The Crooked Straight

"THERE was a crooked man
Who walked a crooked mile;
He found a crooked sixpence
Beside a crooked stile.
He bought a crooked cat,
Who caught a crooked mouse;
And they all lived together
In a little crooked house.

Why was everything crooked? The reason is easy to discover. Everything was crooked because the man himself was crooked. The mile, the sixpence, the stile, the cat, and the mouse were not really crooked; but they all appeared to be so to the man, because he was crooked. "Crooked" boys and girls think that things belonging to others are "crooked." Those who have crooked tempers think that everyone, except themselves, are bad tempered. All appears to be crooked to them because they themselves are crooked. People who are sinful always take a crooked path. In America, thieves are called "crooks," because they depart from the straight path of honest living. The straight path in life is the one that leads right up to God. It is the path of life—the path which our Saviour trod.

When Isaiah utters his prophecies concerning the coming of Christ, he uses these words: "The crooked shall be made straight." It is the crooked path that leads to destruction. Boys and girls, always in your prayers ask God to help you in finding the right path; you will, if you, by God's help, love and follow Him who said, "Follow Me." May God help you to "run the straight race through His good grace."