Colossians 1:5a “Because of the hope which is laid up for you in heaven…”.
While living in Xian, China and teaching English in a university, I asked one of my fellow Christian teachers how he was converted. He was in his late thirties and had not married.
He told me that before coming to China he had worked in a London retirement home and his conversion was the result of an elderly man of 93 speaking only one word to him. I was curious and asked him to continue.
He went on to tell me that each morning this gentleman would come to breakfast with his Bible under his arm. He would sit down in his usual seat, place the Bible in front of his place mat, eat his breakfast and return to the lounge for the day.
My friend then told me that after observing this for a few weeks he decided to ask the gentleman why he brought his Bible to breakfast. One morning he plucked up the courage and asked. The old man looked down at his Bible, reached out his hand, placed one finger on the cover and without looking up said, “Hope.”
From that day onward my friend concluded that if this 93 year old man had found hope in the Bible, then he had to find it as well. He began reading and found Jesus. From that moment on he was with me in China sharing HOPE.
Bob Chapman MA
**Award winning book 2007
