So many times, it is hard to explain what it means to become a
Christian or what it means to be "saved". This story captures what
Jesus did for us when He died on the cross for us. "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten
Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting
life." John 3:16
The story takes place in the mountains of Virginia, in a one-room
schoolhouse, that was so tough, no teacher ever lasted more than a few weeks.
It was a school populated with mean-spirited mountain boys who thought their
main objective in life was to run off every new teacher who dared to enter
their classroom. One day, a very young teacher applied for the job. The director
of the school actually tried to talk him out of it. He said, " Young man
you are not ready for this. You're going to take an awful beating because you
are so young. Even the most experienced teachers never last more than 2 months."
"Well," said that young teacher, "I'm gonna risk it." And
he took the job.
On the first day as he walked into the classroom, he noticed
that the kids were gathered in the back of the room and there was one big Ol’
fella in the class whose name was Tom. "Big, Ol' Tom" is what they
called him because he was the bully of the class. Loud enough, so that the new
teacher could hear him, Big Ol' Tom said, "I'll take care of this one by
myself. I won't need anyone's help. He'll be gone by the end of the day." When
the young teacher got to the front of the class, he said, "I have come to
conduct school. But I confess, I can’t do it without your help. I think what we
need a few rules and I am going to let you make the rules. What rules do you
think we should have in the operation of this classroom?"
Well that was a new one for this class. No body ever asked them
to make the rules before all they ever did was break them. As the teacher went
to the blackboard, one kid hollered out "No Stealing!" and the
teacher wrote it on the board. And by the time he finished, the teacher had (10)
rules including don’t be late. And everybody agreed on these (10) rules and
everybody agreed and they were all laughing out loud as they agreed. "Now, the teacher said, "There is no such thing as a
good rule without a penalty, if the rule is broken." "What should be
the penalty if a rule is broken?" And Big Ol' Tom stood up and he said, "Whoever breaks one
of these rules gets (10) licks across his bareback." The teacher thought
that the rule was a bit severe, but he reluctantly agreed. So they went to school the next day, and as you can well
imagine, the morning had not ended before a rule was broken. Big Tom showed up
at the teacher's desk and said, "Somebody stole my lunch." So the
teacher held court and said, "Class, one of the rules is “no stealing” and
somebody stole Big Tom's lunch and I want to know who it was." After everyone had been questioned, a little 10 year-old boy
stood up and said, "I stole his lunch. I was so hungry I couldn't help it.
I stole the lunch." "Well", the teacher said, "you know what the rule
is. You know that you get 10 licks across your back without your coat on."
And the little boy began to beg. "Teacher, please don't do
that. And whatever you do, don't make me take off my coat." Finally, the
teacher knowing he was on trial at this moment, made the young boy unbutton his
coat, underneath there was no shirt, just the suspenders that were holding up
his pants. The teacher was thinking, "How can I whip this child. How can I
do that? But if I don't, I will have forever lost control of this classroom.
What will I do?" He said to the boy, "How is it that you don't have a
shirt on?" The boy answered, "My dad died and my mom’s is real, real
poor and I only have 1 shirt. And on the day that she washes my shirt, I wear
my brother’s coat so I don't get cold. I'll have my shirt tomorrow, but I don't
have it today."
The teacher got the paddle and as he was hesitating, trying to
get the courage to inflict the punishment, Big Ol’ Tom jumped up and walked
over to where the teacher was and asked "If you don't object, I'll take
Jim's licking for him." The teacher made some philosophical statement about their being
the right for some substitute punishment, and off came Tom's coat and after 5
hard strokes, he paused, and realized that everyone in the classroom was
crying, especially Little Jim, who by that time had run up to Tom, and had him
by the neck, hanging on for all he was worth. He was saying, "Tom, I'm
awful sorry I stole your lunch. I was so hungry. I will love you until I die
for taking my licking for me. And it broke the heart of all of those hard-nosed
kids. Tom had become Jim’s Saviour.
That's exactly what the Bible means when it calls Jesus our
Savior. You and I have broken the rules. We deserve to be punished but one day
the Lord Jesus came into this world of ours and He took off His coat and
stretched out His arms across a wooden beam and said, “I’m going to take the
punishment you deserve and He paid the price in full. He Is Our Saviour! “For unto you is born this
day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.” Luke 2:11
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Thank you so much for reading this message. If you would like to make a copy or copies of this testimony, you are welcome to do so. Make sure your copy is in its entirety and the message should not be changed. Hilda Arredondo's name and her website www.NDCPrayer.com and e-mail address ndcp@att.net should accompany this message as you print it. If you have any questions or comments please e-mail us. At this point the National Divine Connection of Prayer its Website and Morning Glory Kingdom Works has no representatives outside this ministry. We are NOT a non-profit entity or affiliated with any denomination or other churches. All ministry business is solely maintained by hilda arredondo, 195 El Shaddai Rd, Opelousas, La. 70570.
