The triumphant roar of the thousands who followed the fortunes of the football club of which George was captain was sweetest music to him. He lived for the game! Too, he was a very popular fellow, "a good sport" his friends called him. He had a strong, rollicking voice, and was always ready with a song or a smart story. Many of "the boys" knew that George could be relied upon to help a man who was "down on his luck"—a trait that always draws a crowd of friends.
Lately George had begun to lose interest in the game, and his jollity settled down into that forced kind that lacks sparkle. The cause was this—his wife had been converted to Christ and George was upset about it. She was so different from him now; yet he felt that she was right and he was wrong. She prayed to God. George didn't. She read the Bible. George didn't. She loved the Lord Jesus Christ and owned Him as her Savior. George became angry at the very sound of His name. He did realize his sinful condition; but he told this to nobody, least of all to his praying wife.
She often asked him to go with her to hear the gospel preached. He as often refused. But one Lord's day night she was more persistent than usual, and to please her George said, "All right. I'll go with you this time if you'll let me alone in the future. But first you must go with me to get some beer.”
He did not think that she would accept this condition, but to his surprise she did. George left her outside, having too much respect for her to press her to join him inside his favorite tavern. In fact, he now felt like a cad for having brought her so near it.
George called for his drink, and raised the foaming glass to his lips; but he put it down again without even tasting it. That was a queer thing for him to do, and at that moment he could not have given a reason for doing it. Again he took it up, and a second time he put it down untasted. A third time he raised it, determined this time to finish it. But a third time down came that glass of beer onto the counter; and though he had paid for it, he left it there untasted and turned on his heel and joined his wife outside. He told me afterward that the thought of his wife praying for him outside made him feel that if he had drunk that beer it would have choked him.
They said nothing to each other, and reached the place of the preaching some time before the time for the service to begin. He took up a Bible and began idly to turn its pages. Suddenly he was arrested by some words that seemed to stand out upon the page as though they were—embossed words that seemed entirely for him. Eagerly he read them over and over again. Light and joy entered his soul as their meaning dawned upon him. His misery passed away, that misery that had been like a canker for weeks. Turning to his wife, he exclaimed, "I'M A SAVED MAN!" Yes, before even the service began that night, sitting there by the wife who loved him and was praying for him, the Spirit applied that one solitary verse of Scripture, and George could say, "I'm a saved man.”
The verse that did the work was this: "Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that heareth My word, and believeth on Him that sent Me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life." John 5:2424Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life. (John 5:24).
Wonderful words are these. They revolutionized his life. They made him a happy man; and he rejoiced in Jesus the Savior who spoke them. For the rest of his earthly life George lived only to proclaim: "I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek." Rom. 1:1616For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek. (Romans 1:16).