They called him “Big Bill.” Tall, strong and bearded, he was a real Paul Bunyan lumberman. He was rough and rude, a heavy drinker and swearer, and decent people avoided him. Little he cared what people thought! He “feared not God, neither regarded man.”
One day Big Bill was sitting on a stump whittling a stick. There was no work to be done that day, so he was waiting for someone to go with him for a drink. A boyish voice beside him said, “Mornin’, Bill. Have you heard the news?”
“What is it?”
“Why, some feller is coming to the island to preach, and they’re lettin’ him have the schoolhouse,” replied the speaker, a thin, barefooted boy. The boy added with a grin, “I thought you might be going.”
“What! What’s that you say?”
“Oh, nothin’, only some feller’s going to preach in the schoolhouse.”
“Not much, he ain’t!” exploded Big Bill. “We ain’t never had religion or preachin’ on this island, and we ain’t going to start now—not so long as my name’s Big Bill!”
The night came for the preaching. So did the preacher. And so did the people of the island. Some came to hear the Word of God, but most came to see what Big Bill would do. He was expected to make trouble, and it would be a courageous preacher that would withstand him.
The meeting began. The preacher was reading his text when the door opened and in stalked Big Bill, loaded for trouble.
The first words to meet his ears were the preacher’s text: “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life” (John 3:1616For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. (John 3:16)).
Big Bill stopped and listened. The preacher repeated the text. Then he read it for the third time. By the power of God the words took hold of Big Bill’s heart.
Never before had he heard such words. The strong man was utterly disarmed by the text, and he went quietly to a seat near the front of the room.
No one listened to that gospel message with more concern than Big Bill. At the close, the preacher stepped forward and shook his hand—the hand of the man who had come determined not to allow any preaching or religion on the island.
To his great joy, the preacher learned that Big Bill, as he sat in his seat, had accepted Jesus into his heart. Oh, the power of the Word of God!
“ There is joy in the presence of
the angels of God over one sinner
that repenteth.”