The rest of the hospital visit

We arrived at one station where an old gentleman lay weak and weary on his sickbed. It was my turn to pray aloud, and as I prayed for him, I felt moved to ask God to please send this gentleman someone soon who could share the Gospel with him in his own language.

“Amen,” I concluded, and rose from where I’d knelt by the bed. “John,” Mr. Joe said, “How about if Leah and I move on to other sick folks while you stay behind and give this man the Gospel?” It was obviously outside of John’s comfort zone, but he manfully rose to the challenge and stayed to talk with the sick man while we went on, half of my mind praying for the people we met, and half of my mind praying for John and for the heart of the gentleman with whom he was sharing.

“So how did it go?” we asked John as we left the ward. “It went well,” he rejoiced. “I told him that we were in the hospital not because of any benefit we hoped to get for ourselves, but because we served One Who said to visit the sick and love our neighbors as ourselves. Then I gave him the Gospel, and he said he wanted to believe in Jesus.” “So did you pray with him to accept Christ?” we asked eagerly. “No, I forgot,” he said. “That was a mistake I made.” “It’s not too late!” we urged him. “You can go back and pray with him now! We’ll pray for you as you do so.” He did, and we did, and he came back out glowing…because he’d just led his very first soul to Christ! =D