Many years ago a young boy had made a little boat. He painted and fixed it up beautifully.  He then took it to his local lake with a view to sailing it. Unfortunately, the wind came up and blew it away. He stood on the shore and watched as it slowly sailed across the lake and out of sight. His little boat was lost!

One day he saw his boat as he was passing a second-hand shop. He was surprised and excited to see his boat in the window. Joyfully, he ran in to the pawnbroker and said, ‘That is my little boat.’ ‘No,’ said the pawnbroker, ‘it is mine, for I bought it.’ ‘Yes,’ said the boy, ‘but it is mine, for I made it.’ ‘Well,’ said the pawnbroker, ‘if you will pay me twenty dollars, you can have it.’ That was a lot of money for a boy who did not have a cent. Anyway, he resolved to have it; so, he mowed lawns, did jobs of all kinds, and soon had his money. “He ran down to the shop and said, ‘I want my boat.’ He paid the money and received his boat. He took the boat up in his arms, and hugged and kissed it, and said, ‘You dear little boat, I love you. You are mine. You are twice mine. I made you, and now I have bought you.’ So it is with us. We are, in a sense, twice the Lord’s. He created us, and we got into the devil’s pawnshop. Then Jesus came and bought us back at an awful cost—not with silver and gold, but by His life. We are the Lord’s by creation and by redemption.