Employed in the same banking office, we met each other daily. My conversion and confession of Christ he treated with contempt, and blasphemously repelled all my efforts to lead him to Christ.
My removal to Dundas, Ontario, separated us for about a year. Then, one day, a lad entered the bank bearing a note addressed to me. It read: "My poor boy's dying, and begs you to come to see him."
Reaching the address given me, an elderly lady warmly thanked me for coming, and said: "My poor boy is in the front room upstairs."
Upon entering the bedroom I was horrified to see terror personified: a face white as chalk, eyes starting from their sockets, body writhing, while the lips uttered the terrible wail, "The eleventh hour's passed! My God, there is no hope for me!"
Seating myself by his side, overwhelmed by the awful spectacle, I silently prayed that One mighty to save would deliver his soul from the pit. Then taking my Bible from my pocket, it opened at Luke 15. I read verses 1-4, concluding with the words, "Until He find it."
Involuntarily I repeated these words, adding, "Oh, Sam, don't you see? It says 'until He find it,' and He hasn't found you yet! That proves He's seeking still."
The agonized movements of his body ceased, and the awful wail was hushed; so I read the whole chapter to him, telling of a love intent upon finding sinful souls, and at amazing cost transforming the straying, lost and spiritually dead into dearest objects to the divine Seeker's heart. And there in the stillness of that sick chamber Sam was found by the Good Shepherd, assured by the Holy Spirit, and welcomed as a son beloved by the Father. All his terror and anguish were exchanged for the joy of God's salvation; and I too witnessed that miracle of redeeming love, the new birth of a believing soul.
Reader, is your soul saved? Beware of the terrors of the damned. Escape the wrath to come! But beyond and above all these solemn considerations, give the blest Redeemer the joy of possessing your soul for Himself. For you He suffered; your soul He seeks and awaits the joy of finding.