Missionary Milton Cunningham was flying on a plane from Atlanta to Dallas.
He happened to have the middle of the three seats on one side of the aisle.
To his right, sitting next to the window, was a young girl who had Down’s
syndrome. She began asking him very-simple-but-almost-offensive questions.
“Mister, did you brush your teeth this morning? That’s what you’re supposed
to do!”
He smiled and answered, “Yes”.
“Mister, do you smoke? You’d better not, because it can make you die!”
He said, “You’re correct. You are one smart girl.”
“Mister, do you know Jesus? We should all love Jesus!”
Just before take off, another man took the seat on the aisle. As he began to
read the in-flight magazine, the little girl nudged Cunningham. “Mister, ask
HIM those questions!”
Oh, sure. He was really uneasy with that one. He finally told her he didn’t
want to do it. But she kept poking him and saying, “Do it. Do it!”
Finally Cunningham turned to the man seated next to him and said
apologetically, “Sir, I don’t mean to bother you, but my little friend here
wants to know if you have brushed your teeth today and whether or not you
smoke!” The man looked startled, but he smiled at the girl and took her
questions in stride.
As the plane lifted off, the girl nudged Cunningham once again and said “You
forgot to ask him if he knows Jesus! Ask him. Ask him!” So he interrupted
the man once again. “Now she wants to know if you know Jesus.”
The man could have responded like he had to the two previous questions–with
a smile on his face and a chuckle in his voice. And he almost did. But then
the smile disappeared, and his expression became serious. “You know, in all
honesty, I can’t say that I do know Jesus. It’s not that I don’t want to;
it’s just that I don’t know HOW to know Him. I’ve wanted to become a person
of faith all my life, but I haven’t known how to do it. And right now I’m at
a time in my life where I really do need faith very much.”
As the plane soared through the skies between Atlanta and Dallas, Milton
Cunningham listened to the fellow talk about the brokenness in his life and
shared his own personal testimony. He explained how to become “a person of
faith” as he sweetly presented the Gospel message. All the while the girl
sat there nodding and smiling from ear to ear.
She leaned over to the other man and said, “Mister, you should do it. Do
it!” The man responded and was wonderfully born again.
Yes, God used the little girl with a brave heart to prod Cunningham to ask
the fundamental question that ALL of us should be busy finding ways to
communicate everywhere and anywhere: “Do you know Jesus?”
(adapted from the book, “God Has Never Failed Me, but He’s Sure Scared Me to
Death a Few Times” by Stan Toler)
~~
Dr Bob Griffin
[email protected] www.grif.net
“Jesus Knows Me, This I Love!”