It was a little girl, a cousin of my own, who was the means of leading me to Jesus. I was staying at my uncle’s farm during my summer vacation.
All the day long, I went in for boating, fishing and swimming in the river that ran along the end of his fields, and was enjoying myself, as I thought, immensely. But an incident occurred one day which turned my thoughts to a subject I had not thought much about before.
Being very hot, I went in for a bathe, and took cramp. Unable to move a limb, I sank like a stone, and must have been drowned, but for the aid rendered by a servant from my uncle’s farm, who heard my cry, and came along to the spot just in time to save me alive. I had never been so near death before, never in fact had I thought of it so far as I personally was concerned, or where I would be after. But that narrow escape, set me thinking, and brought realities of eternity very near.
My uncle and aunt were true Christians, and I have no doubt, had prayed for me, and watched an opportunity to speak to me of Jesus; but they possibly knew that I was very proud, and would resent it, unless the Lord gave a suitable oppounity.
When I got to the farm, still shivering with excitement, my uncle gave me a warm bath, and put me to bed, patting my cheek as he left me to sleep, and saying,
“What a mercy, Walter, you were rescued; you might have been in Eternity.
That word “Eternity” stuck to me. Next day I was better. My little cousin May, a bright little girl, came up to me as I was going off into the country, and said,
“Cousin Walter, we are going to the tent tomorrow; will you come with me?”
I had heard my uncle and aunt speak of a friend of theirs, an evangelist, who had pitched a canvas tent in a town some miles away, and was preaching in it. Uncle proposed that we should drive across on the Sunday afternoon, and attend the meeting. He had not definitely asked me to go, perhaps he thought it wise to leave it till nearer the time, in case I had some excuse; but May, of her own accord, was the first to invite me. I could not well refuse, and, although I had no particular wish to spend the Sunday evening in that way, I was in a rather religious mood after my late deliverance, so I told my little cousin I would go. This pleased her immensely, and she ran into the house to tell her mother.
A long drive through a finely wooded country brought us to the tent, which stood in the corner of a field near to a river. The seats were all filled, and the canvas sides taken down to allow those who sat on the grass outside to hear. My uncle and aunt found seats near to the speaker, and little May—who clung close to me—pointed to a spot on a grassy knoll, where we might sit close enough to hear, yet not to be seen by the preacher.
The address was on “Salvation—eternal, present, and free”; and, although I do not now remember all its points, it showed me that I needed to be saved, and that God had provided salvation for me. I believe it was during the meeting that I trusted myself to Jesus, but it was only on the way home, while uncle was telling me how God saved him thirty years before, that I really saw clearly I was saved, and confessed the Lord. That was a happy day to me,—the beginning of days for on that day I was born into the family of God. Praise His Name, I am there still, and ever will be. So may you too, for Jesus is still mighty to save.
ML 09/05/1943