Joe McKeever

In Heaven, People Will Be Coming Up To You

Peanut was crying as Bryan led him home. He had been misbehaving and refusing to cooperate with the teenagers leading the backyard Bible club -- a shortened form of vacation Bible school -- so as the leaders had warned, Peanut was not allowed to stay. Minister of Students Bryan Harris had him by the hand, leading him up the sidewalk toward the humble house where he lived.

"Please, Mister Bryan," Peanut begged. "Don't take me home. If you take me home, my mama will notch me. Please don't take me home."

Bryan knew Peanut from other excursions into this poor section of Columbus, Mississippi, known familiarly as Frog Bottom. The child was always in trouble, never wanted to cooperate, and caught enough reprimands for a dozen children. He was poor, but all the children were poor. Today, Peanut was wearing nothing but a pair of raggedy cutoffs that came almost to the knees.

Through his tears, he said, "If you take me home, my mama will notch me."

Bryan said, "I don't understand. What do you mean 'notch me'? Whatis that?"

Peanut said, "She cuts my leg." He pulled his left pants leg up a few inches and Bryan saw something that shocks him to this day. Three parallel scars ran across Peanut's leg, each 2 inches long and perhaps ½" deep. Peanut's mother had been carving flesh out of this child to punish him.

Bryan knelt down and gave the little boy a hug. He said, "Peanut, I love you. And I want you to know that God loves you. Now, you still have to go home, but I will tell your mother not ever to notch you again." Bryan let the mother know that she could be arrested for child abuse for what she was doing to her son, and that he would see that she went to jail if she ever did it again. That was 1980.

Three years ago, Bryan Harris -- now living in California and pastoring the North Salinas Baptist Church -- received a Christmas card from Kentucky. The name and return address were unfamiliar. Inside he read the following: "Mister Bryan, I've asked our people to write Christmas cards to people who have been the biggest encouragements in their lives, and that's why I'm writing you. I have never forgotten the things you told me the day I had to leave the backyard Bible club. After high school, I went on to Grambling University, and to Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky. I'm now pastoring a church outside Louisville, and I just wanted to thank you." The letter was signed, "Pastor Thomas James." Underneath he had written, "Little Peanut."

The old gentleman sitting on the plane beside Pastor Perry Sanders was sharing his story. "Years ago," he began, "I was in sales traveling the highways of South Carolina. Lost and miserable. One day I picked up a college student who was hitchhiking. He told me about what Jesus Christ had done for me and asked me if I didn't want to receive Him as my Savior. I pulled the car over and prayed, asking Jesus to forgive my sins and to come into my heart and save me. That was a long time ago, but I've been serving the Lord ever since."

Perry Sanders said, "That's a great story. But do you remember where you let that college student out?" "Yes," the old man said, "He got out at Bamberg."

Perry said, "Sir, I'm that boy. I was a student at Bob Jones College, hitchhiking back and forth to my parents' home in Bamberg every weekend. I always tried to witness to the person who gave me a ride."

In Heaven, they will be coming up to you saying, "Do you remember the time you spoke to me about Jesus?" Or prayed for me. Or gave that offering. Or brought us groceries. Or taught that lesson to our class. Or hugged me and told me you loved me. Or paid my tuition.

You did it and went on, and you may not even remember it now. But God used it to change someone's life. As a result of your faithfulness, people are making an eternal difference on this earth. In Heaven, you will meet them. You will see what a prayer can do. What love can do. What an offering given in Jesus's name can accomplish. What one life can mean.

So, go ahead. Give it your best shot. Don't bother about keeping score. There is One above looking down who keeps up with things like that. Just go forth and love others in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. It's the most powerful force in the world.