“Shine, mister?” beamed Chico as he stopped in front of the businessman with scuffy-looking shoes who was busy reading a newspaper. The cabin of the Staten Island ferry was crowded this cold morning. It was early November, and a sharp wind kept most of the rush-hour passengers from strolling on the open decks during the 20-minute ride to downtown New York.
“Why not?” answered the businessman. He placed his right shoe on Chico’s shoeshine box and went back to reading his paper. Chico worked quickly and whistled a happy tune as his brush and rag kept time to the music. “What are you so happy about?” grumbled the businessman.
Chico flashed a big, toothy smile and tapped the businessman’s left shoe to indicate he was ready to work on the other shoe. While the businessman changed shoes on the shine box, Chico prayed for courage to speak a word for his Savior.
“Mister, you’d be happy too if you knew Jesus as your Savior. A few months ago I was headed for big trouble! I was running around with a gang of guys who were stealin’ and fightin’ most of the time. My mom was at work all day, my dad’s in jail, and my grandma’s almost blind, so I came and went as I pleased.
“One day some of us went into a store-front meeting to make trouble. We started cursing as loud as we could, but the preacher just asked everyone to sing a hymn, ‘Christ is the Savior of Sinners.’ As they sang, the other guys all left. Somehow I felt glued to my seat. Everytime they sang the chorus, ‘Savior of sinners, Savior of sinners like me, shedding His blood for my ransom, this is the Savior for me,’ I knew deep down I wanted to know more about this Savior. I sat through the whole meeting, and at the end I just sat there with my head down, wishing for all the world I could say I had such a Savior. I guess the preacher saw me, because he came down and put his hand on my shoulder and asked me if I wanted to have peace and joy and know for sure that my sins were forgiven. I said, ‘Yes, sir, you bet I do!’ “Well, mister,” Chico continued as he put the finishing touches to the second shoe, “that preacher explained it all to me, and I got down on my knees and accepted Jesus as my Savior . . . and I’ve had a heart full of joy and peace ever since then! My old gang thinks I’m nuts, but they sure know something has happened to me! And it can happen to you, too, mister, if you’ll accept Jesus as your Savior.
“That’ll be four dollars,” he said, tapping the businessman’s shoe to indicate the shine was finished.
“Here, keep the change,” said the businessman, handing Chico a five-dollar bill. He tucked his paper under his arm, picked up his briefcase and headed out to the windswept deck as Chico moved to his next customer.
ML-09/03/2017