Every Sunday afternoon, after the morning service at their church, the pastor and his eleven-year-old son would go out into their town and hand out gospel tracts. On this particular Sunday afternoon, it was very cold outside and rain was pouring down. The boy bundled up in his warmest clothes and said, “Okay, Dad, I’m ready.”
His dad asked, “Ready for what?”
“Dad, it’s time for us to get our tracts and go out.”
Dad responds, “Son, it’s very cold outside and it’s pouring rain.”
The boy gave his dad a surprised look, asking, “But, Dad, aren’t people still going to hell, even though it’s raining?”
“Son, I am not going out in this weather,” Dad answered. Despondently the boy asked, “Dad, can I go, please?”
His father hesitated for a moment then said, “Ok son, you can go. Here are the tracts. But be careful!”
“Thanks Dad!” And with that he was off and out into the rain.
This 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 wet and down to his very last tract. He stopped on a corner and looked for someone to hand the tract to, but the streets were totally deserted.
Then he turned toward the first home he saw and started up to the front door and rang the doorbell. 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 there on 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. I came to give you my very last 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, the pastor was behind the pulpit and as the service began he asked, “Does anybody have a 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 as she said, “None of you 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 was a particularly cold and rainy day, and it was even more dreary in my heart. 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 around 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. There on my front porch was the most radiant and angelic little boy I had ever seen in my life. His smile, oh, I could never describe it to you! And 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 angel disappeared back out into the cold and rain, I closed my door and slowly read every word. 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 tract, I have come here to personally say thank you to God’s little angel who came just in the nick of time. By doing so, He spared my soul from eternity in hell.”
There were now no dry eyes in the church. And as shouts of praise and honor to the King resounded off the very rafters of the building, the pastor descended from the pulpit to the front pew where the ‘little angel’ was seated. He took him in his arms and sobbed uncontrollably.
Probably no church has had a more glorious moment. And this universe has likely never seen a father more proud of his son except for one – a Father who also allowed His Son to go out into a cold and dark world to tell us of God’s love. Because of Him we are saved.
The Beautiful Way
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