A small group of miners was waiting for their pay. Another man joined them. “Why, Fred,” exclaimed one, “we were just talking about you. They say you turned saint last week.”
“Or is it angel?” asked another. “If it is, you will soon have white wings and must never go down to blacken them in a coal mine.”
“No, no! Don’t razz him,” said a third. “I tell you it’s parson he’ll be turning, and preaching to us all.”
“Good! Let him start now!” exclaimed the oldest man among them. “Come on, Fred, here’s your congregation before you; can you manage with this box for a pulpit, and preach us a sermon?”
“Yes, yes,” echoed a chorus of voices. “There’s five minutes yet to wait.”
“Now, then, Fred, mount the pulpit and preach us a three-minute sermon.”
All this time Fred had not spoken, but just stood listening with a good-natured smile. Very quietly he stepped on to the box. There was a peaceful, happy look in his dark eyes. For a moment he bowed his head, and a silent prayer went up for help, then he said quietly, “Well, fellows, I—”
“No, no, that won’t do for a sermon,” they cried. “You must begin with a text, your reverence!”
Then Fred spoke: “My text will be Christ’s words to Saul of Tarsus: ‘I am Jesus,’ because in the last ten days those words have been always in my mind. You all said that you wanted to know about the change in me, and I’ve been wishing to tell you what God has done for me. Two weeks ago I was cursing and swearing, and saying I didn’t believe there was a God. Now today, by His grace, I can say I know there is a God, and I know that He’s my Father; I know there is a Saviour, and that He has saved me; I know there is a Holy Spirit, and that He is willing to teach and help me.
“How did all this happen? Well, I can scarcely tell you, but do you remember how Saul was changed into the Apostle Paul? Do you remember how he suddenly heard a voice speaking from heaven? Well, fellows, it was like that with me. I was traveling fast on the wrong road; I’d had warnings from my friends, and I wouldn’t listen to them, but then God spoke to me.
“You have heard, maybe, that a week ago Wednesday I missed the last train from town. For a wonder I was quite sober; it was a pitch-dark night, and I had to walk that nine miles back. You know how bad the road is, and a bad time I had of it to find my way. In the frost and snow I thought I’d never get through.
“Suddenly there flashed into my mind a few words my old mother—bless her!—once said to me. It was something about two roads, and that the one that led to God was lighted by His presence. Then came the thought, ‘Fred, you are certainly not on that; your life won’t bear God’s light on it.’
“Then I’ll never forget how I seemed to see before me all my sins. As I stumbled along in the dark, my whole life seemed spread out before me, and I couldn’t bear the sight. For hours I stumbled on. Once or twice I cried out, and the words came from my very soul, ‘Lord, it’s true, all true, but oh, Lord, save me!’
“Suddenly I seemed to hear my mother’s voice again, teaching me to say, Jesus said, ‘Come unto Me . . . and I will give you rest’ (Matthew 11:28). And it was as if I, who had cursed His name and mocked His people, heard Him saying to me: ‘I am Jesus whom thou persecutest’ (Acts 9:5).
“With those words light came into my soul. Oh, and I was rescued too, as you know, and brought home.
“And now you know I’m no preacher. I wish I were. If I could, I’d reach your hearts and just make you come to this wonderful Saviour. He’s standing by your side and He says, ‘I am Jesus,’ and Jesus means Saviour. Oh, you know what I’ve been, and yet He has saved me. I tell you, He longs to do the same for you. Oh, won’t you let Him?”
The sermon was done, and Fred quietly stepped down from his “pulpit.” As he did so, one of the men went up to him, saying, “You said, ‘Won’t you let the Lord Jesus save you, as He has done for me?’ and I want to say before them all, ‘I will.’ That is, if He will have the likes of me.”
“He said, ‘Him that cometh to Me I will in no wise cast out,’ ” answered Fred, grasping his hand. “You’ve got His word to depend on!”
“God commendeth His love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8).