54 - An Abundant Entrance

EARLY SATURDAY MORNING, July 5, 1930, Mrs. Robinson received an air-mail, special-delivery letter from Pastor and Mrs. Rudolph Kalis in Elizabeth, N. J. It contained an urgent request for prayer for a young man, Walter, whose back had been broken in five places as a result of diving into shallow water during a Fourth of July outing. Hos­pitalized, Walter was made to feel by the doctors that soon he would be well again. They told the family, however, quite a different story: his hours were numbered. Faced with such a tragic, critical case, the Kalises felt they needed the best possible help in faith and prayer, especially in view of the fact that the young man was unsaved. Consequently, they had dispatched this letter to Mrs. R. When Mrs. R. received the request, she went at once to the Lord in his behalf but “had an experience of being withdrawn from praying for his life. ... She was held still and then prayed that he would be greatly blessed in Jesus.” Afterwards she wondered if she had really given herself to prayer for him as she should and so “offered herself again” to intercede in his behalf. Again “she was made to pray the same thing. Of course, that showed her” that God was going to take him to Himself. Then “she got some light or word about Christ showing him how to ‘enter abundantly.’ Surely he would have an abundant entrance.” Meanwhile back in Elizabeth, the sad and difficult duty to tell the young man his true condition fell to Pastor Kalis. Previously Walter had been a careless boy, but now he in­stantly responded and opened his soul to God and sought the Lord with his whole heart. The change that took place in the young man as a result of all the prayer in his behalf was instantaneous and miracu­lous. Never one to read his Bible much, now after Pastor Kalis had read to him from John 14, he said, “Hold the Bible up so I can read it for myself.” Slowly and confidently he read: “Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, be­lieve also in Me.” The joy of the Lord so filled his soul that he exclaimed, “I never knew it was so wonderful.” One evening some of his friends, the young people from the church, gathered and sang for him. Lustily Walter joined them when they sang: “Goodbye, old world, I’m through with you.’ All this change took place within forty-two hours between Walter’s accident and his homegoing! And it was a tremen­dous lesson to his pastor and all who heard it of the great victory God in His great mercy can work in a heart in even the last hours of a life. After his death Mrs. R. sent word to Pastor Kalis: “Sorry the dear young man was so fatally injured, but how sweet Jesus revealed Himself to him ere he passed away. Eternity will tell how many lives were influenced and blessed by his death-bed surrender.”