TOO BAD THEY NEGLECTED JOE

A few days back I chanced to read a statement that ought to make all of us weep. It went like this: "Drop a coin on a sidewalk and almost every eye will follow it, but drop a needy child in a community and very few will pay any attention."

Here is a story to support the above statement. The story is true, tragically true. A little guy named Joe had polio that left him crippled. No one paid any attention to him until one day someone took him to Sunday School. But his teacher neglected him, and the other children made fun of him. Some avoided him because he was crippled. Because of this, little Joe became soured on the church and later bitter. He at last came to hate the church and the Lord Jesus Christ. He hated all Christians, too. But he was determined to succeed and continued in school, finally earning his doctorate from Heidelberg University. One day a man with a Charlie Chaplin mustache and delusions of grandeur put his arm around the shoulder of little Joe and said, "Joseph, I think a lot of you. You and I could do much together." The young fellow responded warmly to this welcome attention and encouragement. In time Joseph Goebbels became the propaganda minister for Germany under Adolph Hitler!

I wonder what might have happened if that Sunday School teacher had shown love to little Joe and led him to saving faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. You know, almost any child can be won to the Lord, if we get to him in time and love him. If this had happened, Joseph Goebbels might have become a minister of the Nazarene instead of the Nazis!

What about the "Little Joes" in our community? In our city? Let's get them in our Sunday School and love them to Jesus Christ!

~~~W. L. Castlen