man was amazed.  It eventually came right up to the river bank and let down its walkway.  When the walkway was fully lowered and reached the bank, the boy raced onto the walkway.

The old man quickly shouted out, “Hey, young boy, how did you know that boat would come over here and pick you up?”

“My dad is the captain!” the boy replied.

So what is the point of this little story?  In this story, the old man represents the “intelligence” of this age.  Scientists think they know all there is to know and they, by and large, have concluded there is no God.  They love to ridicule “elementary minds” that believe in such non-sense.

However, those “elementary minds” have an ability that a scientific mind will never possess . . . the ability to have faith.  The Bible tells us that faith is the “confident assurance that what we hope for is going to happen.  It is the evidence of things we cannot yet see” (Heb. 11:1 NLT).  The scientific mind will never have faith because it cannot accept anything it cannot see.

The Bible also tells us that it is only by faith that we can “see” and perceive God.  God does not reveal Himself through science, but through faith in Him.

The science community, therefore, tells us that death is the end of human existence.  They are like the old man in this story who condescendingly told the little boy that the boat would surely not come over to the river bank to pick the boy up.

The boy represents the humble Christian who has faith . . . who knows that His Heavenly Father and His Lord will come get him when his time on this earth is done.

So let the mockers mock and the scoffers scoff at us silly Christians who believe our Heavenly Father and Lord Jesus will pick us up someday as well.  But here’s the funny thing about us Christians . . . we hope all the mockers and scoffers will someday get onboard.  I’m truly not looking forward to seeing any of their faces when they realize they missed the boat!