Jorgan’s Raccoon

Jorgan Scheuler lived in a log cabin in the Rocky Mountains. His father and brothers did not care for religion. Ever since his mother died, Jorgan was raised without hearing the Bible read. He grew up learning to fight, drink, and swear. He never thought about those things which were good.

Jorgan’s family depended on hunting and fishing for their food. They hunted for deer, wild turkeys and raccoons. One Sunday night Jorgan went hunting with his three brothers. The moon was full as they entered the forest. Before long George, his oldest brother, whispered, “Look! There’s a big raccoon up in that tall tree.”

“But we can never get that one!” answered Ernest quietly, “that raccoon is up way too high.” The boys did not have a gun, so someone would have to climb the tree to shake the raccoon down.

“Wait!” Jorgan whispered, “I can climb almost as well as any raccoon. I’ll climb that tree. We can’t miss a big one like that!”

Jorgan began climbing, with his eye on the branch where the raccoon was hiding. Higher and higher he climbed until at last he was level with the branch. The raccoon began to back up, going farther and farther out on the limb. Jorgan carefully climbed onto the branch, giving it a shake. But the raccoon still hung on. Carefully Jorgan inched his way closer, shaking the branch as he went. But all his shaking was not enough to knock the raccoon down. With all his might, Jorgan gave one more hard shake. But in the next instant, the branch broke and he was falling down, down, down.

Terrified, Jorgan cried out, “Lord, have mercy on me!”

As soon as the cry left his lips, Jorgan’s hands caught hold of a branch. There he hung, still high in the tree, with no more branches under him. He felt as though he hung between heaven and hell. “If 1 let go of this branch,” he thought, “I will fail straight down into heil!” In vain he struggled to climb back on the branch. Again he cried out, “Lord, have mercy on me!” He received strength to climb back on the limb, and was then able to slowly go back down the tree. When he reached the ground, he was too weak to stand. George and Ernest helped their shaken brother walk home. They put him to bed.

But Jorgan could not sleep that night. What terrible thoughts filled his mind! “What if the branch I caught had broken? The devil would have me now. I would be burning in heil!” Jorgan tossed and turned all night with terrible thoughts filling his head.

Jorgan went to work the next morning as usual. But he could not laugh and swear as he usually did. What a burden he had to carry! “What’s the matter, Jorgan? You look so sad. Are you sick?”

Jorgan thought to himself, “Yes, I am sick. But sin is the cause of it.” He did not know what to do. He had never prayed except when he hung helpless in the tree. He had no Bible and he had never heard a minister preach. “I must find a Bible,” he thought, “and I must find a minister.”

Jorgan remembered that his mother’s Bible was hidden in an old trunk. She had died when Jorgan was still a child, and in anger Jorgan’s father had put her Bible away. Now Jorgan sneaked into the cabin and found the old book. He began to read the Bible every spare minute that he had. But the more he read, the heavier his burden became. He saw hell and punishment in everything he read. He read that the wicked would burn in hell and that there was no peace for the wicked forever. Jorgan knew he was very wicked. He felt that all these curses were on his head. How miserable he became! “If the Bible does not take away my sin, whatever can I do?” he sighed.

Jorgan began to escape to the woods where he would fail down upon his knees behind a tree. He tried to pray, but didn’t know what to pray. He no longer wanted to be with his brothers and friends. It made him feel terrible to hear them laughing and swearing. He tried to escape by working on the opposite side of the field. Whenever he could, Jorgan would go into the woods to pray. “Jorgan’s head is all mixed up,” his brothers would say. “It happened when he fell from the tree.”

Although Jorgan still tried to read the Bible and pray, he only became more miserable. Every day he read and read, but one day he became so miserable that he thought he would surely die. Yet he knew that he had to continue reading the Bible, even though he saw only hell before his eyes. That day, however, when he began to read, he read about Jesus, and the Holy Spirit enabled him to see that Jesus could stand between him and his sins. What a joy filled his heart! There was a possibility for salvation in Jesus Christ for a sinner like him.

A new love for Jesus filled Jorgan’s heart. He could not wait to share the wonderful news with his brothers. He ran to the field to share his wonderful experience, but his brothers only laughed at him. They had never seen their sins. They did not feel their need for the Lord Jesus. “Jorgan,” they replied, “your mind is still mixed up. You don’t know what you are talking about.”

Years later, as Jorgan was working as a blacksmith in a nearby town, he saw Rev. Morris ride through town on his horse. Excitedly, Jorgan mounted his own horse and rode after the minister. “Oh reverend, reverend,” he called out, “please stop, for I must speak with you.” Rev. Morris stopped and waited for Jorgan to catch up to him. Without even introducing himself, Jorgan began speaking rapidly. “Oh reverend, I have waited for years to be able to speak to a minister of God’s Word. I have longed to tell what has happened in my soul. Please follow me out to my cabin so I may tell you about it.”

When Rev. Morris saw the woods around them, he hesitated. But when he saw how sincere Jorgan was, he followed him. Soon they reached the rough log cabin that was Jorgan’s home. With tears of thankfulness streaming down his face, Jorgan told of the misery and struggles he had experienced, but also of how he had found Jesus in the Bible. He shared his great joy in seeing Jesus stand between God and his sins.

Rev. Morris was very impressed by Jorgan’s conversion. He saw that Jorgan’s only teacher was the Spirit of God who had applied the Bible to his heart No minister had been necessary for his conversion. He also saw that awakened sinners all experience the same thing — misery, deliverance, and thankfulness. Jorgan had felt his burden of sin; he had turned to the Bible for salvation and deliverance; and he had returned to God in thanksgiving. But above all, Jorgan’s conversion shows the gracious care of the Great Shepherd for His sheep.

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