1» Evangelistic Department IN T E R E S T IN G STO R IE S from R E A L EX P ER IEN C E Im A S T O L D B Y B I B L E I N S T I T U T E W O R K E R S m Great Widening of Opportunity
men, worker and inquirer, are alone, the sailor will “open up his heart”; but if the sailor thinks the. Gospel bearer is a “professional” he will continue to jest and make fun and “shut up like a clam”. Judging from many who openly talk of their life we feel that even if no real result of salvation has as yet come to pass, God is working, and will He not finish the work begun by Him self? It was our joy to see a man in an open meeting drink in the message and then finally put up his hand'to say he was ready to accept Christ and that, right in public—an open confession which must give joy to Christ. A Chinese boy, one of many we meet, was homeward bound to his native land. He was to leave in a short time. The hour for sailing of the vessel was fast approaching. A few more minutes, anti the heavy ropes or “lines” holding the vessel would be released, leaving the ship free to obey the commands of the master to sail out of port. He was look ing back to his sojourn here, and for ward to the future before him and he had nothing of Christ to look back to nor Christ in glory to look forward to. A stranger he was in a strange land, and no one seemed to care for his soul; yet, guided by the Holy Spirit, the worker approached this fellow and at once raised the issue of eternity. Before the ship left, after a good conversation and pointing the soul to the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world, yes, even the sin of a Chinese boy-*-- this fellow accepted Christ. Work aboard Sj ship is fascinating. Fancy yourself placed all of a sudden in a Japanese home and hearing the man sitting beside you in the cabin tell you
Day after day answers to prayers have come and in many instances big problems have been solved in that ef fective way. The work is growing and even now while you read HARBOR this, a great fleet, perhaps WORK half of the modern fleet of the United States, is on its way to this coast. While many are busy preparing to welcome the fleet, entertain the men, etc., this worker is praying that wisdom may be given him to present the Gospel to the thousands of men. In eternity only things of God which have been done amongst these men will stand. What should be the attitude of every Chris tian in this but to realize that ours is a remarkable opportunity and responsi bility? In speaking to a group of men one can “read” faces and tell how the mes sage is received. Seamen, as a rule, how ever, can hide their emotion better than any other people excepting, perhaps, the Indians. The life, where one is shut up to one’s self so much of the time, makes a sailor a better thinker and reader than a talker. To conceal one’s real feeling is almost an art with the sailor and it is very refreshing in the course of conversation with a “salt” to se,e him shed his outer shell and “warm up” to the Gospel message. Time after time we had the privilege of having men bare their innermost secrets. Working with sailors one learns to know what their first questioning glance means, followed perhaps by jests and laughs and ridicule. They only want to find out whether or not the bearer of the message is real. If so, and both
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