Wm. F. P. Burton

So Near; So Far

The railway from the Katanga copper mines to the Rhodesian border runs along the ridge of hills which separate the Congo from Rhodesia.

All the water which runs westward falls into the Kafue River and so, by the Zambesi into the Indian Ocean.

The water falling eastward feeds the Luapula River and so, by the Congo, it eventually reaches the Atlantic.

In one place there is a ganger's cottage, situated in the Congo, while the outbuildings at the back are in Rhodesia. A big tree spreads its shade right in the middle so that it would be hard to say to which it belongs.

As the train stops there, I like to draw the attention of the passengers to the tree, and especially if it is raining. Water running off the one side goes east. Off the other side it runs westward. It may be that two drops drip from the same branch, even from the same twig, yet one will reach the Atlantic at Banana while the other runs into the Indian Ocean at Chinde, one thousand seven hundred and eighty miles away.

Two boys are brought up in the same home. They learn to say their prayers at the same Gospel Hall and listen to the same message of God's saving grace.

One receives God's gift of salvation and eternal life. The other decides to live for self and sin. Do not blame God for it! It is their own deliberate choice, for "God is not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance." (II Peter 3 v 9)

Trust in the Lord Jesus while you read this. Ask Him to save you and make you His own.

"These shall go into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into life eternal." (Matthew 25 v 46)
ON WHICH SIDE OF THE TREE ARE YOU?

The Church at Gun Hill is an Elim Pentecostal Church
Elim Foursquare Gospel Alliance :: Registered Charity 251549 (England & Wales)