by Al Lacy
Dane grinned at him. “I’d love to, sir. My family in the alley have probably already eaten their lunch.”
Harris snapped the reins and put the horse into motion. “Good! Whatever she’s got cooked for dinner will be tasty, I assure you.”
“I don’t doubt that,” said Dane. “That supper last night was really a treat.”
As the buggy moved down the street, Dr. Harris noticed that Dane was unusually quiet. He sat very still, looking straight ahead as if his thoughts had him a million miles away. Harris was sure it was because the sermon on hell had a powerful effect on him.
When they arrived at the apartment, Maude was just ushering Lawanda from the kitchen toward the bedroom. Lawanda heard the door open and looked back past her mother, fixing her eyes on Dane. She stopped and a fearful frown surfaced on what had been the placid pool of her round face.
Both Dane and the doctor heard Maude say in a low voice, “Come on, honey. Your tummy is full now. It’s time for you to lie down and take your nap.”
The frown deepened as Maude urged her forward; she kept her head turned back, her dull eyes fixed on Dane.
“Lawanda,” said the mother, “that boy would never hurt you.”
Lawanda mumbled something indistinguishable, and Maude hurried her into the bedroom.
The doctor and his young guest were standing near the kitchen table when Maude returned. She set her eyes on Dane and smiled. “I’m glad you are here to eat with us again. How did you like Sunday school and church?”
It took the boy a few seconds to say, “Fine, ma’am.”
Maude noted the delay in his response. She moved toward the cupboard, and when her face was out of Dane’s line of sight, she looked at her husband questioningly. Dr. Harris nodded and gave her one of his looks that told her she was right. Dane had shown conviction upon hearing the sermon. She gave him a secret smile. “Well, gentlemen, take your seats. Dinner’s on the table and ready to be devoured.”
Dr. Harris led in prayer. He thanked the Lord for those who had walked the aisle at the invitation and opened their hearts to Jesus—then gave thanks for the food and closed as usual.
The food was passed around. Dr. Harris said, “Okay, Dane. Dig in!”
As the meal progressed, the Harrises noticed a definite difference in Dane over the way he had devoured his meal the night before. He seemed to be toying with his food rather than eating it.
The Harrises glanced at each other surreptitiously across the table. Maude finally asked her husband, “So what was Pastor’s sermon about? It must have been good, as usual, for those people to have gone forward to be saved.”
“He preached a scorcher on hell,” replied the doctor. “It was really good.”
Dane kept his face turned down toward his plate.
The Harrises exchanged glances again.
Must have really gotten to him, mouthed Maude.
The doctor nodded.
Maude changed the subject. She and her husband talked about the orphans on the streets, trying to get Dane to open up to them, but when they addressed him on the subject, they received only perfunctory remarks. He definitely was lost in his own thoughts.
Finally, Maude asked, “Is the food not to your liking, Dane?”
Dane’s head came up. “Wh-what did you say, Mrs. Harris?”
She smiled at him. “I asked if the food was not to your liking.”
Embarrassed, Dane replied, “Oh, it’s good, ma’am. Really good.”
“You don’t seem to be eating it.”
Quickly, the boy picked up a fork full of mashed potato, put it in his mouth, and smiled while he chewed.
The Harrises picked up the conversation about New York’s orphans once again, and soon the boy was pushing the food around on his plate, a small frown on his brow.
The doctor and his wife quietly finished their own meals, and Maude collected the dishes and placed them on the counter at the cupboard. She looked at Dane’s plate and shook her head. Lord, she said in her heart, the sermon must have really disturbed him. Give us wisdom. We both want to handle it in the right way.
Maude returned to the table with three plates, each containing a generous slice of cherry pie. Dane glanced up at her when she placed one of them in front of him. Rather absentmindedly and with a ghost of a smile, he said, “Thank you.”
The doctor looked into his wife’s questioning eyes and nodded. “Dane, something’s bothering you. Want to talk about it?”
Dane laid his fork down and took a deep breath. He met Dr. Harris’s steady gaze, then looked down at his plate.
“Is it what you heard preached today? Is that what’s bothering you?”
Dane’s eyes came up and he met the doctor’s unchanging gaze. “Yes, sir.”
Harris glanced at Maude again, then looked at the boy. “What did the pastor say that bothers you?”
Dane swallowed hard. “Well, sir, I have never heard most of the things the pastor said about hell before.”
“Like what?”
“The—the unquenchable fire. The torment of burning forever. The weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth. I heard a preacher only one time, years ago. He talked about hell in his sermon, but I guess I’d forgotten what he said. Since then, I’ve heard people talk about hell, and from what I could pick up, they figure it’s just a place where the bad people go when they die … but not a place of burning and torment.”
“Well, since the pastor was reading it to us right out of the Bible, it has to be true, doesn’t it?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Let me ask you, Dane—if you were to die right this moment, could you say that you would go to heaven?”
Dane moved his head back and forth slowly. “No, sir.”
“As you saw this morning, the Bible makes it clear that there is no other place to go than hell if a person dies without being saved.”
The boy did not comment. “Dr. Harris, I really need to be going. If I don’t show up at the alley pretty soon, my friends will be worrying about me.”
The Harrises exchanged glances again, and being wise in these matters, they would not attempt to push salvation on their young friend.
The doctor said, “Sure, Dane. We understand. Will you go to church with me next Sunday morning? I’m sure Mrs. Harris won’t mind letting me go two Sunday mornings in a row.”
“Of course not,” said Maude. “And how about coming to supper next Saturday evening, Dane?”
A smile broke across the boy’s face. “Sure. Supper on Saturday and church on Sunday.”
Moments later, when the Harrises watched Dane move down the stairs and go out the door, Maude said, “Honey, we’ve got to pray hard for him, that the Lord will do His work in his heart, and that by next Sunday, he will come to Jesus.”
“Yes, sweetheart. By next Sunday.”
When a disturbed Dane Weston arrived at the alley, he was greeted by all, and found Nettie Olson looking even better. Standing over her as she sat on a small wooden crate with one of the other girls, he said, “Nettie, you’re getting your color back. You were pretty pale before.”
“I’m feeling lots better, Doc,” she said with a sparkle in her eyes. “Thank you for caring about me.”
Billy Johnson piped up. “Thanks for caring about me too. You did a good job on my lip. It hardly hurts anymore. I’m sure glad you came along and ran those bullies off then fixed me up.” He paused. Then with a teasing twinkle in his eye and a lopsided grin, he added, “Of course Dr. Harris did help a little bit.”
Everybody laughed.
On Monday morning, Dane awakened at sunrise and crawled out of his cardboard box. Some of the girls were up, and Bessie and Melinda were busy pouring cold oatmeal—which they had gotten from the café the day before—into tin cups. Billy Johnson would get his regular helping of broth.
When breakfast was finished and the rest of the group was preparing to go to the street corner for their day of begging, Dane left for work. As he walked along the st
reet, he told himself he was one fortunate boy. He had a job! With regular pay!
He whistled a cheery, nameless tune as he hurried in the direction of the pharmacy, a new look of determination on his face and a lilt in his step.
Along the way, Dane observed orphan children begging on the street corners, while others were milling about in the alleys they called home.
Later that morning, after enjoying his three hours of work at the pharmacy, Dane was heading for his alley when he saw the couple identified several days earlier by Melinda Scott as Mr. and Mrs. Charles Loring Brace of the Children’s Aid Society putting four orphans in their buggy. He knew those children would be put on an orphan train and sent out West to find homes on farms and ranches and in towns much smaller than New York City.
The song Mrs. Baxter had read to him from the newspaper came back to mind. He smiled as he walked past the buggy, looked at the happy faces of the four orphans who were settling on the back seat, and said, “I hope those fragrant breezes come to them with whispers in the wind when they get out West, welcoming them to a new and wonderful life.”
The rest of the week went good for Dane on his job. During the daytime he stayed busy enough at the pharmacy, and later on the street corner he begged with his friends, so the sermon he heard on Sunday didn’t bother him. However, when lying in his cardboard box he couldn’t get the sermon out of his mind, until finally sleep came to relieve him.
After work on Friday, he begged with the others on the street corner until three o’clock in the afternoon. At that time, he went to the Baxter home to see Todd and explained to him and his mother about his job at the pharmacy. They were happy to see him making a go out of his hard lot in life. Todd said he would pass the word on to Dane’s old friends at school. Mona made sure Dane understood that he was welcome to come and have a meal with them whenever he could. He assured her he would be back.
On Saturday, Dr. Harris came to the alley late in the afternoon to check on Nettie and to take the stitches out of Billy’s lip. He was glad to see Nettie feeling completely well again. After he had removed Billy’s stitches, he commended Dane for doing such a good job of keeping the cut clean and administering the ointment as directed.
It was late enough when Dr. Harris was through with Billy that he took Dane home for supper.
When they entered the apartment, the aroma was tantalizing. Dane said, “Sure smells good, Doctor. Mrs. Harris is an excellent cook.”
“Can’t argue with that, son,” said the doctor. “Her cooking has kept me satisfied and healthy for fifty-six years.”
At that moment, they heard Maude’s voice coming from the bedroom. She was trying to soothe Lawanda about Dane’s presence in the apartment.
“Dr. Harris, maybe it would be better if I didn’t come here. I sure don’t want to upset your daughter.”
Harris shook his head. “No, no, Dane. Lawanda has been this way since she was very small. We’ve had to learn that we must go on with our lives in spite of her problem and live as normally as possible. She’ll settle down in a minute or two. Whenever we have other guests the same thing happens, but it only takes Maude a few minutes to calm her down and get her on the bed for a nap.”
Dane nodded. “All right, sir. I just don’t want to be a problem.”
Harris laid a hand on his shoulder as they saw Maude coming toward them. “A problem you could never be, my boy.”
Maude welcomed Dane, and when the three of them sat down at the kitchen table, Dane looked at the fried chicken and all that went with it. “Wow, Mrs. Harris! That sure looks good.”
While they were eating, Dane surprised the Harrises by saying, “This week, when I’ve been in my cardboard bed at night, I’ve thought a lot about last Sunday’s sermon. I have some questions I’d like to ask you.”
Pleased at this obvious answer to prayer, the Harrises smiled at each other, and the doctor said, “Of course. You enjoy your meal right now and after supper, we’ll answer your questions.”
When supper was finished, Maude left the dishes till later and sat down with her husband and Dane in the small parlor. The doctor and the boy sat on the sofa together, and Maude sat in an overstuffed chair, facing them.
The Bible Dane had seen on the small table next to the sofa was still there, within the doctor’s reach.
Dr. Harris said, “Dane, are your questions about hell?”
“No, sir. Though I was shocked to learn some of the things the pastor preached about, I have it straight in my mind. I believe hell is exactly what the Bible says it is. My questions are about being saved.”
The Harrises exchanged smiles, then the doctor said, “Ask away, son.”
Dane brought up the picture frames with Scripture verses that hung on the walls of the office and the examining room downstairs, and the one right there in the kitchen. “I’ve thought a lot about them, sir, especially the one in the examining room about being born again. I can quote it for you. ‘Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.’ Dr. Harris, I don’t understand. How can a person be born a second time? Since this is what it takes to go to heaven, how can I be born again?”
Dr. Harris smiled as he picked his Bible up off the table next to the sofa. “Let me show you first, Dane, why you have to be born again. Then we’ll deal with how.”
“All right, sir.”
Maude was in silent prayer as she watched her husband open his Bible.
Dr. Harris took Dane to Genesis chapter 1 and showed him God’s great work of creation, having the boy read certain verses aloud. After all the animal kingdom had been created according to verse 25, Harris had Dane look at verse 26, and showed him that the triune God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness.” He pointed out the use of the plural words “us” and “our,” making sure the boy understood that the Godhead is triune: Father, Son, and Spirit.
When he was satisfied that Dane had grasped this, he showed him verse 27, which states that God created man in his own image—a triune being of body, soul, and spirit. He pointed out that the body is the house a human being lives in here on earth, the soul is the person, and that the spirit is the God-contact. He used John 4:23–24 to show him that in order to truly worship God, man must have a spirit because God is a Spirit, and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth.
Dr. Harris then took Dane to Genesis chapter 2, where God took Adam into the Garden of Eden and showed him all the trees, saying he could freely eat of every tree in the garden but one, that being the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. The doctor showed him God’s warning in verse 17 that “in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.” He emphasized the fact that the very day he ate of that tree, Adam would surely die.
The doctor went on to show the boy in Genesis chapter 3 that the serpent (Satan) caused Adam and Eve to disobey God’s command. They ate of the fruit of the forbidden tree. He then asked Dane if God held their funeral and buried them that day.
When Dane said He did not, Harris pointed out that the death that day was spiritual death. Adam and Eve became depraved beings of only body and soul, but were dead spiritually. They later died physically, but on the very day they ate the forbidden fruit they died spiritually.
Harris then took him to Ephesians chapter 2 and pointed out that the Apostle Paul was addressing born-again people: “And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins.” He explained that to “quicken” is to give life to. These people had been dead spiritually—which they inherited from our father Adam—but God had given them spiritual life when they were born again. He then showed him Romans 5:12, pointing out that sin and death entered the world by Adam.
“You see, Dane,” said the doctor, “we have to be born again because we were born wrong the first time. We must have a spiritual birth.”
He then took him to 1 Thessalonians 5:23. Paul was writing to people who had been born again and s
howed him that those people had spirit, soul, and body. The new birth made them complete beings in the image of God.
When Dane understood this, Harris took him to John 3:3 where Jesus said, “Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” He then showed him that Nicodemus had asked a question similar to Dane’s: “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter the second time into his mother’s womb, and be born?”
Dane smiled at the similarity to his own question. “I understand why I need to be born again, Doctor. I am dead spiritually. Now show me how to be born again.”
Harris then showed him John 1:12, where it speaks of Jesus Christ and says, “But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name.”
He then took him to Ephesians 3:17 and showed him that he must receive Jesus into his heart.
Once Dane had grasped this, Harris showed him that Jesus said in Mark 1:15, “Repent ye, and believe the gospel.” He explained that he must repent of his sin, believe that Jesus died for his sins and shed His blood on the cross, was buried, and rose again the third day. He explained that repentance is a change of mind that results in a change of direction. He must turn the opposite direction from the path that he was walking toward hell as a lost sinner, put his faith totally and only in Jesus to save him, then do as Romans 10:13 says: “For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.”
When Dane said he understood all of this, the doctor took the time to go over the verses that were in his picture frames. Dane now totally grasped their message. “Dr. Harris, I am ready to repent of my sin and receive the Lord Jesus into my heart as my Saviour.”
Harris smiled. “Then call on Him right now, Dane, and ask Him to come into your heart and save you. I’ll help you.”
The doctor put his arm around Dane’s shoulders as they bowed their heads, and Maude wiped tears while her husband had the joy of leading young Dane Weston to the Lord.