It was a nice little white bed like some of you children sleep on every night. However, this bed was a little different, because it had an iron framework over the top. Mosquito netting could be hung from this iron framework. I don’t think many of us have anything like that over our beds. But you see, this bed belonged to a missionary in South China, many years ago.
Along with the bed there was a mattress, too. It was not a nice, soft mattress like we have today. This one was stuffed with bamboo shavings. In South China, bamboo was used for many things.
The missionary had bought the bed and mattress at a department store in the city of Hong Kong. It was carefully wrapped for the long trip back to the missionary’s home, which was 200 miles away. But how would a person get a bed and mattress to their house that far away, when there were no moving or delivery trucks? The missionary didn’t have a truck or a car, either.
He was able to find a small boat, called a “sailing junk,” which was going up the river, delivering goods to the city where he lived. He made all the arrangements to have his bed and mattress delivered to the sailing junk, and then the missionary left for home by land.
When the missionary got home, he told his family about the new bed he had bought. He knew it would take about three weeks for the sailing junk to make the long trip up the river with the new bed.
Three weeks passed, but the bed did not arrive. What was wrong? Had the sailing junk sunk in the river, or had the bed been stolen by pirates?
After about six weeks, the missionary got word that, “Yes, the bed was stolen.” The pirates who had stolen it were now trying to sell it back to him. Would the missionary pay to get his bed back?
“No,” said the missionary, “I will not do business with robbers! I will not pay a cent to those who stole it!”
The missionary thought he would never see his bed again. He and his family often laughed, thinking about the pirate chief comfortably stretched out on the little white bed, enjoying the happy feeling of a mattress, which he probably had never felt before.
Although he was disappointed, the missionary accepted the loss of his new bed. He knew that, like the Apostle Paul in Philippians chapter three, he might suffer "... the loss of all things... that I may win Christ.” So there were no hard feelings about the loss. He told the Lord all about it and left it for Him to work out.
Not too many days later, a friend rushed in all excited and exclaimed, “The bed is coming—I mean, the junk is coming!”
Yes, soldiers had captured the pirates and had recovered the junk with all its goods. Perhaps the pirate chief had been napping in his new bed. His friend didn’t know how it happened—all he knew was that the junk was on its way to the city.
A few days passed and then, sure enough, along came the bed. Chinese coolies carried it to his house. The missionary and his family hurried out to see what the pirate chief had done to the bed. And what did they find? Neither the bed nor the mattress had even been unwrapped! Maybe the pirate chief didn’t know what it was. If so, he certainly never knew the comfort he had missed.
When the missionary asked if there were additional charges for recovering and delivering his bed, he was told there were none. Duty, freight, soldiers’ charges, and delivery charges had all been paid.
The merchant who was with the coolies said, “The junk and all the goods came back because of your bed. It must have been your God taking care of your bed, or else we would never have seen our things again!”
If God watches over things like beds, can’t we trust everything to Him? Best of all, we can trust Him with our soul’s salvation. Can you say like Paul, "... I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I have committed unto Him against that day"? 2 Timothy 1:1212For the which cause I also suffer these things: nevertheless I am not ashamed: for I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day. (2 Timothy 1:12).
ML-06/07/1981