This morning I received news from a friend in India that a little girl they had been attending in a burn unit, had died in the night. Thankfully, she had trusted Christ while in the hospital. On a visit to her on Tuesday, she was sleeping with her Bible tucked under her pillow. My friend was rejoicing, thinking of this child being welcomed into the arms of Jesus.
That news caused me to reflect upon another dying child in this same city... but many years earlier.
It seems that a little girl was bit by a rabid dog, and lay dying. My pastor friend, then but a youth himself, having led this precious child to a saving knowledge of Christ much earlier, would visit her regularly. On one of her final days, he wept aloud while standing over her bed and praying for her.
She looked up at him, reaching up to take hold of his hand, and said, "Pastor, do not weep for me. I am going to live with Jesus in Heaven. Weep for my family, please! None of them know Christ."
Soon thereafter, she passed on into eternity. Her family marveled at the peace, and the lack of fear at her death. Their religion fosters much fear. And so... because of the LIGHT of Jesus within their child... they asked how they too, could know a Christ who could give such dying peace. The entire family became Christians.
It has been my joy each time I visit India, to fellowship with this little girl's father, now an elderly man, and a deacon in a Baptist Church. He is the second gentleman from the right.
Standing to his right, in the tan polo shirt, you see his grandson, a fine Christian young man, working hard in preparation to become a medical doctor. Their family tree is now full of Christians... because of the faith of that dying child.
