The following story really touched my heart...
A LITTLE CHILD SHALL LEAD THEM
Missionary kids are not expected to take charge when it comes to evangelism. Their parents' calling may not necessarily be their own. But sometimes, the unexpected happens.
Little Allison Baker, then in second grade, didn't have many classmates in her two-hour-a-week religion class required by the Belgian school system; after all, she was in the Protestant group. The majority of kids were over in the atheism section.
So Allison took it upon herself to talk about Jesus on the playground instead. She would gather her friends into a circle and tell stories from the Bible. The most curious listener was a short girl with striking dark brown eyes named Sophie. She asked Allison lots of questions - enough that the Baker family began to pray at night for this child.
When Valentine's Day came around, Allison made a special heart-shaped card. Inside, it read, "Sophie, Jesus loves you, and so do I." When she gave it to Sophie, the little girl cried, "Oh, thank you!" and threw her arms around Allison in a big hug. "I'll always keep this card!" she announced.
Not long afterward, the class went on a field trip, Allison and Sophie sat together on the bus, of course. Sophie pulled out her treasured valentine and said, "Allison, tell me more about Jesus."
"Okay," the missionary child replied, "but don't you think it's about time you asked Jesus into your heart like I have?"
"I'd like to - but I don't know how," Sophie answered.
Allison, oblivious to who might be listening nearby, promptly led her friend to bow her head, close her eyes, and pray a simple prayer. Another girl overheard what was happening and asked if she could take the same step.
About three weeks later, the Bakers drove up to the school one morning to drop off Allison and were surprised to see cars everywhere. Small groups of parents clustered in the schoolyard, talking quietly and wiping away tears. Sophie, it turned out, had been slammed by a car on her way home from school the day before, sustaining terrible injuries. Fluid was filling her lungs, she was now on a ventilator, several bones were broken, and she had suffered severe head trauma - so much that she had been airlifted to Brussels, the capital city an hour's drive away.
Allison began to cry as she reached for her mother. The Bakers prayed with their daughter until it was time to go inside. "Daddy," the girl said in parting, "will you write all our friends and ask them to pray for Sophie?" Alan Baker assured her that he would send out a quick email to their supporters.
When the parents picked up Allison for lunch that day, they learned that the morning had not gone well. The teacher had spent the entire time weeping and trying to comfort the children. Again, the family prayed for strength and help. Back at school that afternoon, Allison walked into her room to find her teacher still unnerved.
"Madame, what's wrong?" she asked.
"Allison, I know that Sophie is your friend," the woman replied in a soft voice. "But you will have to face the fact that she is going to die."
Tears filled Allison's eyes once again. But she did not hesitate. "No, Madame, she is not going to die, " the girl replied. "Sophie asked Jesus to come into her heart, and He is going to heal her." The teacher decided not to try to correct her optimism.
By that evening, the Bakers had received numerous email responses that promised prayer and belief for Sophie's condition. Allison gathered up a dozen of these to take to school the next morning, where grieving adults once again gathered to await the news of death. She, however, confidently walked up to her teacher's desk and dropped the stack of emails before her.
The French-speaking teacher said, "What are these, Allison? They're all in English."
"These are from my friends around the world who wrote to tell me that they're praying for Sophie," the little girl explained. "Here, let me read some of them to you...."
Sophie did not die that day after all. The next morning, Allison was back at school with a fresh batch of emails. She kept up the stream as more poured in over the coming days and weeks. The teacher, to her credit, allowed Allison to translate and read some aloud to the whole class.
Meanwhile in the Brussels hospital, doctors gradually came to admit that Sophie's fractures should at least be set. They warned her family, however, that their daughter would be little more than a vegetable due to the brain injuries. When signs of brain activity began to show in the normal range, they warned that Sophie was still blind, deaf and unable to speak.
When she began to see, hear and speak, the doctors said yes, but she would always be slow mentally. Eventually they admitted that maybe she could return to school the following fall.
Sophie, having been stricken in early March, was back in her classroom by May that year. The religion teacher commented to Alan Baker soon afterward, "You know, everyone's talking about your daughter. Parents, teachers, administrators - they simply don't know what to think about her. While everyone was falling apart and mourning Sophie before she was even dead, your daughter just would not stop believing. Whereas we teachers should have been taking care of Allison, she was taking care of all of us with her faith and assurance.
"And the letters she brought to school! We can't believe how many people around the world seemed to care for Sophie, whom they hadn't even met. We have never seen anything like this."
Allison Baker and Sophie eventually lost contact when first one family and then the other moved. Allison is now completing her high school education in Brussels, where her parents still serve in church and leadership development. She will never forget, however, her grade-school friend who wound up being a dramatic testimony of God's love and power to a whole community.
~An excerpt from AGAIN: Reawakening Europe's Heart for God
A LITTLE CHILD SHALL LEAD THEM
Missionary kids are not expected to take charge when it comes to evangelism. Their parents' calling may not necessarily be their own. But sometimes, the unexpected happens.
Little Allison Baker, then in second grade, didn't have many classmates in her two-hour-a-week religion class required by the Belgian school system; after all, she was in the Protestant group. The majority of kids were over in the atheism section.
So Allison took it upon herself to talk about Jesus on the playground instead. She would gather her friends into a circle and tell stories from the Bible. The most curious listener was a short girl with striking dark brown eyes named Sophie. She asked Allison lots of questions - enough that the Baker family began to pray at night for this child.
When Valentine's Day came around, Allison made a special heart-shaped card. Inside, it read, "Sophie, Jesus loves you, and so do I." When she gave it to Sophie, the little girl cried, "Oh, thank you!" and threw her arms around Allison in a big hug. "I'll always keep this card!" she announced.
Not long afterward, the class went on a field trip, Allison and Sophie sat together on the bus, of course. Sophie pulled out her treasured valentine and said, "Allison, tell me more about Jesus."
"Okay," the missionary child replied, "but don't you think it's about time you asked Jesus into your heart like I have?"
"I'd like to - but I don't know how," Sophie answered.
Allison, oblivious to who might be listening nearby, promptly led her friend to bow her head, close her eyes, and pray a simple prayer. Another girl overheard what was happening and asked if she could take the same step.
About three weeks later, the Bakers drove up to the school one morning to drop off Allison and were surprised to see cars everywhere. Small groups of parents clustered in the schoolyard, talking quietly and wiping away tears. Sophie, it turned out, had been slammed by a car on her way home from school the day before, sustaining terrible injuries. Fluid was filling her lungs, she was now on a ventilator, several bones were broken, and she had suffered severe head trauma - so much that she had been airlifted to Brussels, the capital city an hour's drive away.
Allison began to cry as she reached for her mother. The Bakers prayed with their daughter until it was time to go inside. "Daddy," the girl said in parting, "will you write all our friends and ask them to pray for Sophie?" Alan Baker assured her that he would send out a quick email to their supporters.
When the parents picked up Allison for lunch that day, they learned that the morning had not gone well. The teacher had spent the entire time weeping and trying to comfort the children. Again, the family prayed for strength and help. Back at school that afternoon, Allison walked into her room to find her teacher still unnerved.
"Madame, what's wrong?" she asked.
"Allison, I know that Sophie is your friend," the woman replied in a soft voice. "But you will have to face the fact that she is going to die."
Tears filled Allison's eyes once again. But she did not hesitate. "No, Madame, she is not going to die, " the girl replied. "Sophie asked Jesus to come into her heart, and He is going to heal her." The teacher decided not to try to correct her optimism.
By that evening, the Bakers had received numerous email responses that promised prayer and belief for Sophie's condition. Allison gathered up a dozen of these to take to school the next morning, where grieving adults once again gathered to await the news of death. She, however, confidently walked up to her teacher's desk and dropped the stack of emails before her.
The French-speaking teacher said, "What are these, Allison? They're all in English."
"These are from my friends around the world who wrote to tell me that they're praying for Sophie," the little girl explained. "Here, let me read some of them to you...."
Sophie did not die that day after all. The next morning, Allison was back at school with a fresh batch of emails. She kept up the stream as more poured in over the coming days and weeks. The teacher, to her credit, allowed Allison to translate and read some aloud to the whole class.
Meanwhile in the Brussels hospital, doctors gradually came to admit that Sophie's fractures should at least be set. They warned her family, however, that their daughter would be little more than a vegetable due to the brain injuries. When signs of brain activity began to show in the normal range, they warned that Sophie was still blind, deaf and unable to speak.
When she began to see, hear and speak, the doctors said yes, but she would always be slow mentally. Eventually they admitted that maybe she could return to school the following fall.
Sophie, having been stricken in early March, was back in her classroom by May that year. The religion teacher commented to Alan Baker soon afterward, "You know, everyone's talking about your daughter. Parents, teachers, administrators - they simply don't know what to think about her. While everyone was falling apart and mourning Sophie before she was even dead, your daughter just would not stop believing. Whereas we teachers should have been taking care of Allison, she was taking care of all of us with her faith and assurance.
"And the letters she brought to school! We can't believe how many people around the world seemed to care for Sophie, whom they hadn't even met. We have never seen anything like this."
Allison Baker and Sophie eventually lost contact when first one family and then the other moved. Allison is now completing her high school education in Brussels, where her parents still serve in church and leadership development. She will never forget, however, her grade-school friend who wound up being a dramatic testimony of God's love and power to a whole community.
~An excerpt from AGAIN: Reawakening Europe's Heart for God
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