God’s Great Plan

Several years ago, I noticed an older man who sat shivering in a parking lot near my office. When I asked if he was okay, he said he had left home and had come to Tokyo after a fight with his wife. Crying, he said he hadn’t eaten much and was cold. His name was Mr. N.

Recalling the story of the good Samaritan, I took Mr. N to a bathhouse and bought him a meal and some new clothes. I also gave him some money for his current living expenses. I had him promise to come to my church sometime soon to pray together and also to return home to his wife as soon as he could. We separated, and I had no further communication from Mr. N.

About five years later, I received a phone call from a woman asking if I was the person who had done so much for Mr. N. It was Mr. N’s wife. After thanking me, she told me he had died, but in the last moments of his life, he told her that he hadn’t kept his promise to the man who cared for him in Tokyo. He asked his wife and daughter to go to church in his place and offer a prayer of thanks. She told me they did and that they had continued attending church and had been baptized.

Tears of gratitude and deep emotion ran down my face as I hung up the phone. Mr. N’s family had experienced God’s overflowing love.