A Little Child Shall Lead Them

David Receives the Lord

While we were in Hong Kong, my brother, Mike, who was on shipping rounds with the Sydney Morning Herald, came to visit us. Mike was not a believer in the Lord. The first evening of his visit we sat down together at the meal table and, as was his custom, Paul prayed the Lord’s blessing over the food, thanking Him for the provision. At the end of the prayer 5-year-old David piped up:

“Uncle Mike didn’t close his eyes!”

We all laughed at the obvious fact that he, of course, hadn’t closed his eyes either. But, oblivious to this, David continue,

“Why didn’t he? Why didn’t Uncle Mike close his eyes?”

The child was obviously both concerned and curious. He had never met anyone before who didn’t pray with us when we prayed over the food.

“I’ll talk to you about it later” I said to him quietly.

My brother was highly amused by the whole incident. That night, when I tucked him into bed, David again asked...

“Why didn’t Uncle Mike close his eyes”.

“Because he’s never asked Jesus into his heart” I explained.

A frown creased his little brow and very seriously he said...

“But I’ve never asked Jesus into my heart either.”

“Would you like to ask Him in now” I asked, holding back my joy at his realization.

He nodded, “Yes”.

“Okay,” I said, “I’ll go and get Daddy and we’ll pray with you.”

I excitedly told Paul and we both went back into the bedroom. Paul talked some more with David, explaining clearly why Jesus had come and what it meant to ask Him into his heart and life.

"Do you want to pray now and ask Jesus to come into your heart?" Paul asked him.

"You pray, Daddy, and I'll follow" he said.

So Paul led him in a simple prayer to receive the Lord. The next morning we greeted him as he woke up...

"What's it like now with Jesus in your heart?"

We had to smile at his reply. "Oh, He's gone out already".

Paul then explained to him the wonderful promise the Lord has given that He will never leave us or forsake us (Hebrews 13:5).

Unforgettable Experiences

At the same time we were hearing from the Lord about leaving Hong Kong and returning to Thailand (see our previous post "Supernatural Guidance"), we received an invitation to visit a church in California and, from there, to minister to a number of churches in the United States. In view of our plans, we felt it would be a great opportunity to share the need for the Gospel in Thailand. We decided to stay and minister there for three months and continue on from there to Thailand. We were to make many new and lifelong friends in our first visit to the United States and for the children it would prove to be not only an exciting time (they got to see Disneyland) but a time of unforgettable experiences with the Lord. Two such experiences come immediately to mind.

The Faith of a Child

We were on our way to minister to a church in Phoenix. Our time in the States was spent driving during the day and ministering at night. Some friends in California had kindly lent us a car for the journey to Phoenix and, in our ignorance, we set out early in the morning with the plan to arrive at the church that evening. We learnt later that no one travels through the Arizona Desert during the day! The air-conditioning of the car was not working and in the high temperature of the desert the car’s water kept boiling. On top of this, because Paul was very tired, the long monotonous road was causing him to be very sleepy. There was no shade anywhere and it was too hot and dangerous to stop. I watched his eyes the whole way to make sure he did not drop off to sleep. I had packed snacks in the car and about half way there, around lunch time, the children asked for something to eat. For one short moment I took my eyes off Paul’s eyes and bent down to give them something to eat. In an instant the car was jumping up and down. Paul had fallen asleep and gone off the road. As we bumped along in the sand visibility was zero. The whole windscreen and surrounding windows were enveloped in the sandy dust. At last, after what seemed an age, the car came to a stop. When the dust finally subsided we could see behind us the slope we had come down. We knew that if we had gone off the road a few minutes earlier we would have hit a crevice and were to learn the same was true of a short distance ahead. Paul tried to drive the car back up the slope but the more he tried the deeper the wheels sank into the sand. We were stuck. There was no shade anywhere. We learnt later it peaked at 120 F (48.8 C)in the shade. We had no water left as we had had to use it each time the car had boiled. There were no other cars on the road. We tried to push the car out, to no avail. Again Paul tried to drive it out but deeper and deeper went the wheels. We knew we were in grave danger. Finally we heard a little voice behind us.

“Why don’t we ask Jesus to push us out?” said David.

Paul and I looked at each other and smiled. Of course.

“Good idea, son. You asked Him” said Paul. So he prayed.

“Lord Jesus” came his simple prayer, “please let an angel push us out”

Paul tried to drive the car again. Suddenly, there was a shove behind us and the car jerked forward, out of its ditch, and we were back up on the road. The children clapped their hands excitedly (David peering out the rear window hoping to see the angel) and we continued our drive with a great sense of joy and thankfulness to the Lord. We knew an angel had pushed us out.

Let There be Light

The second incidence was a similar answer to prayer. The children and I were staying in Portland, Washington, while Paul had gone for ministry into Canada. It was winter and very cold. Again, someone had lent me a car to use while I was there. As we got into the car one Sunday evening to go to church and I turned the switch to put the headlights on, nothing happened. I suddenly remembered that the owners had told me not to drive at night as the lights didn’t work and they needed to take it to a mechanic to have them fixed. I said to the children...

“We can’t go. The lights don’t work.”

Again David said “Let’s ask Jesus”. And he did. “Please Lord Jesus, let the lights go on”.

As I turned the light switch again the beam of the lights matched the beam on David’s face. Again, a lesson from the simple faith of a little child. When I shared with the people who owned the car, they were amazed.

These incidents still remind us today of what Jesus said in Matthew 18:2:

"...'I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven'".