103
March, 1938
T H E K I N G ' S B U S I N E S S
Junior King's Business By MARTHA S. HOOKER
THROUGH OPEN W INDOW S By F rances N oble P hair Illustrations by Ransom D. Marvin Just then the baby cried in the house, and the mother turned and went in. She would have been more puzzled if she had seen the little girl under the old apple tree. Jean was curled up in the grass, her elbow on her knee, and her chin resting on her hand as she looked with tear-dimmed eyes into the darkening sky where the beautiful evening star shone clear and bright. “ I wish I could be pure like that star,” whispered the child softly, with trembling lips. “ Oh, if only God would take away my sins and save m e!” The whisper ended in a sob, and the tears fell fast until the mother’s call to the playing children warned her that bedtime had come. Then, carefully wiping away all signs of sorrow, the little girl ran obediently into the house. That winter a visiting preacher came to the church where Jean’s family went on Sunday, and there were special meetings where the quiet father who understood Jean better than did any one else took his little daughter. One night the minister told very clearly how God had laid upon Jesus Christ His Son.all of the sins of the whole world. The punishment that was due us who are sinners Christ Himself bore for us, and He carried our sins all away by giving His life on the cross. And when He rose from the dead, He was G od’s W ay of Salvation to any who would believe what He had done for them and thankfully would accept Him as their own Saviour. That night Jean saw that God was call ing her just to come and accept the Lord Jesus as the Saviour who had suffered for her, her very own Saviour. When the minister said that those who wanted to re ceive Jesus as their Saviour might come forward to the front of the church, this shy little girl bravely put away her fear of people and stood up and walked up to the* front of the crowded church. No one said much to her, and she walked home silently by her father’s side while Emmie chatted happily as she skipped along beside her. As the little girls made ready for bed, Jean was still very quiet, and mischievous Emmie looked with wondering eyes at the little white figure kneeling at their bedside long after she herself was tucked snugly under the covers. Why in the world, she wondered, did Jeannie think she must be “ saved” like bad people when she was the best girl in the school? Why, every one called her “ Good little Jean” ! Emmie simply couldn’t understand, and soon she was fast asleep. But Jean still knelt; she was struggling with a big question. She thought that every
O NCE upon a time The-Lady-from Korea and I climbed to a high hilltop to visit a friend. The friend was not at home, but there stood her lovely new house that we had never seen before. And because she was our friend, and we knew she wanted us to see her new home, we dared to peep through the long windows to see the beautiful living room, and be tween the ruffled curtains into the dainty bedrooms, and then through a long glass door into the gayest little kitchen you ever could hope to see. The-Lady-from-Korea
one who was saved felt sure of it and very happy, and she felt no different than she had before the meeting. What did it mean? Doubts and fears chased through her mind, and then quietly she said, “Jesus said: ‘Him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out,’ and I came and I know He has taken m e!” Then resolutely she blew out the candle and went to sleep. • When morning came Jean jumped hope fully out of bed. Surely she would feel differently now. But it was just the same— the doubts and fears and questions— perhaps she didn’t “ believe” right; maybe she wasn’t old enough to be saved. The tears were ready to start again, for she knew she was a sinner, and surely any one who sinned must have a Saviour. The breakfast bell rang. Choking back a sob, she prayed softly, “ Dear Lord Jesus, You said if X believed You died for me, You would save me ; I believed and You are my Saviour.” That night there was still no change, but bravely the little girl re peated her prayer, and another long day followed— long because Jean’s heart was heavy. The third night the prayer was stronger, “ You said, Lord Jesus, ‘Him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out.’ I’ve come and I’m Yours and You are my Saviour. Thank You, Lord Jesus.” But Emmie who came in after Jean was asleep saw tears on the little girl’s cheek. It was a long, sound sleep, and when Jean wakened a song was singing in her heart, “When we walk with the Lord, In the light of His Word, What a glory He sheds on our way.” Jean jumped out of bed and ran to the window. The sunshine never had seemed so
said that the Kor- eans w o u l d say we were having a good “ sight-see.” T o h a v e a “sight-see” into a beautiful house is very pleasant; you w h o r e a d t h e J u n io r K ing ' s B usiness would enjoy it, too. But it is even more delightful to look
into a beautiful life. So together we will take a “ sight-see” through four little win dows into the life o f a dear little girl who grew up to be a wonderful missionary. The First Window Looks Into the Old Home “Emmie, where is Jeannie?” The figure with the flying skirts and pig tails slowed up just enough as she dashed by the steps to call back to her mother on the porch, “ Under the apple tree!” It was twilight time, the hour when all the neighbor children gathered at the Big House to play hide-and-seek with the many brothers and sisters who lived there. The mother stood on the top step for a moment. “Why,” she wondered to herself, “ does little Jean go so often away from the others and sit alone under the old tree?” Nine-year-old Jean was a shy child, and to her mother it seemed only yesterday that Jean was a tiny girl four years old with a happy little smile and cunning ways— she could see her yet when she spoke her first “ piece” at the school. Frightened at the sea of faces below the platform, Jean had turned her back to them and said, “When the cat’s away, the mice will play.” The mother smiled and sighed, and said softly, “ I wonder whether something is troubling her now. What could trouble her?” she puzzled. “ She is such a good child; every one loves her.”
b rig h t, and the birds seemed to sing more sweetly than she had ever heard them sing before. “ I am saved; I know I’m saved,” her hear t c r i e d h a p p i l y . S h e wanted to laugh and cry and sing and p r a y all at once, but she only and kind-hearted
Emmie rejoiced to see the happy shining of her little sister’s eyes. Jean had learned a wonderful lesson— to believe that God’s Word means just what it says and to rest in that W ord just as she rested her whole weight on the big white bed at night.
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