It may seem strange, but my first really serious thoughts about eternity came to me while at a race course. I was just a careless boy, out for a good time, and thinking only of the excitement of the races. Men were shouting and cheering their favorite horses, when all at once I felt a tug at my coat sleeve. I turned and saw a young man just about my own age, and he seemed to want to speak to me. He stepped close and whispered one word, at the same time slipping a little tract into my hand. The one word was “Eternity.” What a strange thing to say! I decided I would forget all about it, and to my relief, the young man hurried away and said no more.
I tried to enjoy what was going on, but could hear again and again, that solemn word, “Eternity.” Only a month before my best friend, Victor, had died very suddenly, and I could not help but think of him as being in eternity. I knew that if he had been still alive, he would have been with me at the follies of the racecourse. But he was in the eternal world, and the word “Eternity” seemed to come to me as from him.
I hurried home and read the gospel tract that had been given to me, and there I found that God loved me and wished to forgive me. I opened my Bible, which had not been used for a long time, and that very night I came to the Lord Jesus as a poor foolish sinful young man and accepted Him as my Saviour.
Stop now and ask yourself this question, “Where will I spend eternity?”
ML 06/17/1951