The late summer twilight had tinted the narrow, gentle Thames River as I walked slowly along the riverbank toward the place where I was to preach. A strange reluctance had slowed my steps, and I stood for a moment looking down into the slow water, thinking back on the centuries of history and drama its banks had witnessed. I wondered how many of the thousands that had walked along these banks had known the peace of God.
I turned to go, but my attention was suddenly caught by the movement of a young woman who had risen from one of the benches near the water and was approaching the edge of the riverbank in a purposeful way. Something in her attitude put a chill in my heart, so I walked toward her.
“Excuse me,” I called quietly. She turned nervously and looked wildly around as though looking for an escape. Her eyes, filled with depths of sorrow and disillusionment, startled me, though I was accustomed to meeting life’s derelicts every day in a mission hall in London.
“Forgive a stranger’s speaking to you,” I said, “but I am a preacher, on my way to the Gospel Hall around the next corner. You are distressed and troubled. Would you come to the service tonight? There you can find rest from your trouble in One who is ready to be your Friend.”
At my mention of the word “preacher,” her face fell, and she said indignantly, “No, I don’t want to go to your meeting. Leave me alone.”
Earlier in the afternoon, my hostess had presented me with a perfect white rose. Though I would not have chosen to wear a flower, I had felt that I should take it and wear it. Now, acting on an impulse I did not understand, I took the rose from my lapel and held it out to her. It was a strange gesture, but I dared not disobey what I felt to be the leading of the Spirit.
“Will you accept this white rose?” I asked gently. “Perhaps it will remind you that there are friends who want to help you if you will come.”
“No — oh, no,” she gasped. She drew back as though I had struck her. Mixed emotions struggled in her face. Then, she reached out and grasped the rose, and I saw there were tears on her face. I had to go, but invited her once more to come.
About Face
As I finished speaking that evening, I saw, back in the corner, the young woman to whom I had spoken beside the river. She suddenly rose to her feet, walked forward and began to speak, apparently unaware of the curious gaze of the congregation.
“I’ve been listening to the invitations to ‘come to Jesus’ and I want to come. Do you think He could save such a sinner as I am?” she asked brokenly.
“I was going to end it all tonight in the river because I couldn’t go on any longer in the life I’ve lived for five years. I was just ready to jump when that gentleman there spoke to me and asked me to come here. I rudely refused him. And then he gave me this white rose. I didn’t want it at first, but then I had to take it. It was like the rose my mother gave me when I left home five years ago. It was her favorite flower.
“As I took this rose tonight, I heard again her voice as she told me good-bye. ‘Ellen, my dear, you are leaving your mother much against her wish, to go into a sinful world and, I fear, into a sinful life. When you are far away and you see a white rose, remember that your mother’s parting gift to you will be followed by prayer for the return of her child. Neither day nor night will I cease to pray that God may bring you home again, saved.’
“This pure, white rose brought me to my senses tonight. I knew I had to find the way, if it is open to me. The preacher said there was One who would help me. Do you think He would accept a sinner like me?”
It was not difficult to answer her question. “Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be white as snow.” “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life” (Isaiah 1:1818Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool. (Isaiah 1:18); John 3:1616For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. (John 3:16)).
She listened attentively as we gave these and other verses, then bursting into tears she dropped to her knees, repented to God and trusted the Lord Jesus as her Savior. She stood up as a new creature in Christ. Her first desire was to get home to her mother. The years have passed, but this young woman, snatched from the very jaws of a suicidal death, is still rejoicing in Christ and is always eager to tell others of the saving power of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Sometimes mere neglect can lead to death or even worse. The Dangers of a Sedentary Lifestyle clearly presents the need to move in more than just physical ways.