201
June, 1944
The Magic Slate By EVELYN M. McCLUSKY
S O YOU like to talk?” asked the little traveler in lower eleven as the train pulled out o f.thé station. He was a little fellow in a sailor suit, and he was very busy adjusting the packages -which he, his mother, and little sister would be needing* on their long trip. His little sister wanted a drink, so his mother took her to get one. “I’ve never been on a train before in my whole life!” ' he announced to the passenger across the aisle. "Have you? . . . Oh, you have? Then where do we,sleep? I don’t see any room for a bed in .here.” “ It’s ail folded away above your head there, and when it is time to make your bed, the porter w ill’ unlock the place, and it will come down on hinges,” explained the lady. “W ill everybody see me go to bed, and see me sleep?” “No, there will be green curtains to make a little room for you.” “You know about beds on trains, don’t you? Do you want me to come over and talk to you? I like to talk. I think I’d better get over there with you right now, before Mother comes back. She might think you wouldn’t want me, hut you do, don’t you?” “ I’d love to have you. Come right over.” “I’m six, and my name’s Bobby,” he said as he sat down beside his new friend. “ I’m going to have a birth day the very day we get into Chicago. That is the day we will meet my daddy. He is in the . . . guess what?” “Because of your suit. You want to be like your daddy. Have you ever had your birthday into God’s family so you’ll want to be like Jesus?” “Oh! Don’t talk ‘about that.” “Why not?” “ Because Mother doesn’t allow me.” “Doesn’t allow you to speak of Jesus?” exclaimed the lady. “Why, Jesus is God’s Son who made a longer trip than you will make. He came all the way from heaven to die for you. He died for me, too. I love Him for that, and for giving me everlasting life. If anything should happen to my body, •I’d go right straight to be with Jesus.” ' “Say! Do you mean if a German or a Jap shot you that you’d go right to be with God?” “ I certainly do.” “ In the Navy, of course!” “ How could you guess?”
“Well!” gasped Bobby as he flopped back against the seat. “That’s what I have been wanting to know about.” Then the traveler drew out a Bible. “What’s that?” “ A Bible. Have you. ever seen one' before?” ? “No. But Jean said that her mother reads it all tjie time.” “Who’s Jean?” “ She’s the little new girl that moved into the apartment house where we were. She sings about Jesus and knows verses. She knows ‘God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son . . .’ Say! Is that what you’re talking about?” “Exactly.” With this, the lady took from her handbag a magic slate, and quickly drew a cirelp on it. “This circle,” she explained, “ is marked with a ‘D’ for death, and every one who is ever born on this earth is in this Circle of death. There is only one way out. There is one Door—Jesus.” “Oh, I know! Jean sings a song about ‘One door and only 6ne.’ Is that what you mean?” “Yes, it is” his Companion agreed. Then she continued, “ You See this lit tle door has the cross i in the middle of it.” “ Is that the cross where Jesus was?” - “ Yes, He died there for you, Bobby. You see, Satan is the one who keeps boys and girls and men and women in the circle of death. But when Christ died, He became the Door out of the death circle. If you will take Him as your Saviour, you will come out of the circle, and through the Door into everlasting l i f e ; and there is nothing Satan can do about it.” “Then Satan will never get me again?” “No. Christ arose from the dead. He lives, and will take care of you for ever.” “W ill Jesus fight Satan for me?” “ Yes, He will,” the lady assured him. “Would you like to bow your head right now, and tell Jesus you want Him to.be your Saviour, and to take you out of the circle of death?”
“ I think I would,” answered Bobby. And right there in the train he bowed his head, and asked Jesus to save him. Then he-was so happy he jumped up and clapped his hands. By this time his mother and little sister were back in the seat which he had left. “I hope, Bobby, you are not visiting already,” his mother said anxiously. “You mustn’t bother the lady.” “Mother,” he asked as he crossed the aisle to her side, “ did you know that Jesus loved me so much He died for me?” His mother was puzzled. “Wait, I’ll show you,” he promised. He asked the lady whether he might borrow the magic slate. When she said, “Of course you may,” he took it> and eagerly drew the circle with the one Door for his mother to see. He told her all that he knew about the Lord'Jesus Christ-.
For all the rest of his journey he was busy going through the big train coaches, and drawing the circle for the passengers. He told them how they could get out of the circle of death by going through the Door into everlast ing life. Bobby had become a missionary for the Lord Jesus. Junior King's Business By M ARTHA S. HOOKER Member o f Faculty Bible Institute of Los Angeles
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