Samuel was only fourteen years old when of his own accord he left the home of his parents in the backwoods and managed to reach a town called Midnapur in the Santal region of North India. Sammy had found out somehow that there was a Christian mission at Midnapur, and he was eager to attend the school there. The teacher raised no objection to his entering the school, though Samuel had to begin at the bottom and be in a class of boys much younger than he was. It was the first school he had ever attended.
Sammy was a bright boy, and, as you can imagine from his eagerness and earnestness, he applied himself to his lessons day by day. It was not long before he was promoted and soon he advanced to higher grades. He was learning all that was taught in the school, and since it was a Christian school he learned the truth of the gospel as well. He learned about the one true and living God who made heaven and earth, and about His Son, Jesus Christ, the Saviour of sinners. How different this was from the old religion that he had heard and seen among the people of the backwoods. Here was something that seemed to warm his heart and fill him with a large hope. His soul was hungry, and here was food that satisfied his hunger. It must have been clear to the missionary and to the teachers that this boy was giving promise of becoming a useful and faithful gospel worker.
One day Samuel surprised his teacher by requesting permission to go home for several days. The experienced missionary thought that Sammy was homesick and he told him that he could not go home now, for it was just the beginning of a new term. He told the boy that it would not be long until vacation and then he would have a chance to see his folks.
Without saying a word, Sammy left the room. When the missionary came out he found him standing at the door, and again the lad pleaded in a trembling voice: “Oh, please let me go!”
Now the missionary asked the boy to tell him frankly just why he was so anxious to go home. The eyes of the little fellow filled with tears so that for fully five minutes he could not utter a single word. At length he spoke, and his answer was calm and clear as usual: “Jesus has been gracious to me,” he said. “My heart is glad; I would like to tell my folks about Jesus. My father and my mother have never heard His name. Let me go so that I may without delay speak to them about Jesus.”
The missionary felt that he could not refuse such an earnest request as that. So he said, “Go then, my boy, and we shall pray for you and your people.”
It was a tramp of two days that Samuel had to make in order to reach the home of his parents. And in just one week he was back in Midnapur. His face beamed with joy. He told the missionary how eagerly his folks had listened to his story, and what a sweet sound the name of Jesus had been to those who had never heard it before.
The missionary made arrangements for someone to go and instruct the family further in the way of salvation. Soon the father and mother were converted and were baptized, and then Sammy’s three brothers and sisters; so that now the whole Santal family was sitting at the feet of Jesus and rejoicing in His dear name.
All this was owing to the faithful witnessing of this dear boy who having come to know Jesus was so eager to tell the good news of salvation to his loved ones. After completing his studies at school, Sammy himself became a teacher in the mission school and continued to be a faithful worker in the Lord’s vineyard.
Surely, dear boys and girls, this Santal boy gives us an example that we may well take to heart.
Are you saved, and is Christ precious to your heart? Can you say, “He loved me and gave Himself for me?”
ML-07/10/1966