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THE K I N G ’ S B U S I N E S S
February 1925
BIOLA HALL WORK D av id C an t, S u p t.— O ur C it y Mis sion fo r Men in th e c e n te r o f Lo s An gel es . M ee tings co n tin u o u s from 10 a. m. to 10 p. m . N oon-day P ra y e r Me eting. NE recent evening a t th e Fisherm en Club our beloved and honored “Daddy H orton,” as the boys love to call him^joffered to give five copies of th e Gospel of John to whoever would prom ise to use them w ith the definite aim of w inning men to Christ. Some wise man had placed in his hands one hundred dollars to invest in God’s service, and th is was th e w isest way he could suggest for bringing th e biggest retu rn s. Among others the w riter entered th e contest, and the experiences encountered were so very in teresting th a t he decided to publish them for th e encouragement of others as well as for the glory of Him who has prom ised His Word shall not re tu rn void. It would be indeed difficult to dis cover five more distinct and diam etrically different char acters th a n the five men w ith whom we had th e privilege of dealing, to the conversion of th ree and th e resto ration of two who had been wandering in th e w ilderness fo r many years. In looking over our “ catch” we discovered one Japanese, one son from E rin ’s Isle, one apparently a Scan dinavian, one whom we judged was from Scotland, and the la st from our own good old United States. The Japanese was a w aiter by profession; ano th er man was a prodigal son who had spent his all and had cpme to feed on the husks of th e sw ine; the th ird , a husky country lad; the fourth, well-educated and w ith money in his pock ets; while our fifth was a h earty man of sixty-five traveling through California for change and recreation. We have selected out of th is in teresting m aterial th e story of our little lad from Japan. The scene of our encoun te r was the entrance to Biola H all; the time, th e early morning hour where seated a t our desk we could command a view of the entrance by pushing back a few inches of cur tain. W atching thu s we prayed for th e first hum an fly to approach our web. Very soon little Okeo appeared and be came greatly interested in our fro n t window posters. Soon we were greeting him, and w ith a pleasant sm ile he a t once responded to our advances. He was clutching a little card in his hand, and as we put the direct question to him, “Are you saved?” he answered “Me saved? Oh, no, I ’m not saved; no t yet; I only wish I was; I hope to be saved some day. P erhaps I m ight get saved today, for a kind lady gave me th is invitation card to a meeting, and I ’m going up th ere th is afternoon and try to get them to save me.” We assured him in language he could understand th a t “ n eith er in th is mountain nor yet at Jerusalem ” was necessarily the place of salvation. “Don’t you know you could be saved rig h t h ere and now?” This seemed to surprise him , and as we followed it up w ith line upon line and precept upon precept he drank it in as w aters upon th irsty soil. Soon we were on our knees in the little back prayer room, where hundreds have first seen th e light, and th e very moment those knees bent before God, a real deep qonviction of his' own moral uncleanness swept over him. “O Lord, I ’m a bad boy; I smoke cig are ttes; I lie; I steal; I swear” , and, as he continued to go deeper and deeper as the Spirit of God uncovered his h eart, we prayed th a t He who came to seek and to save the lost would then and th ere reveal H imself to this hungry and anxious soul; and sure enough he' got a vision of One wounded for his transgressions, and th e burden of his h eart rolled away! As he rose from his knees he cried, “ Oh, I ’m so happy.” H is arm s flew out and the worker found him self clasped
tightly, all the more astonishing as th e Japanese are not a dem onstrative people. Then came th e cry “ Oh, can’t we sing som ething?” “Surely; w hat would you like to sing?” “The song I learned a t th e P resbyterian Sunday School when I was a little boy.” And tu rn ing over th e leaves he presently came to th a t precious hymn, which we sang together: “ I can h ea r my Savior calling, ‘Take thy cross and follow, follow Me’.” He was ju st a young man, in his tw en tieth year, working in a little cheap Chop Suey re sta u ra n t in the Japanese quar te r fo r a meager sum, probably hardly more th a n enough to pay for his little close quarters, and his bowl of rice and fish. All he knew was th a t he was the sinner for whom Jesus died. He had come all the way over, as a baby, to the land of th e brave and th e home of th e free; his life was narrow and sordid and weary; monotonous toil was his daily portion, bu t God had graciously opened his h e a rt to th e tender wooings of His blessed Spirit, and he had quickly responded. To the passerby on Main stree t who caught the sound of our voices singing God’s praises it m eant nothing, bu t “up th ere,”-=w ho can estim ate its preciousness! Taking th e Gospel of John, he w rote his name, th e date, and those special verses giving assurance. A nother hearty hand grasp and he started home to w itness to and win the little bride who had come into his life b u t two months before, and in all th e joy of his first love, can we doubt but what she also will ere long join us in th a t dear old hymn. O many experiences in th e Seamen’s W ork are quite in teresting th a t often it is a problem to decide which we will let our readers enjoy, but we know th a t you will enjoy th e following: In our visiting of the vessels as soon as we are on board we generally begin w ith the captain and th en from him go to the officers, engineers, firemen, galley men and sailors, but on th is p articu lar ship we reversed the order. It was a European boat and th e men had ju st finished th e ir noon meal. A fter d istribu ting lite ra tu re and talk ing w ith some of the firemen we entered the mess room where th e two mess boys were finishing th e ir meal and beginning to clear th e tables. S itting down on th e bench and offering some literatu re, we were attracted by th e ir atten tio n and in terest, so felt sure God was going to give us fruit. We always endeavor to be tactfu l in our approach and conversation but never beat around the bush. We let men know we are m issionaries and are th e re to ta lk about eter n ity and the way to eternal life if they wish it. A fter some little tim e over the Word one of th e lads saw his need, God’s provision for th a t need, and accepted Him who was th e provision. The issue being decided by himself, he then helped us to more fully explain it to his companion, not so well versed in the English language. Rejoicing in th e work of th e Prince of Peace, we then started to en ter th e officers’ saloon, when one of th e Jun io r Officers came running and almost upset us in his effort to stop us. We were quite surprised a t such treatm en t, be cause officers on foreign vessels, even though not Christians or even sympathetic, are gentlem en and tre a t us as such; bu t we learned from one of the U. S. Customs Officers th a t th e ir P rince was on th is ship and having a party. He assured us th a t the Prince himself was a fine fellow and no SEAMEN’S DEPARTMENT Cla ude H . P earso n , S u p t.— O ur W o rk ers b o a rd all v essels in th e p o S an P ed ro , hold ing Go spe l S ervic es an d D istrib u tin g L ite ra tu re .
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