On the fourth day of January I made a trip to New York City to keep an engagement with a customer. I checked into a hotel and was assigned a room on the eighteenth floor. By the time I had refreshed myself and was ready to leave, it was nearly eleven o'clock in the morning. Kneeling beside the bed I asked the Lord of the harvest to guide me to souls during the day and to use me for His glory.

Rising from my knees, I took my briefcase and Bible and went out to call on my customer. Walking east on 32nd Street, I saw in the window of a stationery shop a small leather notebook which attracted my attention. I was in need of a new prayer book, for it was my custom at the first of the year to make out a new list of my petitions to the Lord. The prayer and the date of the petition were placed on the left hand page, and then a space was kept on the right-hand page in which to write the answer to that prayer and the date on which the reply was received from the Lord. This keeping books with God I found to be most profitable as well as inspiring and encouraging. Here was the very book that I needed for the new year.

The shop was a very small one and was operated by a German. As I entered the store, he desired to know what I would like and when I described the little book in the window, he got it for me. After a careful examination, I found that it was arranged just right for my needs and agreed to buy it. As he wrapped it up, I asked the Lord whether this might be a person in whose heart He had been working, and followed the prayer with this inquiry to the man: " Do you know what I expect to do with this little book?"

"No," he said in broken English, "unless you vill giff it to some friend for a New Year's present."

"No," I answered, "this will be used as a prayer book."

A look of surprise and astonishment came over the face of the store owner, and he at once began to unwrap the package, and to say, "I am sorry, my friend, but you have bought the wrong book. This is a blank book. It is not a prayer book."

"I know" I said quickly, feeling that the Lord had given an opening for a conversation about Himself. "You see, I will make my own prayer book out of this book, for I will write my petitions on the left-hand pages and will enter the answer on the opposite right-hand pages when the Lord gives the answer. I like to keep a record of God's dealings with me and to know whether or not my prayers are being answered."

I observed a deep earnestness and seriousness on the part of my new friend as I told him this story. Placing the book on the counter and taking hold of the two lapels of my coat, he looked into my face. With tears in his eyes and with a voice full of emotion, he said: "Can you get to Gott?"

"Yes, indeed," I replied happily. "Many years ago He saved my soul and since then He is my best Friend. Would you like to find Him?"

How earnestly the little man replied to my question, saying, "Mister, I have tried to find Gott for many years. I have gone around Manhattan and Brooklyn and the Bronx night after night attending many services but failed always to find Gott. Can you tell me how to get to Him?"

"Yes," I replied, "Perhaps you have tried to get to God without going to Him through the Lord Jesus Christ. If you will come to Jesus Christ, He will bring you to God."

I then opened my Bible and read to Him John 14:6, "I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father but my Me." We also read together 1 Peter 3:18, "Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the Just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God."

Here was a heart not far from the kingdom. I remembered the promise of the Lord, "And ye shall seek Me, and find Me, when ye shall search for Me with all your heart" (Jeremiah 29:13). Here was one who was seeking, and surely he would find, according to the promise of God. The idea of coming to Christ first as the way to God seemed to be an entirely new thought to my friend. It puzzled him a little and I saw that it needed an explanation. I sought to show him that there must be a mediator between God and men, and that Christ Jesus was that One (1 Timothy 2:5). I also sought to show trim how the work of Christ at Calvary was quite sufficient to satisfy the demands of God for his sins, and that at Calvary's cross the Lord Jesus was wounded for his transgressions and bruised for his iniquities (Isaiah 53:5). We read together 1 Peter 2:24, "Who His own self bare our sins in His own body on the tree." Then we turned to Romans 5:6, "For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly."

My friend realized that he had no strength, and yet he was earnestly seeking for the forgiveness of his sins and wanting access to God as his Father. "How can I find Jesus?" he asked. "Where can I find Him?"

"You may trust Him right now, where you are standing," l assured.

He bowed his head at once and prayed quietly, "Lord Jesus, I see that You came to die for me and to bring me to Gott. I believe in You and I come to You now with my sins for You to save me, and I believe that You do. I believe You will bring me to Gott, and I trust You with my soul."

My German friend had found the Lord, and the Lord had found him. The quest of years was at an end. The seeking heart had found a sufficient Saviour. Darkness had been turned into day, and this friend had passed out of death into life.

As I left the shop with my prayer book, I said, "Thank you, blessed Lord; how quickly You answered my prayer." The Holy Spirit is always ready, waiting and willing to lead the yielded servant in paths that are profitable. Let us learn to pray and to depend upon Him, so that we may be led by Him to those hearts in whom He is working.

—Walter L. Wilson, M.D.