NEVADA JOE was the toughest cowboy on the J-B Ranch. Just about everybody was really afraid of him. He could pull out his two guns, where he carried them on his belt, and shoot the tops off bottles at a distance, with both hands at the same time. People called him “Two-Gun Joe,” because he always carried those two guns with him wherever he went.
Timmy Edwards, who was ten years old, was spending the time while school was closed at his Uncle Ben’s summer shack near the J-B Ranch, where Joe both lived and worked.
It was a warm day in July and Timmy was walking down the road by himself. He had his Bible in his hand, because he had been reading and learning some verses from memory, to get a prize at Sunday school in Barnsboro, eighty miles away, a town where his Daddy and mother lived. Just when Timmy was walking along the road, Joe came riding by on his palomino pony. As he came near where Timmy was, he drew rein and his pony stopped. He turned in his saddle and in a heavy voice asked, “Hello, kid. What’s that book you’ve got in your hand?”
“A Bible,” Tim replied. “This is the Book that tells us all about Jesus, the One who can save us from punishment for all our sins.”
Joe didn’t say any more but giving a rough laugh, he dug his spurs into his horse and took off down the road in a cloud of dust.
The next afternoon, about five o’clock, there was a heavy knock at the door of the shack where Timmy’s uncle Ben lived. Tim went to the door and there stood a tall cowboy, dressed in blue jeans and wearing a broad brimmed hat, the biggest Timmy had ever seen.
“Are you the kid that Two-Gun Joe saw with a book in your hand yesterday?” the cowboy asked.
“Yes,” Tim replied, “I am.”
“Well, Joe has been kicked in the head by a horse, and he’s a dyin', it looks like, and he asked me if I’d come and get you to read your Book to him. He says his mother eased to read to him out of that Book when he was a kid, just like you. If you’ll come, I’ll take you on my horse and bring you back.
Tim asked his uncle if he might go, and his uncle said yes, he could. So the big cowboy lifted Timmy, with his Bible, onto his waiting horse. Then they rode slowly to the shack where Joe lay in his bunk, his head all wrapped in bandages.
“Here’s the kid with the Book, Joe,” the cowboy announced, as he lead Timmy into the room where a little oil lamp was burning low.
“Say, will you please read me something out of that book, kid?” Joe asked slowly, in a low voice.
“I sure will,” said Tim. Then he read a verse he learned to say from memory: “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).
Then Timmy spoke: “If you ask Jesus to come into your heart, Mr. Joe, and trust Him as your Saviour, because He died for your sins, God will save you, just like He saved me when I asked Him to come into my heart last year at Sunday school in Barnsboro".
Joe slowly closed his eyes; his lips moved in prayer. Tim could hear him say almost in a whisper: “Lord Jesus, come into my heart, and save me from my many sins.” Then a smile came over Joe’s face, and a look of peace settled down on his countenance. The Lord Jesus had answered his prayer; he had saved Joe when he trusted Him as his Saviour, just like he had saved Timmy in the Sunday school at Barnsboro.
The next morning at 9:00 o’clock, Joe passed away. One day he and Timmy Edwards, and all who are redeemed by the precious blood of Christ, will meet in heaven.
Have you, dear reader, ever asked the Lord Jesus to save you, like Timmy and Joe did? If you never have, why not bow your head now, close your eyes, and ask Him, who hears you, though you cannot see Him, to come into your heart and be your Saviour? Has He not said: “Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear My voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with Me.” Rev. 3:2020Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me. (Revelation 3:20).
Continental Press
ML-04/30/1972