Butterfly

The Butterfly Effect

A number of years ago, in a London church, the Sunday morning service was about to close when a stranger rose and said, "Excuse me Pastor, can I share something with the congregation?" The Pastor looked at his watch and said,” You’ve got three minutes."

"I've just moved into this area," the man related. "I come originally from Sydney in Australia, and just a few months ago I was back visiting some relatives there, and as I was walking down George Street, a strange-looking white-haired man, stepped out of a shop doorway, put a pamphlet in my hand and said, "Excuse me sir, are you saved? If you die tonight are you going to Heaven?" I was astounded at those words. No one had ever asked me that. I thanked him courteously, but all the way back to Heathrow Airport this question puzzled me. I then called with a friend, and, thank God, he was a Christian. He led me to Christ, and now that I'm a Christian, I want to fellowship here. Everyone applauded and welcomed him into the fellowship.

That very same Pastor happened to be flying out to Adelaide that week. During a series of meetings there, a woman came to him for counselling and he wanted to first find out if she was a Christian. "I used to live in Sydney." she told him, "and just a couple of months back I was visiting friends there. As I did some last minute shopping down George Street, a strange little elderly white-haired man stepped out of a shop doorway, offered me a pamphlet and said. "Excuse me ma'am, are you saved? If you die tonight are you going to Heaven?' Those words disturbed me. When I got back to Adelaide, I sought out the Pastor from a church I know and I became a Christian." This London minister was now very impressed! Twice within a fortnight he had heard the same story.

Next he flew to preach in Perth. After he had concluded his engagements there, a friend took him out for a meal. During their conversation, the Pastor asked his friend how he became a Christian. "I grew up in the church from the age of fifteen, through the Boys' Brigade. I never made a commitment to Jesus, but because of my business ability. I grew up to occupy a place of influence. I was on a business outing in Sydney just three years ago when an obnoxious, spiteful, little man stepped out of a shop doorway, offered me a religious pamphlet—cheap junk (as I then thought)—and accosted me with a question," Excuse me sir, are you saved? If you die tonight are you going to Heaven?' I tried to tell him I was a church elder, but he wouldn't listen to me. I was seething with anger all the way back to Perth. I told my Pastor, thinking he would sympathise with me, but he agreed! He said he had been disturbed for me for years, believing that I hadn't a real faith. He was right."

On his return home, this Pastor spoke at the Keswick Convention. In his message he related these three stories. At the end of his meeting two elderly pastors came up to him, and, to his amazement, shared how they had been saved between twenty-five and. thirty-five years previously through that little man on George Street giving them a tract and asking them a question!

The following week he flew out to a missionary Convention in the Caribbean. Again he shared these stories; and, at the close, three missionaries came up and said that they too had been saved between fifteen and twenty-five years previously through that little man's asking the same question on George Street in Sydney!

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