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Every Sunday afternoon, after the morning service at their church, the Pastor's 11-year-old son would go out into their town and hand out Gospel tracts. This particular Sunday afternoon, as it came time for his son to go out, it was very cold outside as well as pouring down rain. The boy bundled up in his warmest and driest clothes and said, "Okay Dad, I'm going."
His Dad asked, "Going where?"
"Out to pass out my Gospel tracts," his son responded.
"Son,
it's very cold outside, and it's pouring down rain."
The boy gives his Dad a surprised look, and after a
moment said, "Dad, aren't people
still in danger of going to Hell even though it's raining?"
His father, likewise hesitating for a moment, smiled and said, "They certainly are son. You can go."
"Thanks, Dad!" And with that, he was off and out into the rain. He walked the streets of the town, going door-to-door and handing out a tract to everyone he met. After two hours of walking in the rain, he was soaking wet and chilled to the bone. Down to his very last tract, he stopped on a corner and looked for someone to hand it 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. He rang the doorbell, but no one came to the door.
He rang it again and again, but still there was no answer. Waiting just a few minutes more, he turned and started back down the sidewalk. But something stopped him. He turned and ran quickly back up to the door and knocked hard on it with his hand. He waited; something held him there on the front porch. A few moments passed, and then, the door slowly opened. Standing in the doorway was a very sad looking elderly lady. "What can I do for you, son?" she said, ever so softly.
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! 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 the 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, the boy’s father was in the pulpit. As the service began, he asked, "Does anybody have a testimony they would like to share this morning?"
First one, than another shared a brief testimony. After a moment, slowly, in the back row of the church, an elderly lady stood to her feet. As she began to speak, a glorious radiance came upon her face.
"None of
you in this church know me. I've never been here before. You see, before last
Sunday I was not a Christian. Some time ago my husband passed on, leaving me
totally alone in this world. It has been a very lonely time for me, and I've
been very sad and depressed. Last
Sunday, being a particularly cold and rainy day, it was even more so in my
heart… I slumped to the lowest level of
depression ever. 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." She began to weep, “I fastened the rope to a rafter in the roof. Then I got the chair and moved it to where I
could step up to the rope.
“As I was
standing on the chair, something happened that had not happened in a long
time. I thought it was my imagination at
first, but, no, I heard it again. It was my doorbell. It was ringing. It
startled me at first. But then, I thought, 'I'll wait a minute, and whoever it
is will go away.' I waited - but the doorbell jus kept ringing. Then, for a
moment it stopped! But then began this
loud knocking, and I knew I should see who it is.
“I thought to
myself, 'Who on earth could this be? Nobody ever rings my doorbell or comes to see
me!' I stepped down from the chair, and moved as quickly as I could to the
door.
"When I
opened the door, I could hardly believe my eyes! There on my front porch was
the most radiant and angelic looking little boy. His smile! Oh, I could never
describe it to you! And the words that came from his mouth caused my heart,
which had long been dead, to spring to life again. This young boy said, in the
sweetest 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 this
morning. As this little angel disappeared back out, into the cold and rain, I
closed my door and slowly read every word of this Gospel message. Then I went
up to my attic to get my rope and chair. I wouldn't need them any more.
"You see,
I am now a happy child of the KING, and since your church address was on the
back of this Gospel tract, I have come here to personally say thank you to
God's little angel, who came just in the nick of time, and by doing so, spared
my very life, which I now see is truly worth living for Him."
Weeping could be heard throughout the sanctuary. The boy's father descended from the pulpit to the front pew where his son was seated. He took him in his arms and sobbed. The congregation rose to their feet in applause as the elderly woman took her seat again.
Taken from the Internet: Author not known.
Tonight you may be hurting in some way, physically or spiritually; we've come tonight to tell you that JESUS REALLY DOES LOVE YOU.
There are two wonderful messages here in this story. The first is for those who are able to go out and share the Gospel but let the cold and the rain stand in your way. And the other is for those who feel that all hope has abandoned them.
Hebrews
12:1-2
1: Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about
with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin
which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is
set before us,
The young boy in this story could have used the weather as an excuse not to go out and share his love for Jesus with others; so many of us use far weaker excuses today. The devil is always ready to deter us, in any way, from reaching others with the Gospel message. The Scripture says, “sin… so easily besets us.” Because the young boy in this story would not use the weather as an excuse to stay home, a sad and lonely woman, close to death, found the love, joy, and happiness of the Lord Jesus Christ.
2: Looking unto
Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before
him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand
of the throne of God.
When we are facing times of sadness and sorrow,
times of anxiety and despair, it is comforting to know that we can look forward
to a future that is free of all these negative emotions because of what Christ
did for us on the cross of
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