HE WAS SAVED FROM A WASTED ATHEISTIC LIFE

HE WAS SAVED FROM A WASTED ATHEISTIC LIFE

He had made his boast that he would never attend church again, but one night I saw him come hobbling to the back seat. I talked to him after service and discovered he was a young university graduate. In a railroad accident he had lost both limbs above the knees. This loss, together with the fact that the railroad refused him any compensation, had soured him with life and people. For religion he had no use at all. He claimed to be an atheist. He was now filling a subordinate position in a local plant, burying his talents, and cursing man and God as he did so.

I invited him back, but he would not promise, yet, strangely enough, he returned the next Sunday evening, and also the next.

What could I say to this man who thought God and men were against him? Could I correct his false thinking and give him the proper outlook on life? I determined to try!

I prayed much for him. I tried to say something in each sermon to encourage him. Finally I decided to preach an entire message to him. I prayed about it, I studied hard for it, and I put my best into it. I went to church on the Sunday night I was to preach it greatly burdened for that young man.

As the service continued I commenced to be concerned. He had not come in. The song service was concluded; the announcements made; the special song ended, and still he had not made his appearance.

I stood up to preach; announced my subject and then my text. I thought God wanted me to preach that sermon and for the benefit of that one individual. But was I mistaken?

No, there the door opened, and he hobbled to a seat.

I repeated my text for his benefit: "To what purpose is this waste?" (Matt. 26:8).

That night, although the church was filled, I preached to one man. I told him that all waste is wickedness; that all lives were designed to have a divine ideal in them; that all wasting of life is traceable to absence of faith, to absence of love, or to indifference. And then I told him that all lives are reparable by redemption.

God got hold of the young man that night and he shook with conviction. But he would not come forward for prayer, although I extended the altar call. He made his way out before I concluded.

I went home feeling that I had failed. I wondered if anything would move him to an altar of prayer and to God. I was tormented with a doubt that he would ever get saved.

About an hour after I got home my phone rang. One of my good members who lived next to the church was calling.

"Say, Brother Strang," he exclaimed excitedly, "there is a young man here and he wants to see you. Hurry down for he is ready to pray."

Can you imagine my joy in finding it was the young man for whom I preached the message? It did not take long to pray him through to glorious victory.
Here is his testimony, as I remember it:

"I left the church tonight fighting against God. I was determined I wouldn't yield, but God spoke so forcibly that when I got home I couldn't rest, so I came back to the church for prayer. Finding it closed I came next door seeking help. I believe there is a God, and I am through rebelling against Him. He can have my heart and life. I've wasted too much of it already."

I went back home rejoicing, and firmly convinced that God can meet the life situation of anyone. There are thousands like this young man who need someone to get interested in them. Will you help God meet their need? -- "Meeting Life Situations," hdm0160, by C. B. Strang