LOVE SHARES AND SAVES

LOVE SHARES AND SAVES

 Every Sunday after morning service, the Pastor and his eleven-year-old son headed into town to distribute gospel tracts.  This particular Sunday, it was quite cold and there was a downpour of rain.

The young boy bundled up in his warmest clothes and said, “OK, Dad, I'm ready.”  His Pastor-Dad asked, “Ready for what?”

“Dad, it’s time to gather the tracts and go out.”  Dad responded, “Son, it’s very cold and raining hard outside.”  The boy gave his Dad a surprised look and said, “But Dad, aren’t people still going to hell, even though it's raining outside?”  Dad answered, “Son, I’m not going out in this weather.”

Despondently, the boy asked, “Dad, can I go?  Please?”  His father hesitated for a moment then said, “Son, you can go.  Here are the tracts, but be careful son.”  The child beamed and shouted, “Thanks Dad!”

And with that, he was off and out into the rain.  This eleven-year-old boy walked the streets of their town, going door-to-door and handing a gospel tract to everyone he encountered.

After two hours of walking in the rain, he was soaking, bone-chilled, wet and down to his very last tract.  He stopped on one corner and looked for someone to hand that 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 to ring the doorbell; nobody answered.  He rang again and again.  Yet no one answered.  He waited a while, but still no answer. 

 Finally, this eleven-year-old trooper turned to leave, but something stopped him.  He returned to the door and rang the bell more insistently, and then knocked loudly on the door with his fist.  He waited, because something seemed to be holding him there on that 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, the little boy said, “Ma’am, I’m sorry if I disturbed you, but I just want to tell you 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!”

The following Sunday morning, his Pastor-Dad was once again in the pulpit.  As the service began, he asked, “Does anybody have 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 glorious radiance came from her face, “No one in this church knows me and I’ve never been here before.  You see, before last Sunday I was not a Christian.  My husband passed away some time ago, leaving me totally alone in this world.  And last Sunday, a particularly cold and rainy day, I came to the end of the line and no longer had any hope or the 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 there on that chair, I felt so lonely and brokenhearted and was just about to jump off, when suddenly the loud ringing of my doorbell startled me.  I thought, ‘I’ll wait a minute, and whoever it is will just go away.’  I waited and waited, but the ringing doorbell seemed to grow louder and more insistent, and then the person ringing started knocking loudly at my door.  I thought to myself, ‘Who on earth could this be? Nobody ever rings my doorbell or comes to see me.’  As I loosened the rope from my neck and started for the front door, the bell rang louder and louder.

 When I opened the door and looked outside, I could hardly believe my eyes, for 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!

 The words that flowed from his mouth caused my long dead heart to leap back to life as he exclaimed in a cherub-like voice, “Ma’am, I just came to tell you that JESUS REALLY DOES LOVE YOU.”  Then he gave me the gospel tract I now hold in my hand.

 As the little angel disappeared into the cold and rain, I closed my door and slowly read every word of this tract.  Then I went up to the attic to get my rope and chair.  I won’t be needing them anymore. 

 You see, now I am a happy child of THE KING!  And since the address of your church is on the back of this gospel tract, I came here to personally say ‘THANK YOU’ to God’s little angel who came to my door just in the nick of time.  By doing so, he spared my soul from an eternity in hell.”

 There was not a dry eye in the church.  As shouts of praise and honor to THE KING resounded throughout the sanctuary, Pastor-Dad left the pulpit and hurried to the front pew where his little angel was seated.  He took his son in his arms and sobbed uncontrollably.

 Probably no church has ever witnessed a more glorious moment, and probably this universe has never seen a Dad more filled with love and honor for his son – except for ONE FATHER.  “For GOD so loved the world, that HE gave HIS ONLY BEGOTTEN SON, that whosoever believes on HIM should not perish, but have everlasting life.” (John 3:16)  Never forget to share His love.  JESUS SAVES!

Sisters and brothers, be continually blessed, and please (above all else) MAKE SURE YOU ARE READY TO MEET OUR SOON COMING KING.  Maranatha!