“I WAS riding once in a cab,” said a Christian man, “when the driver by my side began to swear in a dreadful manner. I lifted up my heart for God’s blessing on what I said; and presently, in a quiet way, I asked him this question: ‘Driver, do you ever pray?’ He seemed displeased at first; but after a while he replied, ‘I sometimes go to church on Sunday and then I suppose I pray, don’t I?’
"‘I am afraid you never pray at all, I replied, “for no man can swear as you do, and yet be in the habit of praying to God.’
“As we rode along he seemed thoughtful, ‘Driver, I wish you would pray now;’ I said.
“‘Why, what a time to pray, Sir, when a man is driving a cab!’
"‘Yet, my friend, God will hear you,’ I said.
"‘What shall I pray?’ he asked, in a low voice. ‘Pray these words; ‘O Lord, grant me by Thy holy Spirit, that I might be converted, for Christ’s sake. Amen’.” He hesitated, but in a moment he repeated them; and then, at my request, he said them over a second, and a third time. The end of the journey was reached, and I left him.
“Some months passed away, and we met once more. ‘Ah, Sir,” said he with a smile, ‘the prayer you taught me in the cab was answered. I saw myself a lost and ruined sinner; but now I humbly believe that through the blood which cleanseth from all sin, and by the power of the Holy Spirit, I am a converted man.”
ML-12/04/1960