It was a warm summer evening, and Mr. Hughes felt like taking a walk before turning in for the night. Down the street he met Mr. Ripley, a neighbor who was also out for a walk.
“Hello, Mr. Ripley,” said Mr. Hughes.
“Good evening,” answered the old man, and they both stopped to talk.
Now Mr. Hughes was a Christian. He loved his Saviour, and he loved to tell others the way to heaven. So after they had talked about the nice weather, Mr. Hughes brought the conversation around to the more important and eternal things. He asked Mr. Ripley if he knew Jesus Christ as his Saviour and was on the road to heaven.
“You know, that’s the very thing I’ve been thinking about lately,” confessed Mr. Ripley. He wanted to come to Jesus and be saved, but he didn’t know how.
“Mr. Ripley,” said his friend, “do you remember when you were just a little fellow, how your mother set you alone on your feet in the middle of the room, and kneeling down several feet away with her arms reaching out to you, she said, ‘Come on, Tommy."'
Old Mr. Ripley replied that he was too young back then to remember, but that’s probably how it went.
So Mr. Hughes went on: “For a few moments you stood there on your little feet wobbly and afraid, but your mother encouraged you saying, ‘Come here, Tommy, come over here to Mommie.’ Then suddenly you stepped out and the next moment you were safe in your mother’s arms.”
The old man was deeply impressed. The memory of childhood days brought tears to his eyes. Was the way of salvation as simple as that? Could someone as old as he come to Jesus as simply as a child would? Yes, Jesus had died to put his sins away, and now He called him to come and trust Him as his Saviour. Has He not said, “Him that cometh to Me I will in no wise cast out.” John 6:3737All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out. (John 6:37).
He saw it all so clearly now. That night on their street, out under the starlit sky, old Mr. Ripley took that step of faith. He came to Jesus and found himself in those everlasting arms of love that would never let him go.
ML-11/17/1985