Our Christmas was saddened by footsteps footsteps in the snow,
leading from the tire tracks of a boy’s bicycle across a corner
of our yard, then back. They reminded me of other foot tracks foot
tracks of Neil Armstrong walking for the first time on the
Moon.
But the footsteps of Neil Armstrong, though ‘One small step
for man,’ became ‘One giant stride for Mankind’ while
the whole world watched breathlessly. But these footsteps in the
snow across our front yard were bent on no more noble a deed than
stealing some Christmas lights during the blessed Season of
Christmas.
What a tragedy, I thought, as I observed the lowly mission of
this boy’s steps in the new driven snow. To him the celebration
of Christ’s birthday meant no more than to sally forth to steal
a little joy from his fellow man, just at the season when the human
heart should radiate love and kindness one to another. For here was
a youth whose future lay ahead of him beckoning promises as great
as he was willing to make them. Yet, in his tender,
character-developing years he was applying his God-given talents
toward the goal of becoming a common thief.
Christ was born into this sordid world to save the ungodly. An
one of the most soul-stirring stories ever to come out of The New
Testament was that of the common thief who’d spend his entire
life as a malefactor amongst men, yet who, in his dying breath,
asked mercy and received eternal life from the Savior who was
crucified at his side.
The few, brief words this common thief spoke to the dying Christ
that day, completely exonerated him of all his misspent life and
earned for him the highest privilege accorded any man in
history.
‘This man hath done nothing wrong,’ gasped the expiring
malefactor in his last-remaining breath. ‘Lord, remember me in
your Kingdom.’
‘Today, thou shall be with Me in Paradise,’ replied the
Savior, rewarding this little bit of faith at the end of a long
life of evil with a personal invitation to eternal life.
It was not our string of Christmas lights we were worried about.
They were but a mere pittance compared to the kind of life that lay
ahead for such a lad, unless something comes along to lead him to
something better. What a travesty we have in this modern age the
miracle of human foot prints on the Moon, the tragedy of youthful
foot prints in white snow to steal Christmas lights.
But, even greater is the tragedy of parents and leaders of our
day failing to inspire, instruct and lead those younger in years to
rightfully take their places as the leaders of tomorrow’s
world.
There is much more of a challenge in Christmas than the mere
hanging of baubels and tinsel and saying, ‘Merry
merry.’
God gave man the earth, a resourceful mind to see what he could
do with it, and a Savior to guide him away from his own destruction
when his ideas got too far out of hand.
There are those who contend that ‘Science, science is the
ultimate answer.’ But science, in all its sophistication
marches on and little boys still leave foot prints in the snow to
steal other folks’ Christmas lights.
Though a thousand other little boys shared in the joy of our
Christmas lights as they walked past, the footprints left by this
one lad have reminded us that society has failed him.
Although worlds apart, his tracks looked exactly like those left
on the Moon. Footsteps, like Science, can lead to either blessings
or condemnation. It is with the same disinterested, impersonal
devotion to mathematical, chemical and electronic formulae that
Science goes about preparing the medicines that save life and/or
the warfare that destroys life. As sure as some use footsteps to
reach goals on the Moon, others make foot tracks to visit trouble
on their fellow man. And making it easier for both is Science,
dedicated and devoted to fact and knowledge, but lacking conscience
to point out the high way from the low. To Science, there is no up
or down all things, all movements and directions are relative.
But Man’s conscience, edified by righteousness, says,
‘Up is up, and down is down but ‘Up’ is the better way
to go
