Mr. Foster was a rich farmer who lived in a big house on his farm. He had only been able to go to school for two years. He could not read, and the only thing he could write was his name. But he had worked hard over the years, making the farm and land into the best in the county. He was no longer doing the farm work himself, because he had turned this over to his son.
Several times during the years that Mr. Foster was farming, Christian friends had talked to him about the Lord Jesus. He had been told of God’s love for him, but he refused to believe it. In spite of all the good things God had given him, he didn’t love God or even thank Him for these things. But God loved Mr. Foster just the same and did not forget him.
One summer when Mr. Foster was over 70 years old, a niece and her little daughter came to stay with him. The little girl’s name was Martha; she was seven years old. She was excited about the big house with its big piano and the big grandfather clock. But best of all, there was a real grandfather living there. It wasn’t long before Martha had adopted Mr. Foster as her very own grandfather. He called her, “The Master’s Little Lady.”
One morning when everybody was very busy, Mr. Foster found Martha in the dining room, trying to reach something at the back of a shelf.
“What are you doing, Martha?” he asked.
“I’m trying to get that big book down. I think it’s a big Bible, and I want to look at it,” she answered.
Mr. Foster helped her get the big, old family Bible down from the shelf. Then he sat down in a chair nearby while Martha looked through the old Bible.
“Do you want to hear me read?” she asked him. “I learned how to read in school.”
“You can read!” he exclaimed. “That’s something I never learned to do. Sure, you can read to me.”
Mr. Foster sat closer and put his hand behind his ear so he could hear every word. Martha read very slowly and clearly from the first chapter of John. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God.” She read on down to verse 11 and 12: “He came unto His own, and His own received Him not. But as many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His name.” Slowly Mr. Foster got up from his chair and said, “That’s enough for today, Martha.” Martha thought she saw him wipe away tears from his eyes, and she wondered what was wrong.
The following day, Mr. Foster came to Martha and asked her if she would read to him again. They got the Bible down and turned to where Martha had been reading the day before. It wasn’t long before Martha’s Grandfather Foster was smiling, with tears streaming down his cheeks at the same time. As he heard the story of God’s love read to him by seven-year-old Martha, his heart and mind were opened. He saw that he was a poor sinner before God and needed to be saved. He confessed that he had refused God’s love many times over the years, and now he wanted to be saved. He yielded to God’s love, and accepted the Lord Jesus Christ as his own Saviour.
ML-07/19/1981