The 2019–20 Australian bushfire season is now known as the Black Summer. It was a period of unusually intense bushfires in many parts of Australia but especially in the southeast of the country. It is estimated that the fires burnt 18.6 million hectares or 186,000 square kilometres, destroyed over 5,900 buildings and killed at least 34 people.
According to the World Wildlife Fund report, 143 million mammals, 2.46 billion reptiles, 180 million birds, and 51 million frogs were affected. The findings were shocking and prompted scientists to declare that no other event anywhere in the world in living memory has killed or displaced this many animals.
But from the ashes comes a wonderful story of a dog named Bear. He is a Border Collie/ Koolie mix and was languishing unwanted in a rescue shelter until the University of the Sunshine Coast Detection Dogs for Conservation found him and trained him to sniff out and detect sick and injured koalas in the wild.
The dog, Bear, became famous during the bushfires for rescuing koalas. Bear led rescue workers to many koalas before it was too late. But it’s not only koalas that need to be rescued; sometimes we can get ourselves into difficult situations, make poor decisions, and at other times are caught in challenging circumstances through no fault of our own.
Sometimes we feel overwhelmed by the situation we find ourselves in, and we don’t know where to turn. We live in a world that is ravaged by sin. There is pain and suffering, death, and devastation everywhere we look. But we are never alone. We can reach out to God, who is always there for us in times like these.
Instead of leaving us to fend for ourselves, God chose to send a search and rescue mission to save us. God chose to send His own Son, Jesus, to this hostile planet to seek and rescue all those who are mired in the terrible clutches of sin.
If you feel down and discouraged and feel as if you need to be rescued, I’d like to recommend the free gift we have for you today. It’s the popular Bible Reading Guide –A Second Chance at Life.
