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.
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 responded, "Son, it's very cold outside and it's pouring down rain."
The boy gave his dad a surprised look, asking "But, Dad,
aren't people still going to Hell, even though it's raining?"
Dad answered, "Son, I am 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; be careful, son."
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,
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 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, 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 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, "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 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 down-
stairs 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 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 read slowly every word of
this Gospel Tract. 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 and since the
address of your church 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 so doing, spared my soul from 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 angel 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 & honor for his son...
Except for One. This Father also allowed His Son to go out
into a cold and dark world. He received His Son back with
joy unspeakable, and as all of heaven shouted praises and
honor to The King, The Father so His beloved Son on a
throne far above all principality and power and every name
that is named.
~Author Unknown~
Angels unaware, comes to mind, and we never know what we might bring with a simple smile and kind word to those we encounter in everyday life...it might be something they truly need to cope with the challenges of life.
Thank you, Your Honor, for that Beautiful Story!