Separated from his mother in the freezing rain and snow, baby Louis was hypothermic and close to death when my husband scooped him up, put him in the backseat of his truck, and brought him to our shop at the farm.
25%. That is what I gave him. A 25% chance that he would survive (and that was generous). He was barely responsive, he could not hold his head up, and when I stuck my fingers in his mouth, it felt like ice. Thankfully, I didn’t have a thermometer, because I am sure that his body temperature was much lower than I would have thought was compatible with life.
I caught my husband looking at me as I was talking to “my patient”. He had that “look”. The look that said, “you are going to get your heart broken”. Again. My verbal response to his silent message was, “he is not dead until he is warm and dead”….(spoken like a true PA?).
After hours of heating pads, hot water bottles, and blankets, little Louis picked up his head and “sucked” my fingers.?His first meal was warm colostrum. Without the antibodies provided in colostrum, he would not survive. After he finished off his bottle, his belly and my heart were both full.
Isn’t this a picture of Christ? Doesn’t he save us from spiritual death? We too are out in the world….cold, not realizing that without a savior, we will surely perish. BUT GOD!!
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. John 3:16 (KJV)
Just as JW picked this calf up and brought him to safety, Jesus does the same for us. Just as we fed the colostrum, God spiritually feeds us through his Word. As we mature in Christ, we are able to “digest” and process more. Our appetites change, and through reading and studying the Bible, we grow strong in the ways of the Lord.
Jesus frequently used parables about farmers, shepherds, and animals to convey Biblical truths. I am so thankful that he never changes! Every day, I get to see Jesus and I am reminded that my Redeemer lives!
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Here are some of the the lyrics of Rescue the Perishing:
Frances J. Crosby, 1869
Rescue the perishing, care for the dying,
Snatch them in pity from sin and the grave
Weep o’er the erring one, lift up the fallen,
Tell them of Jesus, the mighty to save.
Rescue the perishing, care for the dying,
Jesus is merciful, Jesus will save.❤️??