by Pastor Jack Hyles (1926-2001)
"YOU'RE MY BEST 'FRAN'"
Many little children are saved because of our bus ministry. Some of our most blessed experiences have come through this labor of love. At this time we have several of our "bus products" in Christian colleges.
It is not unusual for several of these little ones to meet me after baptism and want my autograph. (One day I signed a little fellow's Bible and found that it was the fifty-third time I had signed the same page!)
Not long ago I tied a little four-year-old boy's shoe. As he walked away, he said, "Mama, did you see God tie my shoe?"
Often I'll get one child on one side of me and one on the other side, put my hands behind their necks, and say, "When I say three, you kiss this cheek and you kiss this cheek." Then I say, "One, two, three-" I move back, and they smack each other!
One little girl came not long ago and she said, "Would you sign my Bible?" I said, "Yes." She was about six or seven, she wore tennis shoes, and her hair was straight. Nobody curled her hair on Saturday night. Nobody polished her shoes. Nobody would greet her at home when she returned and say, "Honey, did you learn anything in Sunday school?"
Her father was a drunkard; her mother was a prostitute. But this little girl heard me say one time that I loved her. I said, "I love you, honey." And every time she would pass me, she would say to her friend, "He loves me. He said he did."
She called me, "Mr. Brother Hyles." She would say, "Mr. Brother Hyles, you are my best friend." She would pronounce it "fran." "You are my best fran." I would hug her and kiss her.
One morning she came and said, "Mr. Brother Hyles, you are my best fran, and I am moving out of town."
I said, "Honey, I am sorry you are moving."
She said, "I said, you are my best fran, and I won't be coming here any more."
I said, "Honey, I am going to miss you."
She said, "DID YOU HEAR WHAT I SAID? YOU'RE NOT GOING TO SEE ME ANY MORE, AND YOU'RE MY BEST FRAN!"
I said, "Well, honey, I am so sorry, and I wish I could see you, and I hate to see you move."
The little girl, poor little thing, put her hands on her hips and looked up at me and said, "Well, ain't you gonna cry?"
And I said, "Yes, I am." And I did. We wept together and I kissed her good-bye. She had no one to love her, no one to care for her.
There are thousands of little ones who are like those our Lord spoke about when He invited the little children to come unto Him. Let's go get them and tell them of the Saviour.
