by Walter L. Wilson, M.D. |
Preacher's
sons are sometimes a heartbreak to their parents, as
was the young man who is the subject of this story. His father was a well-known
and much loved preacher in a great city in |
One
evening, after retiring to his room for the night, he packed two bags with
essential clothing, toilet articles and some trinkets, and lowered them by
means of a rope from the window into the yard. After the others had retired,
he quietly left home for an adventure in the world. His was to be a life of
utter godlessness. There would be no prayers now to hinder, and no fatherly
counsel to mar his joys. He was going to live the kind of a life he wanted to
live without restrictions. |
He found a
cheap lodging house in the slum section of the great city, where he could live
as a stranger and would probably not meet any of his acquaintances. He began
to drink and to smoke, and, of course, this condition soon led him into
gambling and other wicked practices. The money he had saved dwindled more
rapidly than he had thought, and before many weeks had passed he was
bankrupt. |
The father
and mother searched for him in vain. They told their friends to tell him, if
they found him, that if he would return home he would receive a happy
welcome, but none of them ever found him. |
As he
drank and spent his life in riotous living, his body began to feel the
effects of it, and he became a dissipated and unhappy wretch. He earned a
little by odd jobs here and there, but did not dare to seek work in the
better parts of the city, for fear he would be found. |
It was the
writer's privilege one evening to preach the gospel in a mission in the slum
section of the city where this unhappy boy lived. He was about thirty years
of age by that time, but looked much older. He attended the service that
evening and heard the message on "Christ's Invitations": calling
the "weary to rest"; the thirsty to "drink"; and the
seeking ones to "come and see." |
At the
close of the service the young man made his way to the front to meet me. The tears
were streaming down his face as he extended his hand. The following
conversation reveals the blessed way in which our Lord touched his heart and
saved his soul. |
"Would
you like to find the Saviour?" I asked, in a kindly tone. |
"Yes,"
he replied, "that is what I came for. Your message has touched my heart
deeply, and I want to turn from my miserable ways and become a Christian. My
father is well known in this city. He is quite prominent in ministerial
circles, and is honored in the church where he is serving. He does not know
where I am, and I do not care to tell you my name. I do want to find Christ
and be saved." |
This
confession was a joy to my heart, and so we sat down together with the Word
of God to find the Saviour. We read together Matthew |
"Yes,"
he replied, "I do. My father has sought all over the country for me, and
I know that God has also been wanting me, for I certainly have had no peace
in my heart since I left home in order to get away from God. I am ready to
come back to God, and if He takes me in I will return tonight to my father
and will tell him so." |
This
admission on his part led me to turn to John |
I then
turned to the thirty-fifth verse of the same chapter and read, "And
Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall
never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst." |
"Do
you not see," I said, "that Christ will give you what you have been
trying to find in the saloon, the gambling house and the places of sin which
you have been frequenting? You have paid largely for the imitation pleasures
the devil has sold you, but Christ will give you freely the permanent
pleasures that your heart desires. If you will come to Him tonight, trust Him
with your soul, make Him your Lord and your Saviour, He will accept you at
once. Will you do so?" |
He nodded
his head in assent and knelt with me to pray. Between his sobs he said to
God, "Lord, I am coming back to You. I thought that others would be
kinder to me than You would be. I thought the world would receive me, but it
has robbed me. Now I am coming to You to save me and wash me, and let me go
home a Christian man." |
I
whispered to him, "Why do you not tell the Saviour that you believe in
Him--that you believe in His precious blood and in His saving power, and that
you take Him for yourself?" |
He did not
reply, but did say to the Lord Jesus, "I do accept You, Lord Jesus, as
my Saviour, and I know that You do take me because Your Word says so." |
I then
thanked the Lord for revealing Himself to this dark heart. |
The young
man arose, wiped away his tears, grasped my hand most cordially, and said,
"Good-bye, Doctor, I am going home tonight. How wonderful it will be
when father opens the door and sees me there. My first words will be,
"Father, Jesus saved me tonight, and I have come back home to ask your
and mother's forgiveness. Will you let me come in and stay?" |
I cannot
describe the homecoming, for I was not there; but I do know that the father
took him in, and there was joy in that home and also in heaven, for Christ
had received him as His own child. God grant that this may be the blessed
experience of many others who have been running away from God. |
|
From Remarkable New Stories: Told by the Doctor
by Walter L. Wilson. 1940. |
|