Below you will find a story that shares a lot about where we
are today as a church. The lack of interest for training our
children to have a passion and desire for the Savior and the
Savior's work has a lotto do with why children do not wish
to live for God when it is time to leave the home. Many
children have never heard or seen their parents or anyone
else ever lead a person to the Lord. They have not been
given the opportunity or seen the passion the Bible
describes concerning God's work.
We can make a hundred excuses for not being where we should
be and not doing what we should be doing. The story below
magnifies the importance of obedience and passion for the
task, Mark 16:15, Psalm 126: 5, 6.
The Pastor And His Son
A Good Reminder of
God's Love
Every Sunday afternoon, after the morning service at the
church, the Pastor and his eleven year old son would go out
into their town and hand out gospel tracts.
This particular Sunday afternoon, as it came time for the
Pastor and his son to go to the streets with their tracts.
It was very cold outside, as well as pouring down rain. The
boy bundled up in his warmest and driest clothes and said,
"OK, dad, I'm ready."
His Pastor dad asked, "Ready for what?"
"Dad, it's time we gather our tracts together and go out."
Dad responds, "Son, it's very cold outside and it's pouring
down rain."
The boy gives his dad a surprised look, asking, "But Dad,
aren't people still going to Hell, even though it's
raining?"
Dad answers, "Son, I am not going out in this weather."
Despondently, the boy asks, "Dad, can I go? Please?"
His father hesitated for a moment then said, "Son, you can
go. Here are the tracts, be careful son."
"Thanks Dad!"
And with that, he was off and out into the rain. His eleven
year old boy walked the streets of the town going door to
door and handing everybody he met in the street a gospel
tract.
After two hours of walking in the rain, he was soaking,
Bone-chilled wet and down to his very last tract. He stopped
on a corner and looked for someone to hand a tract to, but
the streets were totally deserted.
Then he turned toward the first home he saw and started up
the sidewalk to the front door and rang the door bell. He
rang the bell, but nobody answered. He rang it again and
again, but still no one answered. He waited but still no
answer.
Finally, this eleven year old trooper turned to leave, but
something stopped him. Again, he turned to the door and rang
the bell and knocked loudly on the door with his fist. He
waited, something holding him thereon the front porch! He
rang again and this time the door slowly opened. Standing in
the doorway was a very sad looking elderly lady. She softly
asked, "What can I do for you, son?"With radiant eyes and a
smile that lit up her world, This little boy said, "Ma'am,
I'm sorry if I disturbed you, but I Just want to tell you
that "JESUS REALLY DOES LOVE YOU" and I came to give you my
very last gospel tract which will tell you all about Jesus
and His great love."
With that, he handed her his last tract and turned to leave.
She called to him as he departed. "Thank you, son! And God
bless you!"
Well, the following Sunday morning in church Pastor Dad was
in the pulpit. As the service began, he asked, "Does anybody
have any testimony or want to say anything?"
Slowly, in the back row of the church, an elderly lady stood
to her feet. As she began to speak, a look of glorious
radiance came from her face, "No one in this church knows
me. I've never been here before. You see, before last Sunday
I was not a Christian. My husband passed on some time ago,
leaving me totally alone in this world. Last Sunday, being a
particularly cold and rainy day, it was even more so in my
heart that I came to the end of the line where I no longer
had any hope or will to live.
So I took a rope and a chair and ascended the stairway into
the attic of my home. I fastened the rope securely to a
rafter in the roof, then stood on the chair and fastened the
other end of the rope a round my neck. Standing on that
chair, so lonely and brokenhearted I was about to leap off,
when suddenly the loud ringing of my doorbell downstairs
startled me. I thought, "I'll wait a minute, and whoever it
is will go away." I waited and waited, but the ringing
doorbell seemed to get louder and more insistent, and then
the person ringing also started knocking loudly. I thought
to myself again, "Who on earth could this be? Nobody ever
rings my bell or comes to see me." I loosened the rope from
my neck and started for the front door, all the while the
bell rang louder and louder.
When I opened the door and looked I could hardly believe my
eyes, For thereon my front porch was the most radiant little
boy I had ever seen in my life. His smile, oh, I could never
describe it to you! The words that came from his mouth
caused my heart that had long been dead, to leap to life as
he exclaimed with a cherub-like voice, "Ma'am, I just came
to tell you that JESUS REALLY DOES LOVE YOU." Then he gave
me this gospel tract that I now hold in my hand.
As the little boy disappeared back out into the cold and
rain, I closed my door and read slowly every word of this
gospel tract. I bowed my head and asked Jesus to come into
my heart and be my Savior. Then I went up to my attic to get
my rope and chair. I wouldn't be needing them any more.
You see---I am now a happy child of the King. Since the
address of your church was on the back of this gospel tract,
I have come hereto personally say thank you to God's little
boy who came just in the nick of time and by so doing,
spared my soul from an eternity in hell."
There was not a dry eye in the church. And as shouts of
praise and honor to the King resounded off the very rafters
of the building, Pastor Dad descended from the pulpit to the
front pew where the little boy was seated.
He took his son in his arms and sobbed uncontrollably.
Probably no church has had a more glorious moment, and
probably this universe has never seen a Papa that was more
filled with love and honor for his son. Or a father who was
more embarrassed and convicted because of his own
disobedience.
Have you prayed and asked God who He would want you to
witness to today?