On the island of Lewis lived a fisherman named Peter, a good man and true. He had a wife and a snug little cottage, and then one day his wife bore him a dear little baby girl. But soon after his wife took very sick, so she told Peter God had sent the child into their home, and he must teach her the way of salvation so that she would meet her mother in heaven. Then she died.
The loss of his dear wife was a great sorrow to Peter, but he did not turn to drink like some men do to drown their grief. He knew where to go. Like John’s disciples of old, he went and told Jesus.
Soon after another great sorrow came when his little girl followed her mother to heaven, and Peter was left all alone. Fishing did not seem half so interesting now, for he had none to fish for; but the Lord Jesus helped him.
One day when out on a fishing trip Peter met a young Swede named Jan Georg, whom he brought home to live with him. Of course he told Jan all about his wife and his baby girl, and about Jesus in heaven, so they became fast friends.
One day when they were out on the sea, a great storm came up. The big waves tossed their little boat up and down like a football. Poor Peter began to think this a strange answer to their prayers, but at last there came a calm and they put their nets in once more.
When they began to pull their nets in again, they were full of fish —big ones, small ones, fine ones, such a boat load! But they also found pieces of wreck floating about, and in the morning they saw more, so they knew a ship had gone to pieces on the rocks.
“What’s that?” exclaimed Jan, pointing toward something on a rocky ledge, left behind by the receding tide. Getting into a small boat they rowed toward it, and Jan clambered up.
“It’s a little girl lashed to the lid of a chest,” he shouted, and putting his hand to her heart he added, “and she’s still alive!”
So he lowered her down into the boat, and it made Peter cry, for he thought of his own little girl. But Jan had yet to descend the wet slippery rocks. Suddenly his foot slipped, and he plunged forward, striking his head against the side of the boat.
Just at that moment a big wave washed him under the boat and out to sea. Peter waited for Jan to come up, but he never saw him again. He had saved the child’s life but lost his own. With a heavy heart Peter looked about but could not find Jan, nor could he find anything that would tell the name of the wrecked ship.
Pinned in the corner of the tiny girl’s dress was a purse containing bills which totaled over $1,000.00 On the purse were the initials, “A.L.S..”
“That’s what we’ll have to call her,” said Peter,"Als', and since Jan Georg saved her, she’ll have to be ‘Als Georg.’ "
Those three letters are the initials of each one of us. They are mine, for I was A.L.S.
A Lost Sinner. Like the little girl on the rock, wrecked and dying; but like her I had A.L.S.
A Loving Saviour who saved me, but gave His life to do it. Jan was near to Peter, but how near the Lord Jesus was to God! Shall I not take His name and so be A.L.S.?
A Live Saint. Peter became a loving father to the little thing, working for her, and laying up the $1,000.00 for her future. What a Father God is, and what a portion He lays up for every one of His redeemed, adopted children.
Suppose one day, as Als sat on Peter’s knee, he asked her if she knew why she had such a name. She might say, “No, Peter, I don’t.” Then he might say, “My dear, once you were tossing in the sea. Then you were washed up on a rock, and a man named Jan Georg saved you, but lost his life in doing so. So I named you after him.”
If Peter could have told her Jan was alive on a distant shore, would she not want to go and see him? We know the Lord Jesus lives, on that heavenly shore, and one day all those who know Him as Saviour are going to see Him. May we not be ashamed to bear His name.
ML-11/12/1978