David Jeremiah relates the true story (i.e., “snoped”) from May of 1992 concerning Michael Murray and his children. Michael was taking his two infants to see their mother, a nurse in a Massachusetts hospital, and give her a Mother’s Day present. He put three-month-old Matthew, car seat and all, up on the roof while he secured his 20-month-old daughter and her car seat into place. Without thinking, Michael got into his Hyundai and drove out of the garage. He forgot about Matthew! He drove through several busy streets and onto I-90. As he accelerated to 50 MPH, he heard the car seat-with baby-slide off the roof and through the rear view mirror he watched it hit the highway and slide toward the oncoming vehicles. You know how fast people travel on the interstate, and this was a busy day!
Michael Murray was not a malicious, evil man. Everything known about the man points to a devoted husband and father. He just got careless. He did not mean to do it, but the baby was still negligently left on a roof and bounded off the car onto one of the busiest roads in the state of Massachusetts.
Michael Murray was not a malicious, evil man. Everything known about the man points to a devoted husband and father. He just got careless. He did not mean to do it, but the baby was still negligently left on a roof and bounded off the car onto one of the busiest roads in the state of Massachusetts.
Peter refers to new Christians as “babes” (1 Pet. 2:2). Jesus seems to have the spiritual in mind when he refers to the “little ones” in Luke 17:1-2. New Christians have the fragile qualities, the level of dependency, and the need of care so true of newborn babes. A careless word, a poor example, a bad attitude, a negative criticism about the church or the elders, or a simple case of neglect can have terrible consequences in the spiritual welfare of a spiritual babe. Usually, there is no active campaign to destroy the faith of a new Christian. We just get careless. But the consequences are just as great.
Fortunately for Michael, little Matthew came through without a scratch. There was the “luck” of the bounce as well as the alert response of the antiques dealer, James Boothby, who was following behind Murray. He slammed on brakes, blocked the road, ran and rescued that precariously positioned infant. But, what if the bounce had gone differently? What if someone less attentive had been following Murray down the road? Jesus said that woeful offenses would come. Let us each strive to make sure they don’t come from us. Please help take care of those babes!
Fortunately for Michael, little Matthew came through without a scratch. There was the “luck” of the bounce as well as the alert response of the antiques dealer, James Boothby, who was following behind Murray. He slammed on brakes, blocked the road, ran and rescued that precariously positioned infant. But, what if the bounce had gone differently? What if someone less attentive had been following Murray down the road? Jesus said that woeful offenses would come. Let us each strive to make sure they don’t come from us. Please help take care of those babes!
—Neal Pollard