Saved!

Bible Reading: John 14:6; Romans 10:9-13

Kawi grinned as the sun glinted off the water at his favorite spot by the falls. He loved the sounds of the spray hitting the rocks and the laughter from the many children who visited the falls on vacation with their families. Kawi’s eye was drawn to a small boy about half his age, perhaps five or six years old, with golden hair. Pushing his own dark hair back, Kawi wiggled his bare feet in the cool water.

Kawi looked up and shouted in surprise as the boy toppled over the edge of the falls. Being a local, Kawi knew this was not the area you wanted to be jumping off of. Miraculously, the boy had caught hold of a root in the middle of the falls and clung to it tighter than a spider monkey. But the relentless pounding of the water would cause his grip to fail soon. Kawi yelled at the top of his lungs and waved his arms wildly, trying to alert the grown-ups nearby, but his cries were drowned out by the roaring falls.

Without another moment’s hesitation, Kawi jumped into the falls after the boy. Pain sliced through his foot as he landed on a sharp piece of rock jutting out of the water, but it didn’t matter—he had to save the boy! Kawi wrapped his arm around the boy’s tiny waist and somehow managed to take the water’s beating without both of them being swept to the bottom of the falls.

Reaching the pool beneath, Kawi and the boy were instantly surrounded by adults who had noticed and come to their aid. Sobbing, a woman pulled the boy from Kawi’s arms and wrapped a towel around both children. “Thank you! My son could have died! How were you so brave?”

Kawi smiled. “Two years ago, a friend of mine told me about Jesus. He loves me so much that He was brave enough to die on the cross to take the punishment for all I have done wrong—and then He rose from the grave! I chose to trust in Jesus, and now I serve Him. I’m brave because He is with me.”

The little boy gently placed his hand on Kawi’s arm and whispered, “Jesus saved you… and you saved me!”

-Savannah Coleman

How About You?

Do you know that you need to be saved? We all sin by doing wrong things, and sin separates us from God. So God sent His Son, Jesus, to take the punishment for our sins. By trusting in Him, we become God’s children and receive the free gift of eternal life! Jesus is the Way, the Truth, and the Life—the only way to be saved is through Him. (To learn more, click the “Good News!” button in the right column of this page.)

Today’s Key Verse:
Romans 10:9 (NIV) If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.

Today’s Key Thought:

Jesus alone has the power to save