Bittersweet Farm

Our oldest son is a stalwart almost 23 year-old young man now. When I look at him though my thoughts often travel back over the years. I remember what an adorable little boy he was. He was always so sincere and so eager.

He loved to look through my desk drawers for things I didn’t want anymore. They would be his little “buried treasures” and he would transfer them to his dresser or desk. He was going through my things one day and came across a stack of gospel tracts. He asked for one. I said, “Kyle, you can have one but you have to take good care of it and then give it someday to someone who needs to know about Jesus.”

He watched we intently and then agreed to my terms. He took the tract booklet in his little hands and paged through it as though he could read. He was about three years old at the time.

A few weeks later Lois’ sister Linda was visiting. During the visit I asked her if she had found a church home since she had recently moved. She said, “No, Ken. To be honest I just haven’t gotten to church at all lately.”

Kyle was tinkering with something over in the corner of the room. When he heard Linda’s confession his head shot up and he jumped to his feet, hurried over to his dresser, shuffled through his drawer and produced his little gospel pamphlet. Tract in hand he hurried across the room, turned his sincere eyes up into his aunt’s and said, “Here Linda, you need to read this.”

We all had a good laugh and aunt Linda assured Kyle that she believed everything in the little book already.

That was twenty years ago. Now Kyle is all grown up and has his very own collection of tracts and Linda goes to church every Sunday. Little Kyle was right, though. When it comes to the spiritual condition of someone you love, you can’t be too careful.

Ken Pierpont
Riverfront Character Inn
Flint, Michigan
September 27, 2004