The Lord's Day evening service was ended. Henry, the young country preacher, started homeward through the chilly autumn twilight. The road ran for some distance along a gloomy valley; and as the cold wind swept the damp air past him, a great depression fell on the young man's spirit.
Henry felt as never before what a feeble instrument he was for the Lord's service among the mountain people. He began to question within himself whether he ought ever to have put his hand to this work for which he judged himself so poorly fitted. In his despondency, he doubted if any had received or ever would receive the least blessing through his poor efforts to tell the story of the Lamb of God.
As he neared the little town where he lived, his intense melancholy seemed to deepen until his gloomy train of thought was suddenly interrupted. A young man walking briskly toward him asked: "Can you tell me if I am right for Wolf Creek Bridge?”
"No," answered Henry; "you must go about a hundred yards back. Then turn to your right and you will easily find it.”
He was passing on; but the stranger caught sight of his face as they came under a lamppost by the road and exclaimed: "Surely I have seen you before!”
"I have no recollection of you," Henry replied, smiling. "Well, tell me, did you not preach some six weeks back at Chapel Hill?”
"Yes, I did," Henry answered sadly, ready with renewed depression to wish he had not done so. "Were you there?”
"That I was," the young man responded warmly; "and many a time have I longed to meet you again, for the words you spoke that night led me to turn to the Lord. I have now found the Savior of whom you spoke, and I have life in Him.
"I see now why I have been allowed to lose time by getting off my road in this way. I hesitated yonder as to which turning I should take, and felt half provoked when you showed me I had taken the wrong one after all. Now I see that the Lord led me here that I might meet you. Oh, how good of Him to let me set eyes on you again!”
"Ah," said Henry, as he heartily grasped the hand extended to him, "you know but half the story of the Lord's loving-kindness in letting us meet here. I must tell you my side of it.”
As they walked on together, with a full heart the young evangelist told of the deep discouragement he had felt, and how in this unexpected meeting the Father had given him fresh proof of His approval of his labors.
They parted; and Henry, with a light step and a glad heart, pursued his solitary way. With thankfulness to God for the encouraging encounter, he could now press on, by the grace of God, to labors more abundant. He knew that they would not be in vain in the Lord who giveth the increase.