CHARLIE WILLIS was a man whom many regarded as being beyond hope. He was a drunkard and boasted that he had never given his wife or children a penny since he was married. He could spend on drink all he earned and they had to beg or borrow all they got, bond the little his wife occasionally earned.
One evening a few believers gathered together for prayer and one of them stepped out of the hall that night determined to try and win Charlie Willis for Christ. On Sunday morning he went to the house where Charlie lived with his wife and five children, and invited him down to the gospel meeting. The house consisted of two rooms.
Downstairs there was no furniture. Upstairs there was a straw mattress, a few sacks for covering, and a broken chair.
Charlie would not promise to come to the meetings, saying it was impossible for him to pass the tavern on his way home. The young Christian, wise to win souls, offered to leave work early and meet him outside town and take him home with him to supper and bring him to the meeting. The offer was accepted.
When the service began, Charlie was there. And wonder of wonders, that night he was “born of God.” What a conversion! What a change came over him. His children, who used to hide from him, soon noticed the change and would run to meet him as he returned home from work. The two-roomed house gave place to a better dwelling; the tarn to the gospel hall.
Years passed during which seral tent meetings were held and, Charlie was seldom absent. He was always willing, as far as lay in his power, to help out in the great work of winning souls for Christ. Everyone in town knows him, and every Sunday evening he can be seen giving out hymnbooks and welcoming people to the gospel hall. He often sings:
I have a Christ that satisfies
Since I have been redeemed;
To do His will my highest prize,
Since I have been redeemed.
ML-02/13/1972