The Tract
Every Sunday afternoon, after the morning service at their church, the
Pastor
and his 11-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
out-side
as
well as pouring down rain. The boy bundled up in his warmest and driest
clothes and said "Okay 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's
the
tracts, be careful son."
"Thanks, Dad!" And with that he was off and out into the rain.
This 11-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 2 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 bit still no one answered. He waited but
still
no
answer.
Finally this 11-year-old trooper turned to leave but some-thing 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 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 in church, Pastor Dad was in 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.
"None of you in this church know me. I've never been here before. You
see,
before last Sunday I was not a Christian. My husband has 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 . . . as 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 door-bell 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 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 an eternity in Hell.'"
There were now no dry eyes in the church.
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 him 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,
except for one:
This Father, God, also allowed His Son, Jesus, 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 sat His beloved Son
on
a
throne far above all principality and power and every name that is
named.
There may be someone, reading this, who is also going through a dark,
cold
and lonely time in your soul. You may be a Christian, for we are not
without
problems, or you may not yet know the King. Whatever the case, and
whatever
the problem or situation you find yourself in, and no matter how dark
it
may
seem, I want you to know that I just came to tell you,
"JESUS REALLY DOES LOVE YOU"
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