I was nervous but I knew what I had to do. I grabbed my 45, put in in my pants pocket, and headed down the cold lonesome street. The house that I came to looked like it should be tore down…but so did every other house on the block. There was only one light on. As I knocked on the old wooden door I stood there wondering…”Why me? Why do iIhave to do this? “I should have never got involved with these people…but at the time they where all I had…I had no one else. Someone finally answered the door after what seemed like forever. The person I saw there was a old woman with peaceful blue eyes and silver in her hair. She spoke in a kind and gentile voice as she said, “Young man what on earth are you doing out here in the rain. Come inside and dry off before you catch cold.”
I will never understand why I didn’t just do it right there…but there was something about her…some sort of kindness in her eyes some sort of peacefulness surrounding her and something about the way she was being so kind to me…I just couldn’t do it….at least not yet…
The inside of her house wasn’t much better than the outside. The roof leaked in three places, one of the windows was busted, and the old wooden floors looked like they could give away at anytime. The old lady had two pieces of furniture, a old wooden rocker and a holey couch. She turned to me and said “Young man you look hungry. I don’t have much but if you want-”
“No thanks lady. Hey why you being so trusting of me? Hell for all you knows I could want to kill ya.”
She spoke with the same kindness as she said, “Young man please don’t use that kind of talk in my house.”
I rolled my eyes “You still didn’t answer my question lady.”
She spoke in a firm but not harsh tone as she said “The reason I’m being so trusting of you is because my momma always told me, “You never know who might be a angel.” so that young man is why I am being so trusting of you…and if you were someone who wanted to kill me then I think you would have already done it by now.”
I Just smiled at her and said “Trust me lady I ain’t no angel…ain’t no such thing as angels anyway…”
She looked at me and said, “Excuse me?”
So I said it again “ain’t no such thing as angels lady.”
“Young man surly you don’t mean that”
“Prove to me that they are angel’s lady and I will prove to you there is a God.”
She walked over to her rocker and sat down. “Do you have some time to kill young man?” she asked.
I laughed at the irony and said “Yeah. I sure do lady…I sure do”
“Do you know about heaven and hell young man?”
“Yeah if you’re good you go to heaven but if you’re not you go to hell…but I don’t believe in all that crap lady.”
“Have you even bothered to try?”
The truth is i haven’t. Growing up I had no one, not even friends, to talk to about that stuff and now this old lady was trying to tell me about it…I was a total stranger to her and yet…she actually cared and she cared enough about me to talk to me about stuff I had no clue about. “No…I haven’t I replied.” In a more softer tone now.
“Well just you sit rite there and listen to what I’m about to tell you.”
For the next three hours I heard her tell some incredible stories about how God made the world and every living thing that moves, the trees, the sky, everything…and then there was a great flood. and how some guy named Noah made a huge ark and put two of every animal on it. Then some stuff about slaves and how a brave man named Moses stood up to pharaoh and freed his people and then I heard something that almost brought tears to my eyes. God sent his only son to die on a cross for all of our sins…but he rose again three days after he died and he promised he would come back and take all of his people to live in his kingdom with him. All these stories sounded like fiction but something in my heart knew that they were somehow true and by the end of that night I was a changed man. After she was done she said in a very gentle and understanding voice “Now young man now do you understand?”
“Ye-yes I do” I said with a voice I didn’t know who’s was. Then I remembered what I had to do. I didn’t want to but I knew if I didn’t kill her they would kill me. I jumped up, pulled out my 45., and aimed it right at her…the strange thing was that I didn’t see no fear in her eyes and she spoke with the same kindness and understanding as she said “Young man you don’t want to do this…I know you don’t.”
“SHUT UP LADY…I have to do this…I have no choice.” I had tears in my eyes and my breathing was hard and heavy because she was right…I didn’t want to do this.
“Young man you always have a choice and if you chose to pull that trigger you can’t take it back and you will spend the rest of your life in guilt…and trust me young man you don’t want that I know that there is good in you and that’s why I know you wont pull that trigger”
My heart was about to fly out of my chest and my mind was going crazy but then something happen…I thought about how kind she was to me and how she trusted me…she was a stranger and yet at that time she was the only true friend I had…and I trusted that old lady more than anyone and anything.
“You don’t deserve this.” I said as I let the gun drop from my hand to the floor. I fell to my knees and started to cry…she walked over and knelt beside me. All I could say was how sorry I was…
After a long silence she said “Young man why on earth would you do something like that?”
“I…I don’t know…all I know is that…I hate the person I have become…I can’t live like this no more.” I cried like I never cried before…and in truth i haven’t…not when my dad left my mother, not when I had to steal just to keep from starving, not when i found out my dad died and not even when my mom died….but now…now the tears were poring out of my eyes like rain.
“Young man what made you drop that gun?”
“Those stories you told me…where they true? Can God…really do anything?”
“Of course he can.” she said as she was wiping my tears away witch in truth only made me cry more.
“C-can he save me and make me better? I ask in a trembling tear stricken voice.
“Yes…he can all you have to do is say this prayer with me. God. I love you. I admit to you I am a sinner and I know Jesus died on that cross and he is your only son and I know he died for my sin. God I need you in my life. Please come into my heart and make me whole. I confess Jesus as my savior and lord.. thank you for saving me from sin God. In Jesus name I pray. Amen.”
I said it word for word with her and I meant every bit of it too. When I opened my eyes I felt like a new person. I got up, looked around, and noticed that the old lady was gone I looked and all I found was note that was beside me right where she was and this is what it read
“Young man I told you that there were angels on earth…and now my job is done. I will see you when your work is through…and always remember that I will be watching you in all that you do.”
It has now been twenty years since that day and I have a wife, two kids, and I work as a traveling preacher. I tell this story everywhere I go and I have seen over three hundred people saved…and I feel that my work isn’t near done…and I could not be happier with my life.
By T.J. Tom.
Thomas James Tom's Poems And Short Stories. 