GYPSY HAWKINS, the evangelist, was visiting an army camp in England one day during the war. The fort there was jealously guard. One day when the Gypsy went out for a walk and entered the fort by a different route, he was halted by a sentry who did not know him, Not having a pass, he was placed in the guard room and the sergeant was summoned. The Gypsy’s credentials were examined and found all right, so he was allowed to proceed. Before doing so, he had a word with the sergeant.
“Have you got a pass for heaven, Sergeant?” said the evangelist.
“I’m afraid not,” was the reply.
“Then you’d better get one at once,” said the Gypsy; “for if they are half as particular there as you are here, you don’t stand a ghost of a chance of getting in!”
The sergeant smiled, but the Gypsy’s words had pierced a joint in his harness. Four days later he accepted Christ as his Saviour. Rising from his knees, he gripped the Gypsy’s hand and said, “Thank God, I’ve got my pass for heaven now. That was the only thing that was troubling me. If death should come to me in the trenches, it won’t be death but life everlasting.”
ML-08/03/1969