Salvation Story

After a few of the usual Sunday evening hymns,

the church's pastor slowly stood up, walked over to the pulpit

and, before he gave his  sermon for the evening, briefly introduced

a guest minister who  was in  the service that evening. In the

introduction, the pastor told the  congregation that the guest

minister was one of his dearest childhood  friends and that he

wanted him to have a few moments to greet the  church and share

whatever he felt would be appropriate for the service.

With that, an elderly man stepped up to the pulpit and began to

speak,   "A father, his son, and a friend of his  son were sailing

off the Pacific Coast," he began, "when a fast  approaching storm

blocked any attempt to get back to shore. The waves were so high,

that even though the father was an experienced  sailor,  he could not

keep the boat upright and the three were swept into the ocean  as

the boat capsized."

The old man hesitated for a moment, making eye contact with two

teenagers who were, for the first time since the  service began,

looking  somewhat interested in his story. The aged minister

continued with his story, "Grabbing a rescue line, the father

had to make the most excruciating decision of his life: to which

boy he  would throw the other end of the life line. He only had

seconds to make the  decision. The father knew that his son was

a Christian and he also  knew that his son's friend was not.

The agony of his decision could not be matched by the

torrent of waves.    "As the father yelled out, 'I love you, son!'

he threw out the life line to his  son's friend. By the time the father

had pulled the friend back to the  capsized boat, his son had disappeared

beneath  the raging swells into  the black of night. His body was never recovered."

By this time, the two teenagers were sitting up straight in the pew,

anxiously waiting for the next words to come out of the old minister's

mouth.

"The father," he continued, "knew his son would step into eternity

with Jesus and he could not bear the thought of his son's

friend stepping into an eternity without Jesus. Therefore, he

sacrificed   his son to save the son's friend. How great is

the love of God that He   should do the same for us.  Our heavenly

Father sacrificed His only begotten Son that we could be saved.

I urge you to accept His offer to rescue you and take a hold of the

lifeline.   He is throwing out to you in this service."

With that, the old man turned and sat back down in his

chair as silence filled the  room.

The pastor again walked slowly to the pulpit and delivered a brief

sermon  with an invitation at the end. However, no one

responded to  the  appeal.

Within minutes after the service ended, the two teenagers were at the

old man's side. "That was a nice story," politely started one of the

boys,  "but I don't think it was very  realistic for a father to give up his

only son's life  in hopes that  the other boy would become a Christian."

"Well, you've got a point there," the old man replied, glancing down

at  his worn  Bible. A big smile broadened his narrow face, he once again

looked  up  at the boys and said, "It sure isn't very realistic, is it?  But I'm

standing here today to tell you that story gives me a glimpse of what it must

have  been like for God to give up His Son for me.

You see... I was that father and your pastor is my son's friend."