A box turtle grew up along the wooded area of a well-visited state park. He was used to eating, burrowing, taking a small swim, and going back to his burrows. One day he decided to seek for something better. He was no longer satisfied with the surroundings about him. “It looks greener over there,” he surely must have thought. The place he was referring to was on the other side of a busy road. In order to get there he had to risk everything—including life itself—for the supposed joys on the other side. The calling was great, the temptation was strong, his will . . . weak.

As he began his journey, excitement rushed all over his body, and this made him all the more eager to press forward to the “greener side.” He pressed on faithfully, when . . . VOOSH! A car passed over him. Whoa! Nevertheless, eager to enjoy the pleasures that awaited him, he continued. Another car came by the road, VOOSH! All right, at this rate, he would be able to make it on the other side—and not just make it to the other side, but be able to boast about the fact that he had crossed the road successfully while dodging vehicles. Now the turtle was already halfway across, when the dreadful event happened. A car came along and drove right over him. Thankfully, he was made with a tough outer shell, but his bottom shell could not resist the pressure and it cracked. As he felt the pain and as blood started to surge through the cracks, this box turtle retreated back inside his shell and waited for death.

Down the same road, several minutes after the dreadful event, came a young couple riding with some friends. Their friends were a mother and her daughter. The young man, being the driver, spotted something on the road. “Look! A turtle,” He said. “Oh, please pick it up, we don’t want something bad to happen to it,” replied the mother. They stopped the vehicle and picked up the turtle. As they examined the creature, their worst fears proved true. They saw the blood running down his cracked bottom shell. “Mommy, he looks dead,” exclaimed the child. “Why don’t we just leave it on the side of the road?” “No, we must care for it and see if it is still alive,” said the mother. When they got to their campsite, the mother, using all her motherly love and care, tenderly washed the turtle and sought to find ways to help relieve some of its pain. After a few minutes, the mother eagerly rushed over to her child and showed her the turtle. “Look at what Jesus did.” The turtle was not only alive, but he had his head out and was moving around his two front feet as if nothing had happened. Oh, what joy!

At the end of this story, two lessons, even three, come to mind. The first might be obvious to everyone. It is the importance that we need to give to nature and care for it. How we need to be able to lend a helping hand and care for what our heavenly Father has left under our care.

The second lesson is this: As our first parents started out life, they were like that box turtle: Enjoying life in the garden till temptation came. Their way of life soon was not satisfying and seeking for something better, they decided to try something new. That something was not only what hurt us but drove us so desperately into sin that we were left to die. Till a kind Hand came and picked us up, washed us from all our sin, and even gave us the opportunity of having eternal life.

As we go through life, we see many souls that go through their daily chores pressed about with the weight of sin. Their souls are hurt and bleeding, and they are waiting for the moment when they can just give up their lives and die to end the hurt. We see them, even converse with them, but we think as the child did and say, “Why don’t we leave them on the side of the road?” They don’t appear to be interested in the gospel, they don’t need the message, they have already gone too far. And yet, if our Saviour thought the same, wouldn’t you be left on the side of the road also? Would you have been worthy to be rescued, or would you have looked just like that turtle, hurt and ready to die under the weight of sin?