SOME YOUNG PEOPLE passed in front of a man they called «The madman.» He was on the ground in an alley, dirty, and holding a book in his hands. He read and wept, read and wept.
«Why are you crying, madman?» the young people asked, roaring with laughter as they noticed that the book was blank. Don’t you see that the book doesn’t say anything?’
«Of course, it does,» replied the old man. «What’s happening is that you didn’t read the title.»
One of the young men grabbed the book from his hands to read: Great Deeds by Humanity in Favor of the Needy. No wonder that man was weeping: the needy are a big part of society that humanity has mostly forgotten. Such a book title could touch anyone.
The needs of this world are enormous. There are people everywhere, even very close to you, who are hungry, cold, and have deep physical, material, and spiritual needs. What will you do about it? Jesus told His disciples: «The harvest truly is plentiful, but the laborers are few» (Matthew 9:37). Thousands of people are waiting for someone to come and show them the love of Jesus in theory and in practice. Even a child can do that.
Razy, a little girl almost eight years old, was seated with her legs crossed one sunny day. While the missionaries of Shikiari were running back and forth taking care of the sick, she was talking to a group of native children who were listening very attentively.
«What did you tell those children?’ I asked her sometime later.
«l told them that Jesus will come soon to take to heaven those who accept being His children. When I finished, they said, ‘l want go heaven. I want go with Jesus too. ‘That day, those little ones gave their hearts to Jesus thanks to the influence of a young girl. Razy will no doubt have a special page in the record books of heaven. What about you? What do you think those books will say about you? Remember that one day you will be judged according to what is written in them.
You know, I would be happy if my page simply said, «Patricia lived to serve.»
«And I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God, and books were opened. And another book was opened, which is the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to their works, by the things which were written in the books» (Revelation 20:12).