The Oregon Trail

Read: Isaiah 41:8-16

“Mom, this game is impossible,” Heidi complained as she glared at the computer screen.

Mom looked over, then laughed. “I played that when I was younger, and you’re right, it’s very hard. That’s how life was for the people who took the Oregon Trail out west over a hundred years ago.”

Heidi frowned. “Really? They had to leave food behind and kept getting holes in their wagon? And they got sick every day?”

“I’m not sure how often they got sick, but they didn’t have doctors like we do, and they didn’t always have anything to help with sickness or injuries. Wagons weren’t the best protection from the weather, and I’m sure their wagons got holes sometimes. That was the way of life.”

Heidi looked incredulously at the computer. “I like being here, where life is normal. Bad stuff doesn’t happen every day.”

“It doesn’t? I thought you said you had a classmate who lost their grandma yesterday. And the day before that you told me there was a kid on the playground whose parents are getting divorced. Aren’t those bad things?”

Heidi was quiet. “I guess…but it doesn’t seem the same.”

Mom walked over to a shelf and pulled down a photo. She handed it to Heidi. “I was only eight—your age—when my mom died. It was a very, very bad thing that still makes me feel sad sometimes. And you broke your arm last year; wasn’t that hard? It wasn’t life-threatening, but you couldn’t write and had a hard time doing normal things like eating and brushing your teeth.”

“Oh yeah. I guess that was really bad when I had the cast.”

“There will always be bad things happening in our sinful world, but there’s someone who will be with us through each one of them,” Mom reminded Heidi.

Heidi’s eyes lit up. “Jesus! When I believed that He died and rose again to save me and trusted Him as my Savior, He sent the Holy Spirit to live in my heart. I did that right after I broke my arm.”

“Exactly,” said Mom. “God is with you no matter what things happen, bad or good. He loves you and promises to be with you always.”

–Kimberly Brokish

How about you? Have you had bad things happen to you? We live in a sinful world where bad things happen, but we don’t have to go through them alone. Jesus loves us so much He died for us, and He promises to be with us all the time, through both bad things and good. One day He’ll get rid of sin forever and bad things won’t happen anymore; until then, trust Him to help you through life’s difficulties and be with you always.

Today's Key Verse: And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age. Matthew 28:20 (NIV)

Today's Key Thought: God is with us always