"Who are you?"
"I am nobody."
"Where are you from?"
"Everywhere."
"Where are you going?"
"Anywhere."
"Where do you belong?"
"Nowhere."
"Do you want a job?"
"I would be glad of a job if I could only get away from my present boss, for whom I have worked faithfully for two years."
"And who is your boss?"
"Satan."
"Does he pay good wages?"
"Good wages? No! Big wages? Yes."
"What kind of wages?"
"Hunger enough for a hundred men. Rags, desolation, shattered nerves, ruined character and a burning thirst for the thing that has wrought my ruin."
So ran the dialog between a shepherd and a young tramp early one frosty October morning in the hill country. In his arms the shepherd held a poor sheep which he had spent most of the night looking for. He had just arrived home to find the young man standing beside the barn.
Looking at the sheep the shepherd thought: "I've spent half the night in trying to rescue this four-legged sheep. Dare I drive that two-legged one from my door and make no effort to rescue him?" Looking up he said to the young tramp: "You look as if you could eat some breakfast; how about it?"
Evidently moved by the kindness of the invitation, the young fellow straightened up and replied: "Thank you, sir, I am very hungry, but I am not deserving of such kindness."
"Young man," was the reply, "I have never turned a hungry man from my door, and with God's help I never will so long as my name is Robert West."
At the mention of the name the stranger turned pale, but bracing himself he said: "I appreciate your kindness and gratefully accept your invitation."
Having put the sheep which was lost in the fold with the others, West led the way to the house where Mrs. West stood in the doorway to welcome her husband. Together all three sat down to a hearty breakfast. Before the meal began Robert reverently gave thanks for the food.
Their unexpected guest ate as only a hungry man can, yet with the manner of a gentleman. It was plain to see that he was thinking as well as eating. As he listened to Mr. West's account of his search for the lost sheep, tears welled up in his eyes.
With the meal over and still sitting at the table, Mr. West, as was his custom, opened a Bible and read. He had chosen the parable of the Lost Sheep and the Prodigal Son in the 15th chapter of Luke. The reading was followed by prayer and earnest supplication for the wandering boy. The visitor, kneeling with the others, was deeply moved. And when West and his wife sang, "Rejoice! for the Lord brings back His own," the wanderer wept aloud. As the song ended he stood and said: "By some strange chance I came to your door this morning, a prodigal, a pauper, a bankrupt clothed in rags. Yet at your table you have treated me as an honored guest.
"Nearly two years ago," he continued, "I turned my back on a beautiful home. I closed my ears to the appeals of my Christian father and mother. I have tried to drown the memory of their prayers, but only to find myself at the end in another Christian home.
"At college I learned to drink. I graduated with the highest honors, but only to gain a consuming thirst for liquor. Every effort of my dear parents and friends failed to break the chains that bound me. At last I fled from home and from those that loved me most.
"For nearly two years I have tramped hither and thither, until this morning, when we were down on our knees I confessed my sins and put my trust in Him, the Lord Jesus Christ, who promises 'to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by Him.' Sir, the desire for drink has left me and He is able to keep me.
"I said it was a strange chance that sent me here, but I was wrong. It was the Lord that guided me to your door. It was His will that you should bring back this wandering sheep. Do you wonder why? You will understand when I tell you that my name is Robert West Beatty."
"Are you the son of my old college mate, Frederick Beatty?" exclaimed Robert West in amazement.
"I surely am, and my father named me after you in memory of his college chum," was the rep.
"Then God has now enabled me to pay a debt of gratitude I owed to your father", said West. "I never heard Father say you owed him anything."
"Probably not, but now listen to my story: "Fred Beatty and I entered college together and we became fast friends. Like you, I began to drink. One evening I returned to the room which your father and I shared; I was plainly under the influence of liquor.
"Your father waited until I was sober, and then if ever one talked out his heart and gripped the heart of another, that man was Fred Beatty.
"We got down on our knees, and I took your father's Savior as my Savior. And I asked the Lord to help me give up drink.
"Through His mercy I have never touched a drop of it to this day. God helping me, I'll be as true to Fred Beatty's son as Fred was true to me!"
The Spirit of God worked a complete change in the newly converted young man. He lived to please the Lord. Mr. West gave him a home and a job on his farm, and they called him Bob.
Some months later, Robert West, unknown to Bob, sent a long letter to his old college chum, Frederick Beatty, inviting him and his wife to pay them a visit.
"I have a fine flock of sheep," he wrote. "I spent nearly a whole night last October searching for one that went astray. Before I got back to the house I found two sheep; the one that belonged to me and another one. I will give you that other sheep."
Early one morning two weeks later, Robert West drove to the station to meet Mr. and Mrs. Beatty who had gratefully accepted his invitation. Just before they reached the house, Mrs. West said to Bob: "Bob, Mr. West has gone to the station for a present for you. I know you will like it. I want you to go to your room until I call, so we can get the present ready for you at breakfast."
The company arrived, and just as they were sitting down at the table Bob descended the stairs and entered the room.
"Fred and Mary," said Robert West, "here is the other sheep I found. Bob, here is your present."
Words cannot describe the joy of that reunion. The lost sheep was found."