Photo by Jenny Venturo
All night long, the storm raged. Wind howled in the treetops. It whipped over the water of the lake, ruffling it into turmoil. It ripped the leaves off the trees and scattered them everywhere. It tore tree branches loose and flung them onto the ground.
Throughout all this uproar, two little baby squirrels were huddled high up in a hole in an enormous tree. With each blast of wind, the great tree shuddered, and the two frightened squirrels cowered and cuddled up closer to each other in the nest. The nest was safe and warm. But the wind outside was harsh and cold, and it shrieked as it tried to get in at them. It seemed to be unleashing all its fury upon that tree.
But as the darkness of that long, terrible night faded into dawn, the wind began to weaken. Gradually the storm eased off, and the early morning sun came up. But it was still cold—too cold for a baby squirrel. It was very important that the little squirrels stayed cuddled in their warm nest or they would freeze.
But as the morning wore on, the squirrels began to be restless. They were hungry. They were cramped and tired and bored. They waited and waited for the mommy squirrel to come back, but she didn’t come. For hours they waited, and still she never came. Finally, one little squirrel poked his head out of the nest. He blinked in the sunshine and looked all around for his mother. He did not see her. He leaned his head out farther. The tree branches were in the way. He leaned out farther and farther . . . and then the little squirrel fell.
Photo by Jenny Venturo
Alone in a wild world
We were in our trailer all during that long, stormy night. In the morning, we didn’t go outside very much, because it was bleak and cold. But around lunchtime, we heard an odd squalling sound outside. We looked out of the window, and there we saw a small baby squirrel hopping through the grass and bawling pitifully. We ran outside and gathered around him, for he was too young to run away from us; in fact, he was too young to run anywhere at all, and he was definitely too young to climb back up the tree into the cozy nest out of which he had fallen. He was stuck. We didn’t know what to do. We looked all around for the mommy squirrel, but she was nowhere to be found. The tiny squirrel was too little to be out of the nest and away from his mother. It was too cold for him and he could not feed himself and he could not run away from predators. If we left him there, he would certainly freeze or starve or be eaten.
Photo by Jenny Venturo
Too cute to die!
We picked up the little squirrel. He was cute and fuzzy with tiny paws and tiny crinkled ears and huge round eyes. We tried putting him in Caleb’s sweatshirt pocket, but he didn’t want to be there. He crawled out and climbed up Caleb’s sweatshirt onto his head!
Photo by Jenny Venturo
He preferred this vantage point to Caleb's pocket
Photo by Jenny Venturo
Pocket Pal!
Now all this time, the other little squirrel was still up in the tree. He kept bawling down to his brother below, and his brother bawled back up at him. The squirrel in the tree leaned out farther and farther to try to catch a glimpse of his brother on the ground. And then with a bump, he fell out too! Now we had two baby squirrels to care for!
We went inside and found a small cardboard box that used to hold energy bars in it. We put a towel in the box and then we filled a sock with rice and heated it in the microwave so that it was toasty warm. We placed the heated sock with the towel in the box, and then we brought it out and gently set the young squirrels into their new nest. We also gave our little squirrels names! We decided to call them Whisk and Batter.
Whisk and Batter seemed to like the cozy home we had made for them. They curled up in it and went to sleep. All that day, we kept an eye on those squirrels, waiting to see if their mother would come back and take them. But the mommy squirrel never came. Soon it was evening and we had to decide what to do about the two orphans. It was too dangerous for them to be out in the box on the ground all night. A hawk or raccoon might come and steal them away. And if we brought the box into the trailer, they might come out and run all over our home—and that would never work. In the end, we found a small container with a lid. We poked holes in the lid and moved the baby squirrels inside. Then we brought them into the trailer.
Photo by Jenny Venturo
We actually brought two wild squirrels into our trailer!
I think those two squirrels had a very comfortable night, especially considering the terror of the night before. They slept soundly, curled up together in one furry ball.
Photo by Jenny Venturo
Toasty cozy!
In the morning we looked on the Internet and found some people who could help us. These people would take in orphaned baby squirrels and care for them until they were old enough to fend for themselves. Then, these people would release them back into the wild.
We had prayed for those little squirrels when we found them. Now, as we handed them over to the squirrel rescuers, we got to see them safe and happy and well-cared for, and we are sure Whisk and Batter are now living happily ever after in the forests of Mississippi where they were born.
Next time there is a storm in your backyard, go outside and look around when it is over. You never know what you may find after a storm. You may find two orphaned baby squirrels, or you may discover something else interesting. You just never know!
Did you know that God cares about little baby orphaned squirrels (Matt. 10:29)? He made them and He knows about each one. But God loves you so much more than baby squirrels (Matt. 10:20-31). And just like He allowed us to rescue Whisk and Batter, He also made a way to rescue you!
You see, you are a sinner (Rom. 3:23). A sinner is someone who breaks God’s laws (1 Jn. 3:4). When you lie, steal, hate, or disobey your parents, you are breaking God’s laws and sinning (Deut. 5:16, 17, 19, 20; Matt. 5:21-22). You deserve to be punished in Hell for your sin (Rev. 21:8).
But God loves you (Jn. 3:16)! He doesn’t want you to go to Hell. (2 Pet. 3:9). So He has provided a way of escape. God became a man—Jesus—and died on a cross to take your punishment. He was punished instead of you! (2 Cor. 5:21)! He was buried but came alive again (1 Cor. 15: 3-4)! He did all this to rescue you from sin’s punishment—Hell (Rom. 5:9; 1 Thess. 1:10).
If you ask Him to, Jesus will clean away your sin (1 Jn. 1:9). You must trust Him to do this (Acts 16:31). Once Jesus has cleaned the sin from your heart, you can be with Him in Heaven when you die, because Jesus has taken away your sin (Titus 2:4-7).
People who don’t know about Jesus are like those orphaned baby squirrels. Without Jesus, we are completely helpless, because there is nothing we can do to save ourselves from Hell (Eph. 2:8-9; Acts 4:12). Aren’t you so glad that God did something to rescue us when we couldn’t help ourselves?
Trust in Jesus today, asking Him to rescue you from your sin and to clean it away from you! Then, don’t forget to tell your friends and family about the good news that God can rescue them from their sin!
