Liz Olson watched the old man walk slowly out of the restaurant. He had given her his usual smiling “Good day,” and when she went to clear off his table, she found his usual tip and one of the little booklets that he would occasionally leave. Recently, the times between his visits had become longer and he looked so old and tired. She missed him coming in and also missed the booklets. She read them over and over. What she had read in them had changed her life and she wanted to tell him sometime. Somehow she felt sure he would be glad to know. But the manager of the restaurant did not want the waitresses to spend time talking with the customers, so the opportunity never seemed to come.
One morning before the restaurant got busy a woman came in and sat at the old man’s favorite table. After Liz brought her order to her, the woman bowed her head and closed her eyes for a moment before eating, just as the old man always did. This was not all. When Liz cleared the table after the woman had left, she found a booklet just like the ones the old man left.
Without waiting to think, Liz ran out of the restaurant and called to the woman. “You left a little booklet behind, it....”
Walking back, the woman smiled and said, “It’s for you, if you will accept it.”
“Oh, thank you, but may I ask you something? An old gentleman used to come here and leave the same kind of booklets. He hasn’t been in for some time. Do you know him?”
“Yes, he was my father.”
“Was?” echoed Liz.
She nodded, “He died a month ago. I am trying to keep up the work he loved. Were you one of those he tried to help?”
Tears were filling Liz’s eyes. “Tried and succeeded,” she answered. “I’d like to tell you about it ... but... I have to get back to work.”
The woman quickly wrote out her address on a piece of paper and handed it to Liz. “Come see me whenever you can.”
Liz did visit her. “The first day he came,” she told her interested listener, “he bowed his head and closed his eyes for a moment. It brought back memories of when I was a child and we would thank God for the meal before we ate. And then he left those booklets. In reading and believing what they said about the Lord Jesus Christ dying on the cross for sinners, I had to admit I was a sinner and needed Jesus as my Saviour. My whole life was changed.”
Yes, the Word of God in those booklets was the seed that was sown by the old gentleman in his gospel work. That seed found a place in Liz Olson’s heart. It grew there and brought forth the fruit that God wanted — her soul’s eternal salvation. Have you accepted the Lord Jesus Christ as your Saviour? If not, then why not do it today.
ML-07/07/1985