Mr. Young buttoned his coat and trudged off into the dark. He had nine miles to walk, and it was quite late. One by one he left the little cottages with twinkling lights behind, and soon he was feeling quite lonely, as though he had left all that was friendly behind.
After walking about a mile he heard the sound of little footsteps, and soon after little voices. Two boys were on the road before him. Hearing his step they stopped, and as he came up one of them said: “Please, mister, is this the right road to N—?”
The little fellow’s voice trembled, as though he was not quite sure whether the newcomer was friend or foe.
“Yes, my lad, it is quite right. Are you boys going to walk there?”
“Yes, sir,” said both in a breath.
“So am I. We will walk together.” The boys told him how they had been sent together to drive home a cow, and what a long weary job they had, and how glad they would be to be home.
The man listened, and wondered as he listened whether or not they knew the “right road” to God, and the Friend, the strong Friend, who would tape them all the way.
“Boys,” said he, “do you go to Sunday school?”
“No, sir.”
“I am sorry for that.”
“Why, sir: what do they do there?”
“Oh, many things. They learn to read the Bible, and they sing hymns, and they hear about God’s love, and about heaven, and many other things.”
There was a little pause; then one said,
“What’s heaven like?”
This was rather a difficult question to answer, so the man began to tell about boys, and men too, being all siul before God. Then he told how God was very sorry for these sinners, because sin would shut them out from His presence in heaven.
Pointing up to the sky, he said, “The bright home of God—that is heaven.”
Then, telling them that God loved them so much, and was so sorry for them in their sins, he told of how God sent His Son down from heaven to save them. He went on to say that this Son of God was called “Jesus,” the Lord Jesus Christ, and that He loved to please His Father, but the world did not want Him. He told of how wicked men nailed Him to the cross, and that on the cross He bore the judgment of God for guilty sinners. He told of how He was taken down from the cross, and laid in the grave, but the third day He rose again and went back to heaven.
“And now, boys, God has a wonderful message for us. He tells us in the Bible that if we trust in the Lord Jesus Christ, all our sins will be washed away in that precious blood, and He will take us home to be with Him in heaven.”
There was a deep sigh from one of the boys, and then after he had thought a little, he turned to his companion and said, “I hopes I goes there, don’t you, Jake?”
“Yes, Bill, I do.”
These poor boys had never heard these things before, and it seemed their earnest wish to accept God’s mercy and be saved. I wish I could tell you they did but I do not know, because Mr. Young never saw them again. But it made him think of the many boys and girls who have heard that wondrous story of Jesus and His love over and over again. Yet it is only a story to them. They have never really come to Him and accepted Him as their own Saviour. Will you, dear young reader, come now?
ML 10/10/1954