Poor old Joe was well known on Skid Row and often was seen on the side of the highway just out of town thumbing a ride to some distant city. Now he was sick, and a police officer had taken him to the city hospital. He was just a tramp, and sin had ruined his life.
He had no friends and no one knew his name. So the nurse had put a tag on the foot of his bed. The tag read, “Without a friend.” The tags on the other beds gave names of friends and loved ones, but Old Joe had no friends.
One day a Christian man came to the hospital to visit the patients. As he went through the large ward, he came to the bed of the friendless old tramp. Lovingly and kindly he told the poor old fellow about the Lord Jesus, the Saviour and never-failing Friend.
Joe’s heart was touched. The Christian visitor came again and the old man was glad to hear more about Jesus, the wonderful Friend of sinners. His heart was opened and he received Him as his Saviour. Now he had “a Friend that sticketh closer than a brother.” Prov. 18:2424A man that hath friends must show himself friendly: and there is a friend that sticketh closer than a brother. (Proverbs 18:24).
Old Joe asked the nurse to write on the tag at the foot of his bed the words—“Jesus is my Friend.”
ML-12/31/1978