The Collection Plate (a must read)

Every time I read this, I get teary-eyed at the end!

                            — Evangelist Joe Collins

The Collection Plate (a must read) 

Here is a true story about a nine year old boy who lived in a rural town in Tennessee.   His house was in a poor area of the community. A church had a bus ministry that came knocking on his door one afternoon. The kid came to answer the door and greeted the bus pastor. The bus pastor asked if his parents were home and the small boy told him that his parents take off every weekend and leave him at home to take care of his little brother. The bus pastor couldn’t believe what the kid said and asked him to repeat it. The youngster gave the same answer and the bus pastor asked to come in and talk with him. They went into the living room and sat down on an old couch with the foam and springs exposed.

The bus pastor asked the kid, ‘Where do you go to church? The young boy surprised the visitor by replying, ‘I’ve never been to church in my whole life.’

The bus pastor thought to himself about the fact that his church was less than three miles from the child’s house. ‘Are you sure you have never been to church?’ he asked again. ‘I sure haven’t’, came his answer. Then the bus pastor said, Well, son, more important than going to church, have you ever heard the greatest love story ever told?’ and then he proceeded to share the Gospel with this little nine year old boy. The young lad’s heart began to be tenderized and at the end of the bus pastor’s story the bus pastor asked if the boy wanted to receive this free gift from God.

The youngster exclaimed, ‘You bet!’ The kid and the bus pastor got on their knees and the lad invited Jesus into his little heart and received the free gift of salvation. They both stood up and the bus pastor asked if he could pick the kid up for church the next morning. ‘Sure,’ the nine old replied.

The bus pastor got to the house early the next morning and found the lights off. He let himself in and snaked his way through the house and found the little boy asleep in his bed. He woke up the little boy and his brother and helped get them dressed. They got on the bus and ate a donut for breakfast on their way to church. Keep in mind that this boy had never been to church before. The church was a real big one. The little kid just sat there, clueless of what was going on.

A few minutes into the service these tall unhappy guys walked down to the front and picked up some wooden plates. One of the men prayed and the kid with utter fascination watched them walk up and down the aisles. He still didn’t know what was going on. All of a sudden like a bolt of lightning it hit the kid what was taking place. These people must be giving money to Jesus. He then reflected on the free gift of life he had received just twenty-four hours earlier. He immediately searched his pockets, front and back, and couldn’t find a thing to give Jesus. By this time the offering plate was being passed down his aisle and with a broken heart he just grabbed the plate and held on to it. He finally let go and watched it pass on down the aisle. He turned around to see it passed down the aisle behind him. And then his eyes remained glued on the plate as it was passed back and forth, back and forth all the way to the rear of the sanctuary. Then he had an idea.

This little nine year old boy, in front of God and everybody, got up out of his seat. He walked about eight rows back, grabbed the usher by the coat and asked to hold the plate one more time. Then he did the most astounding thing I have ever heard of. He took the plate, sat it on the carpeted church floor and stepped into the center of it. As he stood there, he lifted his little head up and said, ‘Jesus, I don’t have anything to give you today, but just me. I give you me!’

I do love Jesus. He is my source of existence and my Savior. He keeps me functioning each and everyday. Without Him, I will be nothing. Without Him, I am nothing. With Him I can do all things.
Phil 4:13

NAILS DIDN’T HOLD JESUS TO THE CROSS. LOVE DID!

” Are You God’s Wife? “

An eye witness account from New York City :

On a cold day in December, some years ago: A little boy, about 10-years-old, was standing before a shoe store on the roadway, barefooted, peering through the window, and shivering with cold.  A lady approached the young boy and said, ‘My, but you’re in such deep thought staring in that window!’

‘I was asking God to give me a pair of shoes, ‘was the boy’s reply.

The lady took him by the hand, went into the store, and asked the clerk to get half a dozen pairs of socks for the boy. She then asked if he could give her a basin of water and a towel. He quickly brought them to her.

She took the little fellow to the back part of the store and, removing her gloves, knelt down, washed his little feet, and dried them with the towel, by this time, the clerk had returned with the socks. Placing a pair upon the boy’s feet, she purchased him a pair of shoes.  She tied up the remaining pairs of socks and gave them to him. She patted him on the head and said, ‘No doubt, you will be more comfortable now.’  As she turned to go, the astonished kid caught her by the hand, and looking up into her face, with tears in his eyes, asked her,

“Are you God’s wife?”