Once there was a little boy who lived in a rural community with his mother, father and younger brother. This family was not affiliated with any church, and rarely attended religious services of any kind. In the summer, some neighbor children would invite this little boy and his younger brother to go with them to VBS at the church of Christ in the city. “Going to church” was a new and exciting experience for this little third-grade boy, and he would stand at the end of his driveway waiting for the neighbors to come by and pick him up. When the neighbor’s station wagon stopped at his house, there would already be several other children in the car who had also been invited.

When this little boy first heard the story of Jesus from a sweet, God-fearing woman, and when he first learned of and sang about the preciousness of the B-I-B-L-E, it was a life-molding occurrence. As the week of Bible classes came to a close, this little boy and his brother would plead with their parents to take them to “church” the following Sunday. Sometimes their parents would take them, sometimes not. But the neighbors kept calling each summer for the next few years. And the station wagon would always be filled with eager children. For the little third-grade boy, this week of VBS would be his “church” for the year.

The pleading, however, finally paid off. The little boy’s mother began attending the services of the church in their rural community each Sunday, and the little boy was able to go to Bible classes. Before very long, the mother obeyed the gospel and became a Christian.

Where are the neighbor children now who invited the little boy and his brother to VBS? They are both faithful members of the church, married with children of their own. Where are the parents who picked up countless numbers of neighborhood children and diligently brought them to Bible School? The father now serves as a faithful elder in that church. What became of the godly woman who first taught that little boy about Jesus? Though aged, she is still just as sweet and godly, and has exercised the same good influence over numbers of other children.
The little third-grade boy’s mother is still faithful to the Lord, attending the same congregation where she became a Christian. The little boy’s brother is a faithful Christian, serving as a deacon.

And the little boy himself? Well, he became a Christian at age 14, and now preaches for the Lord’s Church, where he is trying his best to find other little boys and girls, men and women, who will listen to the story of Jesus! And that little boy was the man who wrote this piece. [-Adapted, Mark White]