George was a Christian who for years traveled the U.S. highways from coast to coast hitchhiking, seeking to bring Christ and His salvation to those who would give him a ride.
On one of his trips east he was given a ride by a young man. He noticed he had strange burns across the backs of both his hands. George asked him if he would mind telling him how he got them. This was his story: “I was in the Marines in the last war and was captured by the Japanese. I have in my bag a letter from President Truman saying I was in solitary confinement longer than any other man, as far as they know.”
He was a comparatively young man, but you would have taken him for someone’s grandfather. This man had really been through war. He went on: “One night I thought my buddy would die for want of something to eat. So sneaking out during the night, I stole some food for him. But I was caught, and the Japs said, ‘For stealing, this is what we do,’ and they took a hot iron and burned the back of both my hands.”
Letting go the wheel for a split second and holding up both his hands he said, “This isn’t what bothers me. What bothers me is not only that I’m an alcoholic, but I’m a slave to dope.” In his glove compartment were five bottles of drugs. “That is all that will help me,” he said, “when I get these shakes that I got from eleven months of solitary confinement.”
George turned to him and said: “Mister, when the Lord saved me, I too was a slave to many bad habits, but the Lord set me free. One night I was a slave to sin, and the next morning I was a free man in Christ. What the Lord did for me He can do for you. Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. He came to set you free. So when you find a shady spot, I want to stop and I want you to read something from this New Testament.”
There seemed to be no shade and it was terribly hot. Finally the driver said, “Mister, I’m all mixed up but I’m concerned about this.” So he pulled over onto the side of the road, and there they read the New Testament together. That young man was in earnest and listened intently. The Spirit of God wrought in his heart, and there on the side of the road he received Christ as his Saviour. He was a free man in Christ, for the Lord Jesus came to break the power of sin and set the prisoner free. Like the Ethiopian man of the Acts to whom Philip the evangelist spoke, “he went on his way rejoicing.”
“Be it known unto you... that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom ye crucified, whom God raised from the dead, even by Him doth this man stand here before you whole....
ML-03/11/1979