Jack was the typical sailor — light and easy, bright and breezy, as they say. He had been away from home for a long time, but now he was back and his little children had so much to tell him that when he got shore leave and found himself in his own home, time flew all too quickly.
Jack had been aboard a large ship on a long cruise. At one place which they stopped, Jack got a few hours shore leave. Wondering about, not knowing what to do or where to go, he passed a mission hall brightly lighted up and went in. There he heard a gospel message simply told, and that night dear Jack accepted the Lord Jesus as his very own precious, personal Saviour.
When Jack got back to his ship, he decided to hoist his colors at once, so when he was about to turn in to his bunk, he first knelt down to pray. A hush came over the men, followed by laughs and jeers. At length one of the roughest of them said, “Let’s get some water to pour on him.” So they got a pail of water, and coming back, they poured it over poor Jack. This was repeated not only once, but night after night. Jack said nothing, but took it all meekly. He knew well who the ring leaders were, and every day he sought to do each one of them “a good turn,” treating them in the kindest way possible.
At last the worst of them all came to Jack one day and said, “Tell me, what has happened to you? A month ago if we had treated you like we’ve been doing lately, we would have gotten the worst of it.
Jack told him just what had happened, that he had met the Lord Jesus Christ and He had saved him. Not long after the sailor broke down and confessed the Lord Jesus as his Saviour. Jack was able to claim his arch-persecutor as a brother in Christ.
Then one by one, other men in the crew were converted, too. When the voyage ended, over a dozen sailors met every night to read the Bible and learn more of their precious Saviour.
It may be that some of our readers are staying away from the Lord Jesus and hesitate to take the all-important step because they fear they will be laughed at or persecuted. Let this story of Jack encourage you to trust Him now and confess Him boldly at once. Then you may have the great honor of leading others to His blessed feet.
ML-06/05/1977