John was a little boy who lived with his father and mother. They were all Christians and they were very happy. As time went by. The father earned much money. The family had more nice clothes to wear. And lots of food. It was very good to live this way.
But the father began to forget how God had blessed him. It was really too bad. But sometimes that is what happens when God especially blesses people. After a while the father took another wife. He knew he should not do this. But he did not care anymore.
This made John very sad. What can i do. He thought. Sometimes he would lie awake at night and think and think. I am so afraid to talk to father. What can i say. He would ask himself. Then one day he thought of a plan. He had gone to school for a while and had learned how to write. I will write letters letters to father.
He decided. Maybe he will decide to be a Christian again. So John wrote letters to his father. But his father would not read the letters. He just piled them all in a corner. Still John wrote letters. Eight long years went by. John was still praying for his father. Father's second wife left him. His other wife died.
That was John's mother. How sad John felt. Maybe father will love God now. Thought John. But his father married another woman and was just as bad as ever. One day father became very sick. No one at the dispensary knew what sickness was. They said. You must go to a big hospital at once.
Do not wait. You are very sick. John went with his father and a driver to the hospital. They must hurry very fast. But on the way the car went into a river. They could not get it out. Some people came and helped them. But after they got out. The driver could not get the car srarted.
Poor father. He was becoming sicker and sicker and sicker. John was praying very hard. Oh. God. Do not let father die. He said over and over again. At last an ambulance came by. But it was going the other way. I cannot take you now. I will take you when i come back. The ambulance driver said.
And all the while the father was getting worse and worse. Then the ambulance returned. And hurried him to the hospital. But the doctor was not there. Some other people worked to try to keep father alive until the doctor could come. Then the doctor came. We must operate on you right now. Said the doctor.
And thatbis what they did. Father lived. After the operation he had a long time to lie in bed and get well. He had much time to think too. He thought about how he had forgotten God and gone far away from him. Maybe God does not want me since i have been so bad. He thought.
But no. God took care of me when i almost died. Maybe God loves me anyway. Then he thought about the letters that John had written to him. He asked someone to bring them to him. He opened one and read it. Then he opened another. And another. And another. My. There were so many of them. The longer he read those letters.
The more he wanted to be a Christian again. How he loved John. How he loved God. One day father said. I have gone far from God. But now. I want to come back to him. I want to be baptized again. I am going to join the church again. I am going to be a Christian. Now father is a church elder away out in a little church in Tanzania.
And John is one of the happiest boys anywhere. So, boys and girls. If you have a mother or father or a brother or sister who is not a Christian. Do not become discouraged. For maybe someday if you keep on praying and working. That person will love God. Too. You see. God loves that person more than you do. And God will use many ways to show lost people that he really cares.
