Near the turn of the 19th to the 20th-century, tent revivals were popular and swept across America. This is the story about a young man and his encounter with one of those tent evangelists - not in a tent, but in an unusual place.
The young man’s name was Joey. Joey came from a well-to-do family in a mid-sized town in the Midwest. He was an only son, growing up in a large house with a loving, Christian mother and a stern disciplinarian father. As Joey grew into adulthood, he began to rebel under his father's rules - as happens with most teenagers. He began to drink, causing his father's anger to flare up with all the ensuing arguments that resulted. Another result was his mother's heartache and despair as she watched her loving son'sand her husband’s relationship deteriorate. And she began to pray - incessantly, earnestly, day and night
But as what happens to many of us in our Christian walk, she became perplexed as the condition grew worse - as her son became an adult he clearly had become an alcoholic and her husband completely turned his back on their son. But she continued to pray unceasingly. Many a night, Joey would come home in the dark almost blind drunk and he would look up at the parlor window, and there, he would see his mother's silhouette on the window shade, kneeling on her knees praying her heart and soul out to Jesus Christ. He'd try to sneak in, but it was of course, useless. She'd hear him, and would come to the door to help him in as he'd stagger through the house. She would guide him to the bathroom where she'd clean off his shirt, his skin and hair from the vomit that would be on him. And, though he never admitted it, he was very ashamed of what he was doing and what he had become.
After one particularly bad night, Joey came in the door, fell against a nightstand - breaking an expensive vase, and then staggered into the kitchen where he proceeded to break plates and glasses. His mother came in and began picking up the pieces with no complaint or harsh words, tears streaming down her face. And right behind her walked the father. This, to him, was the last straw. He told her that the "bum" had to go - that Joey was no longer his son, and he never wanted to see him again. She pleaded and pleaded with her husband, begging him to relent. But he wanted Joey out of the house.
She asked him that if she could find a place for Joey, and would take care of him if that would be all right. Her husband’s reply was that he didn't care, as long as Joey never came into the house ever again.
The next day, the mother went out back behind the house to the old, unused chicken coop. And she began to clean. The old, hard manure was two feet thick but she scooped every bit of it out and hauled it away. She scrubbed the floor, the walls and the ceiling. Then she carried an old headboard, slats, bed springs and mattress out to the chicken house by herself, as well as a dresser and mirror. She put a washstand in there as well. The whole time, Joey lay in the house in a semi-drunken stupor, vaguely aware of what she was doing. He'd heard his father’s words and he agreed in his heart that he was a bum, a no-good-for-nothing. He believed his father's opinion was right in many ways because he still had deep respect for him – as well as for his mother. And he was also filled with shame for the pain he had caused his mother.
When she was done cleaning and re-arranging the chicken house, she tiredly trudged up the stairs to his room and quietly told him that he had to leave, but he had a place to stay.She would still get him food, but he could no longer come into the house. And so Joey left the house he'd grown up in, to live in a chicken house - a place that still smelled of chicken manure, for no matter how much his mother cleaned it, it would never completely be rid of the stench. He lived there for several months.
One day, his mother heard about a famous evangelist who was coming to town. She prayed more than ever to the Lord that maybe this man would be the answer to her prayer - her son recovered, he and his father reconciled, and peace in the family once again. So she went to the revival meetings and afterwards would try to talk to the evangelist but he was always surrounded by so many people and she was so timid that she almost gave up. But the last night he was supposed to be in town, she became emboldened and stood before him and told her story, begging him to come see her son. He agreed.
The next day, the evangelist came striding down the street, turned into the driveway and walked past the house and straight back to the chicken house without any hesitation. He was on a mission from the Lord to save a lost soul. He pushed the door open and saw this bedraggled, sorry excuse of a man laying half-drunk, sprawled out on an unmade, filthy bed. He walked over to the washstand and dresser and began throwing bottles of booze on the floor. Liquor spread across the wooden floor and bits of broken glass lay there as he then began to shake Joey awake.
"Young man! Wake up! I'm here to talk to you about God. I'm here to tell you about the love of Jesus Christ for you. You're destroying a life that is in sin and I've prayed about this and I know that the Lord can save you and make you a whole, complete man again."
Joey sat up, and began to scoff and swear at the preacher. "Jesus!! I don't believe in Jesus. If He were here, I'd tell Him a thing or two. In fact, I'd call Him a @#&*%! to His face. I don't believe Jesus even exists!"
The preacher was stunned into momentary silence. Then he said, "Well, if you don't believe in Jesus, then maybe you believe in God the Father!"
Joey yelled back, "I don't believe in the Father either. He's a @#%&* too!"
Undaunted, the evangelist said, "Well, I know that the Holy Spirit is with you. Surely you know the Holy Spirit has touched your heart at times."
Joey again responded with more profanity and anger.
The preacher then said, "What about Love? Do you believe that love exists?"
Joey reared up his angry head and opened his mouth with another bitter retort on his lips, when a thought - a memory - came back to him.
In his mind's eye, he saw a shadow of a woman on a nightshade, kneeling in prayer. He could hear his mother's voice pleading for him, night after night. He heard her begging with his father. He saw his mother scooping chicken manure with a shovel, down on her knees scrubbing the floor and walls; then singlehandedly, carrying his bed and furniture, to the shed. All the memories of her taking care of him, always loving him, swept through his mind.
And he had to respond honestly, with a whisper. "Yes, preacher, I do believe in the existence of love."
Then, to Joey's astonishment, he saw this evangelist in his nicely-pressed suit, suddenly drop to the booze-drenched floor on his knees, lift his hands towards the ceiling and begin to pray fervently, "LOVE, come down to this young man. Show him your existence. Change his heart and soul and make him a new man! Love, he needs you; he needs you to enter his heart!"
Joey grabbed the man's shirt in both hands and yelled at him, "Are you crazy!? How can you pray to love? Love's not a person you can pray to!! What are you doing?!"
And the preacher looked at Joey, with a tender smile, and tears falling down his cheeks said, "Son, don't you know? Don't you understand? Love is God, for God is love. His existence and love are revealed in the lives of others - and I know you've seen it shown in the life and love of your own dear mother."
Suddenly like a bright bold of lightning on a pitch dark night, light flooded Joey's mind and the Holy Spirit reached into his darkened heart and soul and he knew then that God did exist, that God did love Him. With tears streaming down his face, he fell onto the floor on his knees, and with his pant legs becoming soaked by the now repulsive liquor, he poured out his heart, mind and soul to God in prayer and accepted Jesus Christ as his personal Savior. He became a new man that day; he walked back into that house, asked forgiveness of his parents and a new chance with his father, and rejoiced at the sight of his mother's tears changing from sorrow to joy as she realized the answer to her prayers - a miracle from God.
It wasn't so much the preacher's words that changed that young man - though the Lord used them to reach Joey's mind - no, it was the love of his mother that did that. Her love was God's love in action. His love and grace never gives up, never stops pleading, never stops working. Have you someone you're praying for? Never give up, never stop loving and never stop pleading - for God always answers fervent, heartfelt, honest prayers.
In Christ,
Weylin
1 Cross
+ 3 Nails
= 4 given
Keep your eye on the Eastern sky. "For as the lightning comes from the east and flashes to the west, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be." Matthew 24:27
