Page 34 - good and useful man 2022 cover page

One of the students walked through a neighborhood with
dark streets. He yelled into a loud speaker, “Anyone who wants
to know the one true God, come to our Jesus meeting tonight.”
A very old couple heard him say, “Anyone who wants
happiness inside, come.” They had spent their whole lives
trying to be happy on the inside, but they weren’t.
The little old woman went to the meeting that night. She
used a walking stick to help her take wobbly steps. Her back
was bent over as though she carried heavy burdens. She sat
down on the front row. As she listened to the preacher, she
thought of how she had lived her life.
Sixty years earlier, she had married a nice man. They were
good people and wanted a happy marriage. They thought they
should visit the priests at the temple. Year after year, they
worshiped many different idols and went to all the festivals.
The priest suggested they visit every temple in Japan. Then,
maybe they would be happy.
They climbed high mountains to reach some of the temples
and see the idols that were supposed to take away their
sadness. Some of the priests even wrote prayers for them. But
they always returned home, knowing they hadn’t found what
they were looking for.
They had spent their whole lives trying. Now they wanted
to give up. They were too old to travel and had spent all of
their money. Instead of having a nice house, they now lived in
a tiny room in Tokyo, waiting to die. Then, the old woman
heard the man on the loud speaker invite people to hear about
the one true God.
The woman longed to find peace. She knew that, somehow,
she would find it through those meetings. Every night for two
weeks, she listened to what the preachers said about God. She
heard how He loves us and wants to put a smile in our hearts.
That’s what she wanted. She asked Jesus to forgive the things
she had done that had made Him sad. She asked Him to live in
her. The sad face that she used to wear changed. She now had a

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