Book Goes to Hospital

To Sabbath School teachers: This story is for Sabbath, January 8.

By Andrew McChesney

S

teps to Christ went to the hospital. No, the book was not sick. The reason that Steps to Christ went to the hospital was to save people.

All people who go to the hospital go because they are sick and want to be healed. People in the hospital have headaches and stomachaches. They have broken arms and broken legs. They have problems with their hearts, lungs, livers, or kidneys. They are worried and in pain, and they want to get better.

Steps to Christ cannot heal a headache or a broken arm or a bad liver. It cannot be swallowed like a pill or wrapped around the arm like a bandage. But the book is good medicine. It can give hope. It explains how to become friends with Jesus and learn more about Him by reading the Bible.

Noah took Steps to Christ to a hospital in Laos. Nobody in the hospital was a Christian. Nobody in the hospital had ever heard about God. But the people in the hospital welcomed Noah gladly. They were happy that someone wanted to talk with them. They were happy that someone wanted to pray for them. They were happy to receive his gift of a book.

Nobody was happier than Somphone, a little boy of about 8. Somphone was in agony when Noah stepped into his hospital room. His left arm and part of his chest were covered with burns. He was moaning softly in pain as Mother and Father sat anxiously beside the bed.

Looking sympathetically at the forlorn child, Noah said, “Can I pray for you? I would like to ask the wonderful and loving God of heaven to take away your pain and heal you.”

Somphone had never heard about God. Nobody had ever prayed for him before. But he liked the sound of a wonderful and loving God in heaven who could take away his pain and heal him.

“Yes, please pray to God,” he said.

Noah prayed for the boy. He asked God to take away his pain and to heal his burns. He prayed for Somphone’s parents. He prayed that Somphone would be able to return home soon.

The next day, Noah returned to the hospital, and Somphone greeted him with a beaming smile.

“God took away my pain!” he announced, proudly, so everyone in the hospital room could hear. “And my burns dried up overnight.”

Mother and Father smiled. Their son was no longer in pain, and his burns were healing nicely. It was a true miracle! God had answered Noah’s prayer.

Noah gave the boy’s parents a copy of Steps to Christ. “You can read how to become friends with the God who hears and answers prayer,” he said.

Then he prayed again for Somphone. “Thank You wonderful and loving God of heaven for taking away Somphone’s pain and healing him,” he prayed. “Amen.”

When he finished praying, everyone in the hospital room wanted him to pray for them. They had seen Somphone’s pain and how God had taken it away.

Noah prayed with each of the other people in the hospital room. Everyone eagerly took a copy of Steps to Christ to read. They wanted to become friends with the wonderful and loving God of heaven who had helped Somphone. They wanted to be saved by God.

Part of this quarter’s Thirteenth Sabbath Offering will help open a school in Laos to teach children about the wonderful and loving God in heaven. Thank you for planning a generous Thirteenth Sabbath Offering.